Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

• Game Notes

STORYLINES

• Head coach Cuonzo Martin earned his 250th career victory on Saturday at South Carolina. He has 60+ wins at four different schools, including a career-best 64 victories at Mizzou. 
• The Tigers scored 93 points at South Carolina, their most in league play since March 5, 2013 vs. Arkansas and their most on the road in league play since joining the SEC. 
• Five different Tigers scored in double figures vs. the Gamecocks, marking just the second time this season that's happened, including Mizzou's win over No. 21 Oregon in December. 
• Before Martin's arrival, Mizzou had shot above 57 percent as a team in a game just once during league play since 2013. The Tigers have done so five times in the last four seasons after shooting 57.1 percent on Saturday. 
• Senior Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., who found out his grandmother passed away before tip at Ole Miss, returned from a two-game leave of absence and finished with 17 points on a perfect 5-of-5 FGs and 7-of-7 FTs vs. South Carolina. Mizzou is 14-4 with Tilmon in the lineup. He averaged 18 points in two games against the Gamecocks this season.
• Mizzou is one of just six teams nationally with six Quad 1 victories (four of which were away from Mizzou Arena), including victories over Illinois, Oregon, Wichita State, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. Only seven other teams nationally can say they have six Quad 1 wins: Ohio State, Gonzaga, Illinois, Alabama, West Virginia, Michigan and Baylor. Only four squads in the country have more Quad 1 victories than the Tigers. 
• Mizzou has three wins over Top 10 teams (No. 10 Alabama, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 6 Illinois) in the same season for the first time since 2011-12. The Tigers boast four ranked wins and five true road victories, and four of their six losses have come against Quad 1 opponents. Mizzou is 6-0 against Quad 3 and Quad 4 teams. Mizzou has won five or more true road games in two of four seasons under Martin
• Mizzou and Ole Miss square off for the 18th time in program history. The two squads split the season series last year. Then-sophomore Xavier Pinson erupted for 32 points in last season's home win over Ole Miss. 
• From December of 2013 until Cuonzo Martin's first year at the helm, Mizzou hadn't beaten a ranked opponent in more than 1,500 days. Mizzou has four alone this season and the Tigers are 8-6 against ranked teams under Martin.
• Mizzou checks in at No. 24 in the AP Top 25 poll. That gives Mizzou 11 consecutive weeks in the Top 25 (the 14th-longest streak nationally).  
• Mizzou is 5-1 in games decided by five or fewer points this season.
• Redshirt senior Dru Smith reached double figures for a team-best 16th time in 20 games this season with 17 points, seven dimes and two steals at South Carolina. Dru is currently a 45-40-84 guy, one of just 27 players nationally that can say that. He's one of three in that group with 30+ steals to boot. 
• Sophomore Kobe Brown is asserting himself as a matchup problem for both guards and bigs. He is coming off a career-high 21-point performance vs. Georgia and a 12-point outing at South Carolina, reaching double figures in consecutive games for the first time this season.

TILMON, JR., MAKES HIS RETURN

• Senior Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., found out his grandmother passed prior to the Ole Miss game on Feb. 10. He took a leave of absence and the Tigers suffered a three-game skid. The dominant center made his return on Saturday at South Carolina and put together the first perfect performance from the floor in his career. He finished with 17 points on 5-of-5 field goals and a career-best 7-of-7 free throws. Mizzou improved to 12-2 in Tilmon's career when he scores at least 16 points. 
• Among active players in the SEC, Tilmon ranks sixth in career points (958), fifth in rebounds (532) and fourth in blocks (103). 
• Tilmon has solidified himself as arguably the SEC's best center and one of nation's toughest matchups in the paint. During league play, he leads all SEC players in field goal percentage with a scalding .637 clip, leads all SEC centers in scoring at 13.9 PPG, ranks fourth in rebounds (7.2) and fifth in blocked shots (1.8).
• Defensively, Tilmon is a menace. Over his last nine games played, he has 22 blocks (2.4 per game), with 2+ blocks six times. 
• Offensively, Tilmon's career 57.6 percent clip is on pace for fourth all-time at Mizzou.
• Tilmon returned for a fourth season in Columbia after testing the NBA Draft waters over the summer. The seasoned big man has made 92 starts, played in 99 games and netted 958 points as a Tiger. Tilmon had scored 16+ points just eight times in three seasons before this year. He did so five times in January. He is 42 points shy of becoming the 47th member of Mizzou's all-time 1,000 points club. Once he reaches that mark, he'll join a pantheon of only five Tiger greats with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks: Arthur Johnson, Laurence Bowers, Steve Stipanovich, Doug Smith and Jevon Crudup. 
• Tilmon put together a ridiculous performance vs. TCU on Jan. 30 in which he racked up a career-high 33 points on 13-of-16 shooting, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Tilmon is one of two players nationally this season with at least 33 points, 11 boards and three blocks in a single game alongside Kent State's Danny Pippen. 
• Tilmon entered his senior campaign with six career double-doubles. He has six this season, which matches the most by a Tiger in a campaign since Jonathan Williams III had six double-doubles in 2014-15. Tilmon ranks eighth all-time in program history with 103 blocks. 
• Tilmon's team-best 7.6 rebounds per game clip ranks fourth in the SEC for all games and is the highest by a Tiger since Alex Oriakhi in 2012-13 (8.4). In his 22 career games with at least eight rebounds, Mizzou is 19-3. Mizzou is 12-2 this season when Tilmon grabs 5+ rebounds and 6-1 when he grabs 10+ boards.
• He's on pace to become the first Mizzou player in more than 30 years to shoot at least 54 percent in all four seasons.