Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

• Game Notes

STORYLINES

• Mizzou heads into the postseason after a strong regular season that featured seven Quad 1 victories. Mizzou is one of just 10 teams nationally with seven Quad 1 victories (five of which were away from Mizzou Arena), including wins over Illinois, Oregon, Wichita State, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida. Only four teams (Illinois, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Gonzaga) have more Quad 1 victories than the Tigers. 
• Mizzou is 8-3 against teams currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament field in ESPN's Bracketology. The Tigers also have five wins over conference champions, including Liberty, Oregon, Alabama, Wichita State and ORU.
• 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. Mizzou is 6-0 against Quad 3 and Quad 4 teams. A win on Friday over No. 8 Arkansas would give Mizzou four wins over Top 10 teams in the same season for the first time since 1989-90, a season which also featured a victory over then-No. 7 Arkansas.  
• Mizzou seeks its first SEC Tournament semifinals berth in program history. Mizzou is 5-6 all-time in the SEC Tournament, Mizzou is 1-1 in the First Round, 4-2 in the Second Round and 0-3 in the Quarterfinals.
• Mizzou has faced Arkansas more times than any other SEC opponent in program history, with the two squads set to do battle for a 54th time in the all-time series. Despite the history, Friday's matchup marks the first time ever that the two teams will meet for a third time in the same season. 
• The series between Arkansas and Mizzou has been dead even since 2017, with the two teams splitting the season series every single year. Mizzou is 5-5 against the Razorbacks in its last 10 matchups. This season, both teams found success on the road against one another. Mizzou won 81-68 at Bud Walton, its largest margin of victory in Fayetteville since Dec. 2, 1967. 
• Mizzou improved to 7-1 in games decided by five or fewer points this season after the win over Georgia.
• Mizzou is 8-4 away from home this season including neutral site wins over Oregon and Georgia, and 6-4 in true road games, its best mark since going 7-3 in 2011-12. Mizzou has at least five true road wins for the second time in Cuonzo's four seasons (2018). The Tigers had accomplished that feat just four times this century before Martin's arrival (2000, 2004, 2009 and 2012). Before 2011-12, Mizzou hadn't won six true road games in a season since 1999
• Both Dru Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon earned All-SEC honors by both the league's coaches and the media. It marks the first Tiger duo to earn all-league honors in the same campaign since Jordan Clarkson and Jabari Brown in 2013-14. Dru also earned All-Defensive Team honors, the first Tiger to do so since Michael Dixon in 2012. 
• Dru has reached double figures a team-best 19 times as a senior, and led the SEC in steals during the regular season for a second consecutive campaign with 2.0 thefts per game. 
• Sophomore Kobe Brown is surging. He's scored in double figures six times in the last nine games, averaging 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting better than 53 percent. He secured his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 boards vs. LSU in Mizzou's regular season finale, then followed with 16 key points on 6-of-8 shooting and seven boards vs. Georgia on Thursday. 

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?

• Mizzou's youngest rotational player, sophomore Kobe Brown has stepped up of late with Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., missing two games and returning from a leave of absence.
• Over the last nine games Kobe has averaged 11.3 points and 6.6 boards while shooting 53.9 percent from the field. Before that stretch, he was putting up just 6.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest while shooting 42.2 percent in the first 15 games. • Brown exploded for a career-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting at Georgia, becoming the fourth different Tiger with 20+ in a game this season. He added 12 points, scoring 10 of the 12 in the game's first eight minutes at South Carolina. Then he led Mizzou with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting vs. Ole Miss. 
• In Thursday's win over Georgia, he willed Mizzou to victory with 16 points (6-of-8 FGs) and seven boards.
• In the regular season finale, he secured his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds vs. LSU. He has reached double figures six times in the last nine games and in four of the last five outings.