The Mizzou men's basketball team renews its rivalry with Saint Louis on Friday night, meeting at Enterprise Center in the Regions Bank Show Me Showdown. Tipoff in St. Louis is set for 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
 
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri opened the 2026-27 season in record-breaking fashion, cruising to a 111-50 victory over Cleveland State on Tuesday.
• Seven Tigers scored in double figures in the winning effort, led by freshman Jason Crowe Jr., who chipped in 23 points in his college debut.
• Fifth year Mark Mitchell showcased his all-around skills with a double-double – collecting 11 points to go with a career-best 10 assists.
• Sophomore Bryson Tiller led Mizzou with nine rebounds.
• Mizzou shot 60.9 percent in victory – including 45.2 percent from 3-point range – while holding the Vikings to 32.8 percent shooting.
 
ABOUT THE BILLIKENS
• Saint Louis was picked second in the preseason Atlantic 10 poll after posting a 29-6 record one year ago, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• SLU is receiving votes in both national polls.
• The Billikens opened the 2026-27 season with a 92-67 win over Lehigh on Monday.
• Quentin Jones and Kellen Thames led six players in double figures with 15 points apiece.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• The series between the two Show Me State schools dates back nearly 100 years to 1931.
• However, the schools are meeting for the first time in 25 years and for just the fourth time in the last 46 years.
• Mizzou holds a slight edge in the series, 21-19.
• The schools last met in three-straight years from 1999 to 2001. Mizzou won the last two of those meetings, finishing with a 69-67 victory in 2001.
 
MIZZOU VERSUS ATLANTIC 10
• Mizzou is 12-6 all-time versus Atlantic 10 schools.
• The Tigers are playing an A10 school for the first time in 10 years and for just the third time overall in the last 15 campaigns.
• In its last meeting versus the conference, Mizzou fell to Davidson in 2016 with its last victory in 2012 against VCU.
 
RECORD-BREAKING OPENER
• The Tigers got off to a flying start to begin the 2026-27 season, setting a pair of records.
• With its 111-50 victory over Cleveland State on Tuesday, MU posted its largest season-opening win in school history.
• The 61-point victory topped the previous mark of 55, set in 2016 against Alabama A&M (99-44).
• Additionally, the 111 points are the most Mizzou has scored in an opener – five more than the previous record (106 vs. Chicago State in 1994).
 
DEBUT WORTH WAITING FOR
• One of the most highly-regarded players to enter Mizzou, Jason Crowe Jr. proved he was worth the wait for fans.
• In his collegiate debut, Crowe tallied a team-best 23 points – making 9-of-16 field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
• Crowe's 23 points are tied for the most by an MU freshman in his collegiate debut. He ties the mark by Steve Stipanovich (1979 vs. Texas State) and Frankie Hughes (2016 vs. Alabama A&M).
• Crowe also added three boards and two assists in the win.
 
A SECOND STRONG ROOKIE DEBUT
• Jason Crowe Jr. wasn't the only Tiger freshman to shine in his collegiate debut as Toni Bryant was just as impressive for Mizzou.
• Bryant tallied 15 points, six rebounds and five blocks in his first collegiate game, including nine points (all on 3-pointers) in the first five minutes.
• Bryant's five blocks are tied for the third-most by any Mizzou freshman in school history. He is also the first Tiger with 15 points and five rejections in a game since Jeremiah Tilmon in 2021.
 
ONE-TWO FRESHMAN PUNCH
• Jason Crowe Jr. and Toni Bryant put on a show in their collegiate debuts.
• MU has not had a freshman score 15-plus points in any game since 2021-22 (Trevon Brazile).
• It also marked just the third time in MU history that a pair of freshmen each scored 15-plus points in the same game – also 1998-99 (Keyon Dooling & Pat Schumacher) and 2017-18 (Jontay Porter & Jeremiah Tilmon).
 
MITCHELL DOUBLES UP
• Fifth year Mark Mitchell led the Tigers from a different perspective in the opener.
• The team's leading scorer in each of his first two seasons on campus, Mitchell led Mizzou with a career-best 10 assists in Tuesday's opener.
• Adding 11 points, Mitchell is the first Tiger to post a points and assists double-double in 10 seasons (Terrence Phillips in 2016-17).
 
HIGH ASSISTS, LOW TURNOVERS
• Perhaps most impressive about the Tigers in their opener was how clean of a game they played with so many new faces.
• The Tigers accumulated 23 assists with just four turnovers in Tuesday's win - it marks the first time with 20-plus assists and less than five turnovers in a game for Mizzou since 2024.
• In fact, through the season's first three days, MU leads all teams in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.75.