Following each Mizzou basketball game this season, we will highlight a few notable takeaways from the performance in the ‘And-One.’

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Arkansas coach Eric Musselman enters pretty much every game knowing his team is going to lose the rebounding battle. The Razorback roster doesn’t feature a player who has played this season taller than 6-foot-8, and among the regular seven-man rotation, only Reggie Chaney stands taller than 6-foot-6.

So, Musselman said Saturday, Arkansas’ hopes hinge on creating an advantage for itself elsewhere, to make up for the rebounding margin. The Razorbacks found that edge Saturday on the three-point line. Both Arkansas and Missouri shot 16-20 from the free throw line, and the Tigers shot 24-56 from the field while the Razorbacks shot 25-53. But Arkansas outscored Missouri by 24 points from behind the arc, making 12 of 25 three-pointers in a 78-68 win.

The return of sophomore guard Isaiah Joe served as a major factor in Arkansas’ shooting performance. Joe, who had missed the team’s past five games due to a knee injury, made five of 10 attempts from three-point range. Musselman said the career 39 percent shooter also creates perimeter looks for others because of his ability to spread the floor.

“We’re a whole different team with him,” Musselman said of Joe. “... I thought he was awesome. He opens up three-balls for other people, as well, just being out there.”

Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin, too, praised Joe, saying he might have the best shooting stroke in the country. But he was more upset with his own team’s perimeter defense against Joe and backcourt mate Desi Sills, who shot 4-6 from behind the arc.

“At least six of (Arkansas’ threes) were our breakdowns,” he said. “Especially three for Desi.”

On the other end of the floor, Arkansas continued its nation-leading three-point defense. The Razorbacks entered Saturday allowing opponents to shoot 25.7 percent from beyond the arc. Missouri — no stranger to shooting woes, especially on the road — shot 19 percent Saturday, including 1-10 in the second half.

“When you look at the analytics of our sport, the three-ball is a difference-maker for a lot of people, and we’ve done a better job than anyone in the country at defending the three, and tonight I thought we did a great job,” Musselman said. “It was a concern, because we wanted to keep the lane a little bit more compact than we have in the past. In the past, we’ve just been taking away threes, and then that gives up dribble-drives, and tonight we told our guys you’ve gotta stop the drive, you’ve gotta give great gap help, but you better get back to the three-balls as well.”

The biggest key to Missouri’s past four games, in which the Tigers have won three times and pushed LSU to the brink, has been its starting backcourt’s ability to get to the rim. Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith continued that trend Tuesday. Pinson scored 32 points, eclipsing his career high in scoring for the third time in 10 days, on 9-13 shooting. Smith wasn’t quite as efficient, making just four of his 14 shots, but he added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Perhaps most important, the two players combined to shoot 19 of 21 from the free throw line, including 8-8 in the final minute.

During the past four games, Pinson and Smith have combined to average 41.8 points per contest. That amounts to just over 52 percent of Missouri’s scoring. After each of Missouri’s past two wins, the duo has talked about how their differing styles complement one another well and make life harder on opposing defenses.

“He’s a great guard,” Pinson said of Smith. “... He knows the one spot and I know the one spot, and he knows the two and I know the two, so I feel like we can just alternate that every time or any time we feel like it.”

Just as Arkansas got Joe back, it initially looked like Missouri would get a starter back in the lineup Saturday when Jeremiah Tilmon went through pregame warmups. The junior center had missed 11 of the team’s last 12 games due to a stress fracture in his foot.

But although Tilmon was available for Missouri, he never saw the floor. Martin said Tilmon has been cleared by doctors, but he would like to get the big man some more reps in practice before inserting him into a game.

“I just think he still needs to get reps under his belt in practice to get in game situations,” Martin said. “... He hasn’t practiced, really. … He hasn’t been up and down the floor. So to be fair to him, just let him get up and down the floor a little bit more.”

Still, even without Tilmon, Missouri should have had a built-in advantage over Arkansas down low. In the Tigers’ Feb. 8 win over the Razorbacks, Missouri dominated the glass, out-rebounding Arkansas 52 to 37 and scoring 16 second-chance points on 16 offensive boards. Big men Reed Nikko and Mitchell Smith combined to score 19 points and grab 22 boards.

Saturday, the Tigers once again comfortably won the rebounding margin, 36-23. But the Tigers couldn’t find easy baskets in the post. Missouri scored just five second-chance points on 10 offensive rebounds. Nikko, Smith and Parker Braun combined for just eight points and five rebounds in 40 minutes.

Musselman said Arkansas made an effort to pack in its defense and limit second-chance opportunities, especially for Nikko, who had seven offensive rebounds in the first meeting between the two teams. Nikko didn’t record a rebound Saturday.

“It was double box-outs, not worrying about if you get the ball, box him out, keep him out of the lane,” Musselman said of Nikko. “I thought coach Martin did a great job of baiting us into switches, and (Nikko) had good goal-post hands and finished against us, but I did think even when we switched we did a great job of face-guard box-outs and so forth against him, because we could not afford for him to get second-chance opportunities.”

Missouri got a couple buckets from Nikko when a guard switched onto him in the second half, but Martin said the team should have done a better job of getting the ball into the post throughout the game. He also said the Tiger bigs needed to do a better job of finishing at the rim against smaller defenders.

“You gotta put the ball in the basket,” Martin said. “Concentrate on your target — and we say it all the time, just didn’t capitalize. There’s a give and take. When they’re small, they have an advantage, when it’s five perimeter guys. ... So that means we have to create an advantage on the other side of the ball with our bigs, and they won the battle.”

After Missouri’s win over Auburn on Saturday, Martin said he thought Kobe Brown should have been credited with another rebound, which would have given the freshman his first career double-double. Brown accomplished the feat a week later, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, both of which represented career highs.

The freshman served as a bright spot for Missouri from the opening tip. Brown hit a corner three on Missouri’s first possession and scored seven points in the game’s first five minutes. He also hit the team’s only three in the second half, a clutch shot with a defender in his face that cut the deficit to two points with 2:43 to play.

Martin complimented Brown’s assertiveness and said he would have liked to have gotten the ball to Brown even more, especially around the basket.

“I thought he did a good job rebounding, thought he did a good job of being assertive defensively, being aggressive,” Martin said. “Wanted to post him more, but we have to, as a staff, get him in position where he’s posting more, because he’s an advantage for us down there, and he’s improved the ability to post up.”

CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM: Almost never in college basketball is a team going to win a road game in which the opponent shoots 12-25 from three-point range, especially when the visitor shoots 19 percent from deep. Yet Missouri remained competitive and nearly clawed back and tied the game in the final two minutes. This felt like a game where, if even one of Tilmon or Mark Smith had played and played decently, the Tigers have a good shot at coming out on top.

CAUSE FOR CONCERN: Missouri can’t count on Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith to carry the offensive load like they had the past four games. Saturday showed that, when an opposing defense makes a point of keeping Pinson and Smith out of the lane, they’re going to need some help, either from the perimeter shooters or the bigs. They didn’t get that help against Arkansas. At this point, the defensive scouting report on Missouri has to be pretty simple: Stop Pinson and Smith and make someone else beat you.

STOCK UP: Kobe Brown. As mentioned above, Brown logged career-highs in both points and rebounds. He continues to flash ability that could make him a go-to scorer as he matures.

STOCK DOWN: The frontcourt. Nikko has generally filled in well for Tilmon during his absence, but he got thoroughly shut down by Arkansas’ smaller defenders. Mitchell Smith wasn’t much better, as his only points came on free throws. And while Parker Braun, who broke through for a career performance against Ole Miss on Tuesday, had a nice block, he was a total non-factor on the offensive end.

UP NEXT: Missouri (13-14) will travel to Vanderbilt (9-17) on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.

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