Here’s some numbers and thoughts that didn’t make it into the initial thoughts or game story for Missouri’s 110-98 win against Alabama on Wednesday.
Point total
This one couldn’t make it into the story because it took some extra research time.
The Tigers’ 110 points was the highest-scoring performance in a regulation conference game since Jan. 13, 1990, when Missouri scored 111 against Nebraska.
The Tigers scored 112 in a Jan. 13, 2001, game against Iowa State, but that game had four overtimes.
It was the first time the Tigers scored 100 against a ranked opponent since a 111-102 loss to No. 16 Georgetown on Nov. 30, 2010.
Wednesday was the first time the Tigers have scored 100 in a conference game since Jan. 14, 2009 in a 107-62 win against Colorado.
The Tigers’ 59 first-half points were the most in a first half under coach Dennis Gates and most in the first half of a conference game since Feb. 7, 1996, when the Tigers had 61 against Nebraska.
Top-5 wins
This was the third time the Tigers beat a top-5 team this season, matching the 1988-89 season for the most times Missouri has accomplished that in a season. That season, the Tigers beat No. 5 North Carolina 91-81 on Nov. 23, No. 1 Oklahoma 97-84 on Feb. 25 and No. 1 Oklahoma 98-86 on March 12.
They also had multiple losses to top-5 schools and two more against No. 6.
Missouri joins Auburn as the only two schools this year to beat three top-5 opponents.
Free throws
Alright, I didn’t talk much about them, so let’s discuss the free throws.
First, the good part. The Tigers’ 47 attempts and 31 makes are both season highs. Hooray!
But, the 65.96 percent was the seventh worst of the season behind Tennessee (19-of-29 for 65.5 percent), Florida (18-of-29 for 62.1 percent), LIU (12-of-19 for 63.2 percent), Cal (25-of-38 for 65.8 percent), Mississippi Valley State (22-of-35 for 62.9 percent) and Memphis (16-of-25 for 64 percent).
That ended up being more performances that were worse than I remembered. I think it just really sticks out because of the total misses, 16 is a lot and a couple were on the front end of 1-and-1s so you could say the Tigers missed out on about 18 points.
That game could have been well in hand and Missouri could have pushed 120 points with an extremely good night at the line (41-of-47 would have been 87.23 percent).
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