A year after exceeding expectations by finishing fourth in the SEC and reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament, Mizzou returns for its second season under head coach Dennis Gates.
The Tigers open the 2023-24 campaign up by hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a team that’s historically struggled but has recently made strides under head coach Solomon Bozeman, who’s entering his third year with the Golden Lions. Bozeman led the team to double-digit wins last season for the first time since 2019.
Both schools brought in a handful of newcomers trying to push their programs forward this offseason. They’ll get their first look at their new squads on Monday.
It’ll be the first time the teams have played each other since Dec. 29, 2015. The Tigers set a few Mizzou Arena defensive records that day, holding the Golden Lions to 8-52 from the field, blocking 11 shots and taking a 78-25 win. Missouri will be searching for a similar result in the season opener.
“(APB is) pretty good, they've got a lot of good shooters,” graduate senior guard Sean East II said. “And we're gonna come ready and treat it like any other game. We're excited. It's gonna be the first game of the season, excited to have the fans back and get the city going again.”
TIP TIME INFORMATION
Missouri (2022-23 season: 25-10, 11-7 SEC) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2022-23 season: 10-21, 6-12 SWAC)
WHEN: 7 p.m. CT
WHERE: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Missouri
TV: SEC Network+
SERIES: Mizzou leads, 5-0
KENPOM PREDICTION: Missouri 85, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 61
PROJECTED STARTERS
BY THE NUMBERS
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Come out strong. The Tigers went up against another SWAC team last season, hosting Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 20, 2022. Mizzou got out of the gates flat-footed — the teams were tied at 22-22 after the first 10 minutes and the Tigers only led 40-37 by halftime. MU finally pulled away early in the second half and took a deceiving 83-62 victory. But the margin likely should’ve been much larger, as MVSU went on to win just five games that year. Going up against a more-talented Golden Lions team on Monday, the Tigers might not be able to afford another slow start. Gates intends to lean on his returners early on while his newcomers learn the ropes.
“I think like last year, we (had) three guys who probably have started every single game when you look at the roster of D'Moi Hodge, Kobe Brown, Nick Honor. So this season, you look at Noah Carter, you look at Nick Honor and Sean East, I think those guys give us a unique starting trio,” Gates said. “From there, we have to figure out who else is deserving and who else wins out. I just expect those three to be an anchor for us and lead the charge, no different than I expected D'Moi Hodge, Nick Honor and Kobe Brown to do that for us last year. And it gives us an identity and expectation.”
2. Run the Golden Lions off the 3-point line. APB wasn’t lethal from beyond the arc last season, connecting on 31.1% of its triples, but many of the transfers Bozeman added to this year’s roster should do a better job of spacing the floor. Joe French, from Bethune-Cookman, is a career 42.7% shooter from distance. NCAA Division II transfer Kaine McColley made 36.6% of his tries from deep at Bluefield State last season. The team was also worse from inside in comparison, only making 44.0% of its 2-pointers, ranking in the bottom 20 in the country — starting 6-foot-8 big man Ismael Plet is not much of a threat in the paint. Closing out on shooters and forcing them to drive to the rim, where they score less efficiently, should be the main focus for Mizzou's defense.
3. Pressure Rashad Williams. APB is relying on Williams as the team’s lead guard this season. The sixth-year senior spent time at Cleveland State, Oakland and Saint Louis before redshirting the 2022-23 season with the Golden Lions. Williams is a high-volume scorer, capable of lighting up opponents from all three levels on the court — he led Oakland with 19.5 points per game in 2019-20 and scored 14 points in a win over a Dennis Gates-led Cleveland State team in the Horizon League tournament. If APB pulls off an upset win, it’ll likely be because of Williams.
But for his career, Williams has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. During his lone year at Saint Louis, he coughed the ball up on 20.1% of his personal possessions according to KenPom. While Hodge might not be around anymore, it doesn’t mean the Tigers will stop going for steals. Honor and East combined to average 2.8 steals per game last season. The pair of guards should be able to take advantage of Williams’ loose handle and get Mizzou running on the fast break, which led to a lot of success last year.
PREDICTION
This shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for Missouri, which has advantages across the board. The goal should be to get the hard work done early so that Gates can get extended looks at players farther down on the bench. I’ve got the Tigers winning comfortably, 80-60.
Throughout the entire basketball season, PowerMizzou.com is a proud game day partner of Yuengling Traditional Lager, the taste of game-time @yuenglingbeer #LagerUp.
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