After taking down Southern Indiana in its season opener on Monday, 97-91, Missouri will look to stay in the win column on Friday as it hosts Penn.
The Quakers are coming off a 78-50 loss to Iona in their first game of the year and will be hungry for its first win of the season. The Tigers are 7-0 all-time against Ivy League schools and will look to keep it that way.
TIP TIME INFORMATION
Missouri (1-0) vs. Penn (0-1)
WHEN: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Missouri
TV: SEC Network+
SERIES: 0-0 (First Meeting)
KenPom Prediction: Mizzou 83, Penn 68
PROJECTED STARTERS
BY THE NUMBERS
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Don’t underestimate the Quakers. Out of Mizzou’s first seven opponents on the schedule, Penn was rated the best in KenPom’s preseason ranking, checking in at 163. The team went 9-5 in Ivy League play last season, brought back 14 players and was predicted to win the league this year in the conference’s preseason poll.
The player to key in on is junior guard Jordan Dingle, who finished last year as the 12th-highest scorer in the nation averaging 20.9 points. Dingle was held to 16 points in Penn’s season opener against Iona on Monday, missing all seven of his attempts from beyond the arc. For the Tigers to win on Friday, they’ll need to do a similar job of slowing him down.
2. Don’t let Penn shoot 82.4% from deep in the second half. That’s the percentage that Southern Indiana made against the Tigers on Monday. It’s unlikely any team will shoot that well again in Mizzou Arena — even in warmups. But the point remains, Mizzou can’t afford to give up nearly as many triples to anyone as the 14 the Screaming Eagles connected on in the final 20 minutes.
Head coach Dennis Gates said after Monday’s game he could’ve given USI a different look defensively but wanted his players to learn to deal with a hot-shooting team by themselves. At Wednesday’s practice, Gates said that won’t be his decision every time. It helped that Missouri had a 20-point cushion with under five minutes to play when the visitors started heating up.
If and when Gates decides to adjust, the Tigers will need to show they can execute effectively.
3. Learn to attack Penn’s defense. Gates noted that the Quakers have a variety of coverages they like to utilize, and that Mizzou needs to be prepared for each of them. One of Penn’s go-to options is the 1-3-1 zone, which can throw teams off if they don’t know how to attack. The zone won’t be as much of a worry if the Tigers don’t let the Quakers get set, meaning pushing the pace like they did against USI should work to their advantage again. They’ll also need to establish dribble penetration in the gaps of the zone, which didn’t seem to be much of an issue Monday night.
But unlike its game against the Screaming Eagles, Missouri will need to prove it can knock down open looks from outside.
“You know, we are good shooting team,” DeAndre Gholston said at Wednesday’s practice. “And we haven't shown it in the exhibition or the first game. And we're going to show it.”
Going up against a zone like Penn’s 1-3-1 should give the Tigers a chance to fire away from deep. But if the shots don’t fall, they could end up seeing a lot more zone against future opponents.
Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage
