Almost nothing about Missouri's first matchup against Mississippi State went smoothly.
The Tigers didn't arrive in Starkville until a few hours prior to tipoff, prompting the game to be delayed by two and a half hours. Then, they could never discover an offense. Missouri shot 3-17 from three-point range and 16-51 overall in a 19-point loss.
Missouri will have less than 48 hours to get those issues corrected. Mississippi State travels to Columbia Sunday night for the second leg of the home-and-home series between the two teams.
Here is everything you need to know to get set for the rematch.
TIP TIME INFORMATION
Missouri (10-16) vs. Mississippi State (15-11)
WHEN: 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mizzou Arena
TV: SEC Network
RADIO: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly, Chris Gervino)
SERIES: Mississippi State leads 11-5
KenPom Prediction: Mississippi State 70-65
THE STARTING LINEUPS
BY THE NUMBERS
MIZZOU KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Shoot better. It's easy to overcomplicate the game of basketball, but ultimately if one team shoots 31.4 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from three-point range, it is probably not going to win. Mississippi State essentially dared Mizzou to shoot over its packed in zone defense on Friday night and the Tigers couldn't do it. That made scoring around the basket more difficult. The Tigers will hope that a return to their own gym will cause a few more perimeter shots to fall, thus forcing Mississippi State to expand its defense.
2. Be better against the bigs. Cuonzo Martin said after the game that Mississippi State's frontcourt imposed its will on Missouri on both ends of the floor. The Bulldogs held Missouri to just 20 points in the paint, its lowest in an SEC game this season, and frustrated Kobe Brown. Missouri's leading scorer mustered eight points on 3-10 shooting. The Tigers will need more out of him if they're going to keep the second matchup closer. And on the other end, Mississippi State's starting frontcourt of Garrison Brooks and Tolu Smith combined to score 26 points. Even though the Tigers are undersized down low compared to Mississippi State, they need to find a way to frustrate Brooks and Smith.
3. Minimize live-ball turnovers. Missouri's turnover count from Friday night's game doesn't look too ugly. The Tigers gave the ball away 13 times, fewer than their season average. But Mississippi State only turned it over nine, and the Bulldogs scored 18 points off turnovers. Several of Missouri's giveaways led directly to fast break points for Mississippi State, including a pair of errant passes by Amari Davis on consecutive possessions in the first half that Martin said "changed the game." Turnovers have been an issue all season for a Missouri team that has never found a reliable point guard. A team that clearly struggles to score against Mississippi State can't afford to give up that many free points.
POWERMIZZOU PREDICTION
Initially, I thought I would pick Missouri to split the two meetings with Mississippi State. But given how lopsided the game in Starkville was, it seems impractical to predict the Tigers can improve drastically enough to close that gap in less than 48 hours. Plus, this team is clearly running on fumes. Assuming Yaya Keita, Anton Brookshire and Jordan Wilmore remain injured, Sunday will mark the fourth straight game the Tigers have only had eight players available. Martin acknowledged Friday night that his team ran out of gas down the stretch.
FINAL SCORE: Mississippi State 67, Missouri 63
