The Missouri Tigers (18-6, 7-4 SEC) got back on track with a big win Wednesday and now will hit the road to face the Georgia Bulldogs (16-9, 4-8) at 2:30 p.m. today (SEC Network).
Here’s a scouting report, some Mizzou notes, matchups to watch and what I think will lead to a Tiger win.
Scouting Report
The Bulldogs enter today’s matchup on a downswing, losing their last two, three of their past four and seven of their past nine.
After starting conference play 2-1, Georgia’s lone SEC wins have come against South Carolina (71-60 on Jan. 28) and LSU (81-62 on Feb. 5) the two teams at the bottom of the conference standings.
The Bulldogs enter after a 69-53 loss to Texas A&M on Tuesday.
Georgia went 12-1 in non-conference play with wins against St. John’s and Notre Dame, while losing to Marquette.
Georgia averages 75 points per game and allows 67.4, but in SEC play those numbers slide to 66.83 points scored and 71 points allowed.
The Bulldogs have scored 80 points twice (82 against Kentucky and 81 against LSU) against SEC opponents, while allowing 80 points twice (89 to Florida and 90 to Alabama).
Georgia shoots 46 percent from the field, 32.5 percent from 3 and 71.2 percent from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs average 26 made shots from the field, 6.8 from 3 and 16 at the line.
They allow opponens to shoot 40.4 percent overall, 29.5 percent from 3 and 74.3 percent on 12.5 made free-throws per game.
Georgia averages a 37.3-32.5 advantage in the rebounding margin, while holding a 5.4-3.7 advantage in blocks per game.
Freshman forward Asa Newell (6-foot-11) leads the Bulldogs with 15.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while sophomore guard Silas Demary (6-5) adds 11.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and a team-high 3.16 assists per game.
Graduate guard Dakota Leffew (6-5) adds 10.7 points per game largely off the bench, while the Bulldogs usually also start sophomore guard Blue Cain (6-5), graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence (6-4) and junior forward RJ Godrey (6-8).
Newell, Demary, Cain and Godfrey have started all 25 games for Georgia, while Lawrence has started 20-of-24 he has played in and Leffew has started 4-of-24 he’s played in.
Freshman center Somtochukwu Cyril (6-11) has appeared off the bench in all 25 games, while sophomore forward Dylan James (6-9) has played in 24 games and made one start. Junior forward Justin Abson (6-9) rounds out the regular rotation, appearing in 20 games, while no other Bulldog has appeared in 10.
Georgia is ranked No. 34 in the NET rankings, Missouri is No. 19.
This will be the 22nd matchup between the teams with Missouri holding an 11-10 lead, but losing two matchups to the Bulldogs last year.
Before that, the Tigers had won 6-of-7 matchups dating to March 2019.
Mizzou notes
Mark Mitchell is averaging 6.4 free throw attempts per game, the most b a Tiger since 2013-14 ... Mizzou is 10-0 when Caleb Grill scores at least 12 points ... The Tigers have led b an average of 12.0 points at halftime in their seven SEC wins and have not trailed in the second half of any ... Mizzou is on pace to become the first power-conference team in 30 years ato average eight made 3-pointers and 20 free throws per game ... The Tigers have been in the AP rankings for four consecutive weeks, marking their longest streak since an 11-week run in 2020-21.
Matchups
Asa Newell vs. Mizzou’s interior defense
The Tigers are once again going up against a team with a standout freshman, but for the first time, they won’t have to worry about him regularly bringing the ball up.
Now, they’ll have to worry about him on the interior.
And, other than against Oklahoma (who couldn’t make anything) the Tigers are not particularly good at defending the rim.
The Tigers are tied at No. 224 in the country with 3.0 blocks per game, and teams shoot 55.9 percent from inside the arc against Missouri.
Now, the Tigers’ defense gets the boost of not allowing the ball into the paint because of its high amount of steals, but if Newell is able to get the ball down low, he could cause major issues against one of the biggest weaknesses of the Tiger team.
Mizzou 3-point shooting vs. perimeter defense
Here we are once again with the Tigers facing a team that holds opponents to less than 30 percent shooting from deep.
This has been quite a stretch of opponents who are very good at defending what the Tigers do best on offense.
The Tigers were held well under their average percentage against Texas A&M, and attempted a season-low from deep in games Caleb Grill participated in against Oklahoma.
The Bulldogs are much better at interior defense than the Sooners are, so changing the strategy to focus on playing at the rim probably won’t be as effective as it was Tuesday.
How the Tigers handle another good perimeter defense will make the difference.
What I'm looking for:
Keep up the run of holding great freshmen to poor games.
The Tigers’ held Arkansas’ Boogie Fland to 2-of-13 shooting for 4 points, Texas’ Tre Johnson to 3-of-15 shooting for 12 points and Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears to 3-of-13 shooting and 8 points.
All three of those guys are going to get drafted this year and Johnson and Fears are likely to go around the top-10.
Newell is projected to go around the middle of the first round.
If the Tigers are able to make him as inefficient as they made the other three, I think that will set them up well for another win.
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