The Missouri Tigers (12-3, 1-1 SEC) finally ended their SEC losing streak by beating LSU on Tuesday. Now they’re trying to start a winning streak as they host the Vanderbilt Commodores (13-2, 1-1) at 2:30 p.m. (SECN).

Vanderbilt enters following a loss to Mississippi State on Wednesday in Nashville, halting a 7-game Vanderbilt winning streak that had dated to Nov. 24.

Vanderbilt is the only SEC team that has not had the home team win either of its first two SEC games. It was the lone visiting team to win its SEC opener, beating LSU 80-72 in Baton Rouge.

The Commodores didn’t play an astounding non-conference schedule, but did beat Cal, Virginia Tech and TCU, while only dropping the Charleston Classic championship game to Drake.

Vanderbilt comes in scoring 84.6 points per game, while allowing 67.1, helped by three big wins throughout non-conference play. The Commodores beat Maryland Eastern Shore 102-63 to open the season, The Citadel 105-53 on Dec. 18 and New Orleans 100-56 to conclude non-conference competition.

Otherwise, Vanderbilt has not scored 90 points in a game.

The Commodores shot 47.9 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from 3 and 73.9 percent from the free-throw line, while allowing teams to shoot 42.2/33.6/70.0.

Both Vanderbilt and Missouri average 10.5 steals per game, tying for fifth nationally.

Junior guard Jason Edwards (6-foot-1, 175 pounds) leads the Commodores in scoring at 17.1 points per game. After being a regular starter through the team’s first seven games, Edwards has fully come off the bench since the Commodores’ loss to Drake on Nov. 24.

Junior guard Devin McGlockton (6-7, 230) adds 11.2 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game, starting all 15, while graduate guard AJ Hoggard (6-4, 220) scores 11.1 points per game and dishes out 4.21 assists per contest.

Junior guard Tyler Nickel adds 10.7 points as part of the regular starting lineup, while graduate guard Grant Huffman (6-4, 190) has also started all 15 games.

Junior guard Kijani Wright is the tallest player listed on the Commodores’ roster at 6-9, but has not played this season.

Missouri leads the all-time series 9-8 and the home team in the matchup has won 14-of-16 matchups in Columbia or Nashville (the teams played in Hawaii in 1986), including Mizzou holding a 7-0 record in the matchup in Columbia.

For Mizzou notes: Tamar Bates enters the matchup 34 points shy of 1,000 for his career, while Caleb Grill is 43 points away from the mark. … Missouri has won its past 12 home games, which is the longest Tiger streak in 11 years. … Missouri is ranked first in the country at 40.7 bench points per game.

Ball control on both ends

With both teams entering the matchup tied for fifth in the country at 10.5 steals per game, this game can easily be decided by which team holds on to the ball better.

Mizzou has the definite size advantage today, so the rebounding should be a battle the Tigers can actually win again after they beat LSU 38-29 and Auburn 31-29. If the Tigers can win the rebounding battle once again and not get caught up in a back-and-forth steals battle, it should set Mizzou up well to be over .500 in SEC play through three games.

The paint

I’ve mentioned it already a couple of times, Mizzou has two 7-footers who will probably both play, though the rotations might leave Peyton Marshall on the bench again like they did against LSU, as well as 6-10 Trent Pierce, 6-9 Aidan Shaw and 6-9 Mark Mitchell. Any of them will be taller than any Vanderbilt player on the floor.

Missouri has done a great job recently of fighting into the paint and winning a battle offensively near the hoop, it should not be as tough today.

If Missouri is able to control the paint as much as its height advantage suggests it should, this matchup shouldn’t be too tough for the Tigers.

Solid perimeter defense should get the job done defensively. Mizzou gave up 40 percent shooting from 3 against LSU and 47 percent against Auburn. For the Commodores to make this game interesting, a lot of 3s are going to have to fall and Vanderbilt will need to turn Mizzou’s usual strategy of turnovers and playing in transition against the Tigers.

If Mizzou can keep players locked down defensively around the perimeter, this should be a game Missouri can control start to finish and with the size advantage I’ve already talked so much about, it feels like some extra defensive focus can be spent outside the arc.

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