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If the No. 14 Missouri Tigers (21-7, 10-5 SEC) win their final three games, they get a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. That run starts tonight with the second matchup of the season with the Vanderbilt Commodores (19-9, 7-8) at 5 p.m. (SEC Network).

Here’s a scouting report, some Mizzou notes, matchups to watch and what I think will lead to a Tiger win.

The Commodores are the reason the Tigers control their own destiny for a double-bye, as Vanderbilt took down Texas A&M 86-84 on Wednesday. It was the second consecutive win for Vanderbilt after it dropped three straight games.

Since losing 75-66 to the Tigers in Columbia on Jan. 11, the Commodores are 6-6.

Vanderbilt is very strong on its home court, holding a 13-2 record with wins against Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and Ole Miss, with the two losses coming to Auburn and Mississippi State.

The Commodores enter the matchup scoring 79.8 points per game and allowing 73.3, while those numbers are 73.9 scored and 79.5 allowed in SEC play.

Vanderbilt shoots 45.5 percent from the field, 32.9 percent from 3 and 74.3 percent at the free-throw line. The Commodores average 8.2 made 3-pointers per game and 15.1 made free throws per contest. They allow opponents to shoot 45.7/37.0/71.4.

The Commodores average a win in the rebounding battle just 35.0-34.4 but makes its money in the turnover battle. Vanderbilt forces 14.3 turnovers per game, including 9.1 steals, while turning the ball over just 10.0 times per matchup.

The first time these teams played this season, there were 28 total turnovers with both teams committing 14 and both teams scoring 19 points off of those opportunities.

Junior guard Jason Edwards (6-foot-1, 175 pounds) leads the Commodores with 17.2 points per game, while Junior forward (Vanderbilt lists literally every player as a point guard, but he's a forward) Devin McGlockton (6-7, 230) adds 10.6 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds to go with 1.14 blocks per contest.

Junior forward Tyler Nickel (6-7, 220) contributes 10.3 points per game, while graduate guard A.J. Hoggard (6-4, 220) adds 9.6 points and a team-high 4.56 assists per game.

Most of the steals have come from freshman guard Tyler Tanner (6-0, 170) with 1.86 per game and graduate guard Chris Manon (6-5, 215) with 1.64 per game.

McGlockton and Nickel have both started all 28 games, while Hoggard is at 26 and Manon is at 21. Edwards is next at 19 starts.

The rest of the regular rotation is sophomore forward Jaylen Carey (6-8, 265), junior guard MJ Collins (6-4, 190) and graduate guard Grant Huffman (6-4, 190) who have all played at least 27-of-28 games.

With the win in January, the Tigers hold a 10-8 lead in the all-time series.

With three games to play, the Tigers are one win short of the program record of 11 SEC wins in a season … The home team has won 15-of-17 home matchups in this series (one game was played in Hawaii in 1986) with the two road wins coming in a four-game Missouri winning streak from 2017-2020 … Mizzou has shot over 60 percent from the field in three games this season, a first since 1995-96 … The Tigers had not scored 100 points in their first 226 SEC games, they have done it in two of the past three … The Tigers have scored 80 points in five consecutive conference games, the first time they have done that since 1988-89 and fourth time overall … Tamar Bates is shooting 51.2 percent overall, 41.4 percent from 3 and 93.4 percent from the free-throw line, he is the only player nationally shooting 50-40-90 with more than one made 3-pointer and one made free throw per game.

Turnovers (again)

I looked back at what I did for matchups to watch in the first edition of this game and turnovers were the big one. At that point, the teams were tied for fifth in the country at 10.5 steals per game.

Both teams have fallen back a little because SEC teams are better at ball control than the teams Missouri and Vanderbilt ran through in the non-conference schedule, but the Tigers are still at 10.0 which means they are still tied for fifth with Iona.

Vanderbilt has fallen back slightly more to 9.1 steals per game, which places them 20th in the country.

Both teams are elite at turning over the ball and scoring in transition. They were even in the first matchup and I think if they’re even again, the Tigers have the advantage everywhere else.

If Missouri is able to control the turnover battle, it should be a good game for the Tigers.

Paint defense

The Tigers have had big issues recently with interior defense and McGlockton is a guy who could be in for a big game if the Tigers continue to struggle.

The Tigers have a severe height advantage in this matchup, no Commodore is listed as taller than 6-9 and that’s Kijani Wright, who doesn’t play. So even if none of the 7-footers or Trent Pierce are on the floor, Mark Mitchell will be the tallest player out there.

I think this is an opportunity for the Tigers’ interior defense to look a good bit better, but McGlockton is a solid player who could take advantage if there are continuing issues.

Strong communication.

We’ve already talked about the turnovers, so I’m not going to dive too deep into that here, but I think this boils down to focus and communication. Vanderbilt has been very good at home and that in part has been because it’s able to turn teams over at a high rate and messes with the communication of other teams (maybe because of that weird court setup. Get ready to see Dennis Gates just standing out by himself in his normal area).

Maintaining strong communication, which has been a strength for the Tigers throughout the year, could be the key to claiming a win and making the road to a double-bye even easier.

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