The Tigers are 2-1 to start the season, dropping the first to Memphis
Through three games, Missouri men’s basketball is 2-1 with wins against Howard and Eastern Washington, paired with a loss on the road against Memphis. Here are some takeaways from these first three games.
Senior scorers
In the first three games of the season for Missouri, two seniors have led the team in scoring. Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill share the team’s highest average of 13 points per game. In his first three outings, Bates has been a consistent scorer, bringing in 13, 17 and nine respectively.
Grill, however, after scoring only four and two in his first two games, scored a career high 33 points against Eastern Washington. After this encouraging outing from Grill and a consistent start for Bates we can expect these two to continue to be consistent scoring options for the Tigers.
Continued rebounding issues
One of the most consistent struggles for Missouri last season was the lack of rebounding as the Tigers averaged 31 rebounds per game, the worst in the SEC during last season. They also allowed opponents to bring in 37.1 rebounds per game ranking No. 11 among the rest of the SEC.
With new faces at the center position and only a three game sample size, Missouri still only averages 30.3 rebounds per game.However, Missouri has allowed six fewer rebounds per game at 31.3 – a great improvement and puts them at seventh among the 16 teams in the conference.
Free throw improvement
After game one in Memphis, where Missouri was an abysmal 16-for-25 and 64% from the free-throw line, Missouri is turning it around from the charity stripe. The Tigers are tenth in the SEC in free-throw percentage, sitting at 73.6%. Missouri is first in the conference in getting to the line with 23 average free throws attempted per game. Due to this it’s important that Missouri is able to convert from the line at a high percentage.
Transfer starters
The Tigers had an extremely successful transfer portal in the offseason, bringing in the No. 13 ranked transfer class in the country, according to 247sports.
Two of the Tigers’ top three in minutes played so far are Mark Mitchell, first with 29.3 and Tony Perkins who is third with 25.3. Josh Gray, another transfer, is not far behind and has been a usual starter with an average of 15 minutes per game. These three and others will be big difference makers for this Tiger team as they try to improve on their terrible last season.
Missouri’s next game will be Friday against Pacific and then they play again Sunday against Arkansas- Pine Bluff.
Edited by Michael Stamps | mstamps@themaneater.com
Copyedited by Alana Sheba and Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com