MBB Preview: Arkansas vs Missouri

February 23, 2024

Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (13-13, 4-9 SEC) vs Missouri Tigers (8-18, 0-13 SEC)
What: Arkansas will be playing its final home Saturday game of the season.
When: Saturday – Feb. 24 – 11:00 am (CT)
Where: Fayetteville, Ark. • Bud Walton Arena – Nolan Richardson Court (19,200)
How (to follow):
– TV/Stream: ESPN2/Watch ESPN (Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw)
– Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
– Sirius/XM: 106 Sirius / 190 XM / 961 SXM App
– Arkansas Live Stats
– Razorback Gameday App

– Arkansas Game Notes
– Missouri Game Notes
– SEC Notes/Stats

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas will play three of its final five regular-season games at home, starting Saturday by hosting the Missouri Tigers. Tipoff is set for 11 am (CT) and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

After Missouri, Arkansas stays at home to face Vanderbilt on Tuesday (Feb. 27).

NOTES:

This will be the 62nd meeting between Arkansas and Missouri all time and the second of two this season. Since Missouri joined the SEC in 2012-13 the borders rivals have played 25 times.
Arkansas leads the all-time series, 34-27, and is 15-9 versus the Tigers since Mizzou joined the SEC … Arkansas has won 7 of the last 9.
Arkansas is 19-10 versus the Tigers in Fayetteville, including a 9-2 mark in SEC meetings.
Earlier This Season, Arkansas defeated Missouri, 91-84, in Columbia. Tramon Mark scored 22 points and Makhi Mitchell, who was celebrating his birthday, recorded a double-double (19 points and 14 rebounds) to lead Arkansas to a 91-84 victory at Mizzou Arena. Jalen Graham added 13 points, four assists, four steals and three blocked shots while Keyon Menifield Jr., added 16 points off the bench. The game was a tale of two halves. Missouri scored first but only led for 19 seconds as the Razorbacks led by 13 twice and closed the first half on a 12-2 run, including a 10-0 spurt, to lead 47-28. The Razorbacks were 3-of-4 from 3-point range while shooting 59.4 percent from the floor overall. On the other end, Arkansas held Mizzou to 32.1 percent shooting but the Tigers were 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Missouri out-scored the Razorbacks, 56-44, in the second half (but never tied the game nor led) by going 6-of-11 from deep and 14-of-16 at the line. Tamar Bates led Mizzou with 29 points, going 10-of-10 at the line. Mizzou finished 10-of-20 from 3-point range.
Arkansas has been defending the 3-point shot better of late. Entering the Georgia game, Arkansas was 302nd in the nation in 3-point defense (35.7%). However, in the last four games, the Razorbacks held their opponents to a combined 13-of-50 (26.0%). With that, Arkansas has jumped 50 spots in the NCAA rankings in four games to 252th in 3-point percentage defense (34.6%).
Arkansas has also done a better job creating steals of late. In the first seven SEC games, Arkansas had 31 steals (4.4 average). Over the last six SEC games, Arkansas had 50 steals (8.3 average). Arkansas has jumped 63 spots in the NCAA rankings for steals over the last six games, going from 319th to 256th.

For more information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on Twitter.