Men’s Basketball Hosts Florida Saturday Night

The Missouri men’s basketball team returns to Mizzou Arena for a weekend matchup with Florida. The Tigers and Gators are set to battle on Saturday night with a 7 p.m. tipoff on ESPNU.
 
PROMOTIONS
• Mizzou Arena is set for a Tiger Stripe on Saturday. Visit mutigers.com/tigerstripembb to see what color you should wear for the game.
• Red Panda is also set to perform at halftime.
 
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri owns an 8-9 record during the 2023-24 campaign with a 0-4 mark in SEC play.
• Alabama defeated the Tigers on Tuesday, 93-75, thanks to a hot finish on the offensive end.
• Graduate guard Sean East II leads Mizzou with 16.5 points and 3.8 assists per game.
• Classmate Noah Carter is second on the team with 12.8 points per game, while also leading MU with 5.7 rebounds.
• Tamar Bates and Nick Honor also score in double figures with 11.3 and 10.8 points, respectively.
• The Tigers own a scoring offense of 75.5 points with a scoring defense of 73.9 points.
 
ABOUT THE GATORS
• Florida enters Mizzou Arena with an 11-6 overall record and a 1-3 mark in SEC action.
• The Gators are searching for their first true road win with a 0-3 record this season.
• Florida split its last two games, defeating Arkansas, 90-68, last Saturday before falling at No. 6 Tennessee on Tuesday, 85-66.
• Walter Clayton Jr. leads five Gators in double figures with 15.9 points.
• Zyon Pullin is second with 14.9 points to go with a team-best 4.9 assists, while Tyrese Samuel adds 13.4 points and a Florida-leading 8.6 boards.
• Florida averages 85.2 points, while allowing 76.5.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• The schools have met on 13 previous occasions with the Gators holding a 9-4 edge over Mizzou.
• The schools have also split six meetings inside Mizzou Arena
• Last season, Florida earned a 73-64 win over No. 20 Mizzou behind a late 12-3 run.
• The Gators now own two-straight wins over the Tigers, including a 66-65 win at Mizzou Arena two years ago.
 
THROWBACK JERSEYS
• The Tigers will be donning a throwback look for Saturday’s game.
• Mizzou is breaking out its Block M gold jersey – worn by the Tigers during from 1973 to 1996.
• During its 23 seasons wearing the design, Mizzou posted a 483-233 record with eight conference titles and 15 NCAA Tournament bids.
• Eight All-Americans also wore the uniform in addition to 24 NBA Draft selections.
 
BATES CATCHES FIRE
• Junior transfer Tamar Bates has been the best Tiger over the seven games.
• Bates has scored in double digits in each of the last seven games – he had never gone more than two-straight with 10-plus points prior to the run.
• Over the seven-game stretch, Bates is tallying 17.3 points per game – an increase of more than 10 points from the season’s first 10 contests.
• Bates has raised his season scoring average to 11.3 points this season, ranking third on MU.
 
50/40/90
 • Shooting efficiency is the key to success for junior Tamar Bates in 2023-24.
• Bates owns career-best marks with a 55.4 field goal percentage, 50.0 3-point percentage and 92.7 free-throw percentage.
• The junior currently ranks 19th nationally with a true-shooting clip of 68.3.
• In fact, Bates is the only player in the SEC shooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3 and 90 percent from the line.
• He is also on target to become the first Tiger in school history to join the 50-40-90 club.
• During his seven-game run, Bates is averaging 1.75 points per field-goal attempt.
 
MOST IMPROVED AWARD
• Sean East II has put his name in the conversation as one of the nation’s most improved players.
• East leads the Tigers with 16.5 points per game – ranking eighth in the SEC and 151st nationally.
• The guard has increased his scoring by 9.2 points per game – easily the highest mark in the SEC.
• East, who tallied 8.4 points his first three years, has the highest average by a Tiger since Jabari Brown (19.9) and Jordan Clarkson (17.5) in 2013-14.
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT OPTIONS
• With Tamar Bates’ hot stretch of late, MU now features four players averaging at least 10 points.
• Joining Bates (10.8 ppg) is Sean East II (17.1), Noah Cater (12.8) and Nick Honor (10.3).
• Mizzou has not finished a season with four players averaging in double figures since five did so during the 2012-13 campaign.
• Overall, 10 different Tigers have scored at least 10 points in a game this season – tied for the most by a MU since the 2017-18 team had 11.