Men’s Basketball Returns Home to Face Central Arkansas Saturday

Back at Mizzou Arena for the first time in nearly four weeks, the Missouri basketball team hosts Central Arkansas in the final non-conference game of the season. Tipoff is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. on SEC Network.
 
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri owns a 7-5 record entering its final non-conference game of the season.
• The Tigers have dropped their last three contests to No. 2 Kansas, Seton Hall and No. 13 Illinois.
• Graduate guard Sean East II leads Mizzou with 17.2 points and 3.8 assists per game in 2023-24.
• Classmates Nick Honor (11.8) and Noah Carter (11.4) also score in double figures.
• Carter also leads the Tigers with 6.4 rebounds.
• Mizzou is averaging 75.3 points per game, while allowing 72.3 on the year.
 
ABOUT THE BEARS
• Central Arkansas owns a 3-11 record.
• The Bears have lost their last two, including an 88-72 defeat on Thursday at No. 12 Oklahoma.
• Tucker Anderson leads UCA with 13.4 points, while Elias Cato is second with 10.8.
• Ubong Abasi Etim averages a team-best 8.6 boards with Johannes Kirsipuu leading the Bears with 4.9 assists.
• Central Arkansas owns a scoring offense of 69.4 with a scoring defense of 76.5.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• The schools are meeting for the third time with the Tigers winning the previous two contests.
• In the first meeting of the series, the Tigers set a Mizzou Arena record with 116 points.
• The schools also opened the 2018-19 campaign against each other with Mark Smith leading the way with 19 points in a 68-55 Mizzou victory.
 
TIGERS VERSUS ATLANTIC SUN
• MU owns a 16-3 all-time record against Atlantic Sun schools since the league was first formed as the Trans America Atlantic Conference in 1978.
• Mizzou is 16-2 versus the league in Columbia.
• MU lost its last meeting against a conference foe, falling at Liberty in 2021-22 – ending a three-game winning streak versus the league.
 
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 17.2 points per game – ranking fifth in the SEC and 117th nationally.
• The guard has increased his scoring by 9.9 points per game – the highest mark in the SEC.
• East, who averaged 8.4 points in his first three seasons, owns career-best marks in shooting percentage (55.4) and 3-point percentage (55.9).
 
MR. CONSISTENT
• The good news for Mizzou is that the Tigers can expect for Sean East II to consistently be leading the way in 2023-24.
• East leads Mizzou with 10 double-digit scoring games and six contests with 20-plus points.
• His six 20-point contests are four more than the two he had entering the year and the most by a Tiger through 12 games since Jordan Clarkson in 2013-14, while his 10 games of double-digit scoring already match his total from last year.
• In addition, East has scored 15-plus points in seven-straight games – the longest run by a Tiger since Kassius Robertson in 2017-18 (also seven games).
 
NEARING 1,000
 • Thanks to his strong start to the campaign, Sean East II is quickly approaching 1,000 career points.
• East is just 34 points shy of the career milestone, having scored 966 points in his first 3.5 seasons and 102 career games.
• The graduate would become the fourth active Tiger with 1,000 points – joining Nick Honor, Noah Carter and John Tonje.
 
PIERCE STARTS TO SHINE
• Freshman Trent Pierce has started to find his rhythm during his rookie campaign.
• Making his first career start against No. 13 Illinois last Friday, Pierce tallied a season-best 12 points.
• Pierce has now scored 20 total points during the last two games after tallying just five in the season’s first 10 contests.
• Overall, the rookie is averaging 2.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 11 games played and 6.8 minutes per contest.
 
WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE
• The Tigers have consistently won the turnover battle over the last two seasons.
• Missouri has forced more turnovers than it committed in 41-of-47 games under Coach Gates (tying once with more turnovers five times).
• This season, the Tigers have won the turnover battle in 10-of-12 games and rank in the top 100 nationally in four key statistics.
• Missouri has forced a season-best 18 turnovers on two occasions, while committing 10 or fewer five times this season – including just seven in its last game versus No. 13 Illinois.