Men’s Basketball Takes on Alabama on the Road

The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team is back on the road, making the trip to Alabama to face the Crimson Tide on Tuesday night. First tip is set for 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
 
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri enters the contest with an 8-8 overall record, losing its first three conference games of the campaign.
• The Tigers are coming off a 71-69 overtime setback to South Carolina on Saturday.
• Graduate guard Sean East II leads Mizzou with 17.1 points and 3.8 assists per game.
• After back-to-back 20-point contests, graduate forward Noah Carter is second on the Tigers with 12.8 points per game, while leading MU with 6.0 rebounds per game.
• Overall, four Tigers are scoring in double figures as Tamar Bates (10.8) and Nick Honor (10.3) follow East and Carter’s lead.
• The Tigers own a scoring offense of 75.6 points with a scoring defense of 72.7 points.
 
ABOUT THE CRIMSON TIDE
• Alabama owns an 11-5 record in 2023-24 with a perfect 3-0 mark in SEC play.
• Overall, the Crimson Tide has won its last five, coming off an 82-74 win at Mississippi State.
• Mark Sears leads Alabama and ranks first in the SEC with 20.3 points per game.
• Aaron Estrada is second with 13.2 points and a team-best 3.9 assists, while Grant Nelson is third with 12.6 points and first with 5.7 rebounds.
• Alabama averages 90.1 points, while allowing 73.9 per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to 1977, Alabama holds a 14-7 advantage against the Tigers.
• The Tide won a pair of meetings over MU last season – earning an 84-65 regular-season victory before posting a 72-61 win in the SEC Semifinals en route to the title.
• Overall, Alabama has won the last three matches after the Tigers had won the previous three.
• Missouri is just 1-7 all-time at Alabama with its lone victory an 88-74 win in 2018.
 
A NEED TO FINISH OFF GAMES
• A large reason why the Tigers find themselves with a 0-3 SEC record is their performance at the end of games.
• In its last three contests, Mizzou the Tigers have made just 3-of-29 field goals to finish regulation, twice resulting in a blown lead with under five minutes remaining.
• The 10.3 percent shooting to finish the league games has resulted in defeats by an average of 7.3 points per game.
 
BACK TO NORMAL
• After enduring a mini shooting slump, graduate forward Noah Carter has regained his touch.
• Carter has scored at least 20 points in the last two games – reaching the mark in back-to-back contests for the first time in his career.
• After a five-game stretch when he shot 30.8 percent overall and 8.7 from 3-point range, Carter is averaging 18.7 points the last three contests – shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from beyond the arc.
• Overall, Carter ranks second on MU with 12.8 points this season and with 23 triples.
 
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 17.1 points per game – ranking seventh in the SEC and 124th nationally.
• The guard has increased his scoring by 9.8 points per game – easily the highest mark in the SEC.
• East, who averaged 8.4 points in his first three seasons, is averaging the most points by a Tiger since Jabari Brown (19.9) and Jordan Clarkson (17.5) in 2013-14.
• East has scored 274 points this season – just 14 shy of his best mark for a campaign (2019-20).
 
MR. CONSISTENT
• The good news is that the Tigers can expect for Sean East II to consistently be leading the way.
• East leads Mizzou with 14 double-digit scoring games and six contests with 20-plus points.
• In addition, East has an active streak of 15-plus points in 11-straight games – the longest stretch by a Tiger since Jabari Brown had a 14-game run in 2013-14.
 
BATES CATCHES FIRE
• Junior transfer Tamar Bates has become a much-needed weapon for the Tigers as of late.
• Bates has scored in double digits in each of the last six games – he had never gone more than two-straight with at least 10 points prior to the run.
• Over the six-game stretch, Bates is tallying 17.0 points per game after scoring 7.1 points the season’s first 10 contests.
• Bates has raised his season scoring average to 10.8 points this season, ranking third on MU.