Mizzou Opens NCAA Tournament Thursday Versus Utah State

Seventh-seeded Missouri men’s basketball opens its NCAA Tournament on Thursday, squaring off with No. 10 Utah State in the First Round. Tipoff in Sacramento is set for 12:40 p.m. CT on TNT.

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Mizzou enters the NCAA Tournament with a 24-9 overall record, having won five of its last six games with its only loss to No. 1 Alabama.
• The Tigers finished fourth in the SEC standings with an 11-7 conference record.
• All-SEC First Team honoree Kobe Brown leads Mizzou with 15.8 points and 6.3 rebounds.
• D’Moi Hodge (14.8) and DeAndre Gholston (10.7) also score in double figures for the Tigers.
• Nick Honor leads MU with 3.0 assists per game.
• Mizzou ranks 23rd in the country with a scoring offense of 79.5, while allowing 74.6 points.

TOP MARKS IN 2022-23
• The Tigers are enjoying one of their best seasons in years during the 2022-23 campaign.
• With a 24-9 overall record, Missouri has its most wins in a season since totaling 30 in 2011-12.
• The Tigers also finished with an 11-7 SEC record – tied for their best ever since also winning 11 games in their inaugural SEC campaign (2012-13).
• It hasn’t come easy for MU as its six ranked wins are tied for the second-most in its history.

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Mizzou is competing in its 29th NCAA Tournament.
• The Tigers are 22-28 all-time in their first 50 NCAA Tournament contests, having advanced as far as the Elite Eight on five occasions (1944, 1976, 1994, 2002 and 2009).
• MU’s No. 7 seed is its highest in 11 years (No. 2 in 2012) and just the fourth time in the last 29 seasons the Tigers are seeded higher than eighth.
• Missouri owns a 10-13 record in the Round of 64, having lost its last five opening-round contests.
• The Tigers’ last win in the NCAA Tournament was March 19, 2010, over Clemson, 86-78.

ABOUT THE AGGIES
• Utah State earned an at-large bid out of the Mountain West Conference with a 26-8 overall record and 13-5 conference mark.
• The Aggies had a seven-game winning streak snapped in the Mountain West title game to San Diego State, 62-57.
• Steven Ashworth leads five players in double figures with 16.3 points and 4.5 assists.
• Dan Aking has a team-best 6.9 rebounds.
• Utah State also ranks in the top 35 in scoring offense at 78.6, while allowing 69.7 points.

SERIES HISTORY
• The two schools have met twice previously more than 50 years ago.
• The teams split a home-and-home series with Utah State winning in Logan in 1967 before MU returned the favor one year later in Columbia.

TIGERS VERSUS MOUNTAIN WEST
• Mizzou has faced a Mountain West school five times since the conference was formed in 1999.
• Overall, the Tigers are 4-1 against league foes.
• Mizzou’s only loss to a conference opponent was in the 2013 NCAA Tournament when eighth-seeded Colorado State defeated ninth-seeded Missouri, 84-72, in Lexington, Kentucky.

VERSUS THE 2023 FIELD
• Mizzou squared off with 11 NCAA Tournament teams this season, posting an 8-8 record against the current field.
• MU owns wins against No. 4 seed Tennessee (twice), No. 6 Iowa State, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 9 Illinois, No. 11 Mississippi State and No. 16 Southeast Missouri State.
• The Aggies, meanwhile, posted a 5-5 record against 2023 tournament schools.

NCAA TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
• Six Mizzou student-athletes have previous NCAA Tournament experience.
• Kobe Brown was a member of the Mizzou team that played Oklahoma in the 2021 First Round.
• Five additional Tigers also played in the tournament with a different school – Nick Honor with Clemson against Rutgers and Tre Gomillion, D’Moi Hodge, Mabor Majak and Ben Sternberg with Cleveland State versus Houston (all in 2021).
• First-year Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates has participated in nine previous tournaments – two as a player (California), six as an assistant coach (California and Florida State) and one as a head coach (Cleveland State).

TOP-25 SCORING OFFENSE
• One of the biggest keys to success this season for Mizzou is owning a top scoring attack.
• Mizzou currently ranks 23rd nationally with a scoring offense of 79.5 points.

TARGETING 70 POINTS
• While the Tigers are averaging nearly 80 points this season, the magic number is just 70 for MU.
• MU has won its last 26 games when scoring at least 70, including a perfect 22-0 mark this year.
• On the opposite end, Mizzou is just 2-9 this year when held under the target – losing 27 of its last 29 games overall with 69 or fewer points.

BROWN NAMED ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM
• After one of the best seasons by a Tiger in years, Kobe Brown collected first-team All-SEC honors.
• Brown received the honor from both the coaches and the Associated Press, becoming the second Tiger in school history to earn both accolades – Jabari Brown also did so in 2013-14.