Missouri hopes to regain its shooting touch when it returns home to face Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Mo.
The Tigers (14-7, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) are 12-1 at home this season. They will try to exploit that homecourt advantage against the Bulldogs (11-10, 3-5) after getting blown out 90-64 at Alabama on Tuesday night.
Missouri missed 15 of 23 free throws in that loss and 17 of 21 shots from 3-point range. Forward Mark Mitchell missed 7 of 8 free-throw attempts and both of the 3-point shots he tried.
“You can’t go on the road and go 8-for-23 from the free-throw line,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “Mark Mitchell is not a 1-8 guy. But ultimately, that’s where it was in those percentages. You gotta be able to execute, especially early, from that free throw line.”
During his Friday media session, Gates said his team was making free throws during their two productive days of practice after the Alabama loss. But he quipped, “you’ve probably got to sage the rims at this point.”
The Tigers are led by Mitchell (17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds per game) and guard Jayden Stone (14.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg). T.O Barrett supplanted Anthony Robinson II as the starting point guard while scoring 34 points in the last two games.
The Bulldogs snapped their five-game losing streak by banging out an 80-66 victory at LSU Wednesday night. Coach Chris Jans hopes his team can duplicate that rugged effort moving forward.
“We felt good, we got off to a great start, the energy was good at shootaround, the focus was good, we kept it simple with the goals of just competing,” Jans said. “No matter what it looks like, just compete harder.
“That confidence gets in your bloodstream and really helps. But if we can figure out a way to keep doing this, we’ll have better results. The thing that sticks out the most is our rebounding. We were really good against a physical, big team and we punched them in the face pretty good. It kind of set the tone that way.”
Mississippi State outrebounded LSU 43-24 and the Bulldogs took a 76-51 into the final seven minutes of the game.
The Bulldogs are led by their experienced backcourt of Josh Hubbard (20.7 points per game) and Jayden Epps (14.8 ppg).
–Field Level Media
