Missouri came into this season with last year’s 0-18 Southeastern Conference finish hanging over the proceedings.
The Tigers (12-3, 1-1 SEC) gained a measure of relief with their 83-67 breakthrough over LSU at home Tuesday. They will bid for their second straight league victory Saturday afternoon when they face Vanderbilt (13-2, 1-1) in Columbia, Mo.
Holdovers from the 0-18 team include guards Tamar Bates (13.1 points per game) and Anthony Robinson (10.3 points, 3.7 assists).
“They’re not the same players they were last year,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “So the new version of them, they’re not responsible for that, either. And right now, I just want them to focus, continue to move forward.
“Our goal is to play in San Antonio, Texas (at the Final Four). And that’s why guys are looking forward, not backward.”
Forward Mark Mitchell (13.1 points) and guard Marques Warrick (9.2) are making impacts for the Tigers as transfers. Guard Caleb Grill (11.1) returned Dec. 30 after missing five games with a neck injury.
Vanderbilt is coming off a 76-64 loss to No. 14 Mississippi State at home Tuesday that ended a seven-game winning streak. The Commodores fell behind 54-32 in the second half before cutting their deficit to five points.
Coach Mark Byington found positives in that comeback bid.
“I want to figure out how to get good against good teams,” he said. “You can still get good beating a bad team or a lesser team. But this is going to be a team that’s, I don’t even know what the ranking was … 14? They deserve it. Probably even higher. They’re beating everybody badly, and so I want to figure out how to get good against a team like this.
“And we’re going to embrace setbacks. We’ll learn from it.”
Byington has established a nine-man rotation led by guard Jason Edwards (17.1 points), forward Devin McGlockton (11.2 points, 8.2 rebounds) and guard AJ Hoggard (11.1 points, 4.2 assists).
Vanderbilt guard Grant Huffman said his team will be looking to solidify its defense after allowing Mississippi State to take a commanding lead.
“What led to that run is them getting easy buckets, our defense breaking down,” Huffman said. “So we just got to stay true to our principles in order to beat these teams that are really good.”
–Field Level Media
