Mizzou basketball will play Miami in St. Louis in the first round of March Madness.
COLUMBIA — Mizzou basketball has its March Madness opponent.
The No. 10 Tigers will take on the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes in St. Louis, Missouri, in the West Region of the bracket.
Missouri finished the season 20-12 and 10-8 in the Southeastern Conference and lost in the second round of the SEC Tournament to Kentucky.
Missouri picked up strong resume-building wins over Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Kentucky when healthy in conference play, helping make the Tigers case for a bid. Health is one of Dennis Gates' top arguments for the Tigers receiving an invite to the tournament.
“It's not an elevator pitch. It’s just facts,” Gates said after Mizzou's SEC Tournament loss to Kentucky. “The net doesn't look at where our team is. The net doesn't say Trent Pierce was out and Jayden stone was out. It doesn't say that. So we're a completely different team than what whatever the net is talking about. That's why the committee doesn't focus on the net… Our style of play is there, you know, I think we're a completely different team just because of the fact that we are a little bit more healthy when you add Trent Pierce. Our matrix is completely different than when you take them out, and the same with Jayden Stone.”
This is the Tigers first time making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances under Gates, and they've now made it three of four seasons under his guidance.
Mizzou hasn't made it past the first round of the tournament, having been upset by Princeton in 2023 and Drake in 2025. Now, the Tigers are the ones with the potential to upset.
Miami finished this season 25-8 overall and 13-5 in the conference play in the ACC and is now in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2022-23 season, when the Hurricanes lost to UConn in the national semifinal.
Malik Reneau leads Miami with 18.8 points per game, while Tre Donaldson is second with 16.5, Shelton Henderson is third with 13.7 and Tru Washington is fourth with 12.1. Former Missouri Tiger, Marcus Allen, is on the Miami roster but hasn't played since November due to a battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Here's who joins Missouri and Miami in the West Region.
- No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 16 Long Island
- No. 8 Villanova vs. No. 9 Utah State
- No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 High Point
- No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 13 Hawai'i
- No. 6 BYU vs. No. 11 (Texas or NC State)
- No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 14 Kennesaw State
- No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 15 Queens (winner will play winner of Mizzou vs. Miami in second round)
Dennis Gates will address the media with a zoom call at 6:30 p.m. CT, where he will speak on Mizzou's tournament invite. Stay tuned for preview coverage the next week.