COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou men's basketball is set to open its season with an exhibition match against Kansas State.
Head coach Dennis Gates is entering his fourth season with the program holding an overall regular season record of 55-46. He's is fresh off a bounce-back 22-12 season which included three wins over top 5 ranked opponents – Kansas, Florida and Alabama – and two more over top 25 ranked teams.
Gates' Tigers lost multiple key contributors to the NBA, graduation and the transfer portal – Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates among the best of those. The program still returned an immense level of talent, however, such as team captains Anthony Robinson II and Mark Mitchell, along with bringing in a few impact transfers like Sebastian Mack and Shawn Phillips Jr.
The mix of returning and new talent sets up the Tigers to make another run to the NCAA Tournament, should all go according to plan. The exhibition contest against Kansas State is a small step in discovering what Mizzou is made of, and here's what to look for to find out.
Volume of 3-pointers
The Tigers ranked second in the Southeastern Conference shooting 36.7% from 3-point range last season, but ranked 10th with 806 total attempts. Grill accounted for 197 of those attempts and shot 39.6% on them, so his departure plays a big factor in a potential decline in volume.
Gates plans to have his team replace Grill's talent in the aggregate.
"From a distribution standpoint, we have forwards –compared to last season – who can stretch the floor," Gates said. "Jevon Porter has attempted over 100 threes in his career. Luke Northweather, over 60% of his shots have been from three. Trent Burns is another kid that can stretch the floor. So you look at the forwards and look at now the distribution. Look at Sebastian Mack, Jayden Stone, yes, we want those guys to make shots. We want Jacob Crews to make 100 threes."
There's a clear emphasis on taking and making shots from beyond the arc as a key component to the offense.
"We play a style that requires close to 800 threes on the season, " Gates said. "That's the goal."
Robinson's foul trouble
Robinson has cemented himself as one of the SEC's best defenders, as he was the only non-senior to make the SEC All-Defensive team last season. His 2.1 steals per game were the second-highest mark in the conference, and the highest among returners.
Even so, he wasn't a perfect defender. Robinson struggled with foul trouble throughout the season, averaging 3.1 fouls in just 23 minutes per game – oftentimes having his minutes cut short due to early-game foul trouble. He played a contributing role to Mizzou's success last season, but wasn't the star of the show.
That's not the case this year – Robinson is at worst the Tigers' second-most important player, and they need him to stay on the court. He'll be tasked with guarding PJ Haggerty, one of the nation's top scoring guards. If Robinson can maintain his lockdown defense while staying out of foul trouble, it's a fantastic sign for future tests.
Small-ball lineup usage
Last season, the Tigers varied between double-big lineups that started Mitchell and Josh Gray in the frontcourt and small-ball lineups which Mitchell operated as a small-ball five alongside Trent Pierce.
The small-ball units helped Mizzou to force turnovers, play at a fast pace and run in transition – key components of its identity. With Gray out of the picture and Phillips replacing him, there's no guarantees which lineups are deployed.
"Last year we we found that the small lineup was really good for us," Mitchell said. "For us and things like that. This year might be a big lineup. I'm not sure yet. Obviously, in practice, I do a little bit everything. I played a three, four or five, whatever it may be."
What the Tigers do against Kansas State isn't a guarantee of what's to come for the rest of the season, but it's a good first glimpse.