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Missouri was close, certainly competitive and came away from Wednesday’s clash with Tennessee thinking it could have managed a bit more.

The No. 15 Tigers fell 85-81 on the road to the No. 4 Volunteers, a result that is respectable at face value. The Vols are a projected top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Mizzou was an underdog.

Yet even after the likely victor became the legitimate victor, there was a sense that MU (17-5, 6-2) could have won the contest — and certainly could win a rematch.

Missouri led at halftime, as it often has during Southeastern Conference play: The Tigers have outscored their league opponents by 55 points in the nine first halves of conference play. They’ve led at halftime in 18 of their 22 games.

But for just the second time this season, Mizzou blew a halftime lead. The last time it had done so was the season opener at Memphis. In between had been 16 straight games in which the Tigers finished the job after taking an early lead.

That advantage swelled to 11 points early in the second half, then evaporated atop — then underneath — the flame of Tennessee’s blazing shooting. The Vols made 10 of their 15 3-pointers, including 6 of 10 in the second half, to catch up and pull away.

“I thought we did a good job of defending them, but when you go 10 for 15 from 3 — they were hot,� MU coach Dennis Gates told the school’s postgame radio show.

Shooting 66.7% from 3 was unheard of for this UT team. The Volunteers had been under 28% in each of their past three games and finished a game above 50% just once, early in nonconference play.

That’s what could fuel a black-and-gold hunger for a rematch. The Tigers lost by only four points to a team that shot so efficiently and effusively. Missouri had been 14-0 this season when scoring 80 or more points, snapping that streak Wednesday. If a couple of those 3s had just rattled out ...

It’s a hypothetical, yes, and to a large degree pointless. The Volunteers won and showed that they have the stars, shooting and interior defense to keep an SEC upstart like Mizzou at bay. Tennessee is a team that has been a shot or two away from winning in other situations this season.

The Tigers might get their chance at revenge, maybe. MU and UT won’t play again on the regular season, but the SEC tournament in Nashville lurks nine more games away.

Both Mizzou and Tennessee will be in the mix for the double byes that go to the top four finishers in the regular-season standings. Could they meet again on a neutral floor?

That happened in 2023. DeAndre Gholston’s half-court buzzer beater snatched the regular season win for the Tigers that year, then the teams dueled once more in the SEC tournament.

Given the back-and-forth quality of Wednesday’s game, running it back in Nashville sounds as appetizing as a hot chicken sandwich from the diner across the street from Bridgestone Arena. Mizzou’s radio broadcasters and the SEC Network commentary team independently suggested as much.

But that’s a consideration that comes with an “if� and a “when.� In the matchup that actually happened, Missouri’s guards carried the scoring load. Tamar Bates scored 22 points, all in the second half. Tony Perkins scored 16, including an 11-point burst to get MU’s scoring underway in the first half. Sharpshooter Caleb Grill, dogged around the floor like the Vols’ bluetick coonhound mascot, was held to 11 points and two made 3s.

Two players returning to the starting lineup after brief absences led the Volunteers: point guard Zakai Zeigler and forward Igor Milicic Jr. scored 21 apiece, with the latter recording a double-double.

Tennessee’s defense, considered the best in the nation by some metrics, slowed Missouri early, but the Tigers still put up the most points of any UT opponent this season. Kentucky’s 78 points in a game against the Vols had been the mark to beat.

Halfway through league play, Mizzou sits 6-3 and fourth in the SEC — level with Florida in terms of record but behind the Gators despite having a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Tigers have overachieved expectations and remain positioned as one of the conference’s more dangerous teams.

Even after losing to Tennessee, Missouri’s overall trajectory is relatively unaltered. MU is on pace for a strong NCAA Tournament seed, which comes with the opportunity for a run to the second weekend — or beyond. Who’s going to install a ceiling over the Tigers at this point?

“I’m proud of our guys,� Gates said. “We still had a great game.�

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Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Transcript

Eli ±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýHello and welcome to another Mizzou chat! As always, we've got plenty to talk about today in the Missouri and college sports realm, so we'll get right to your questions. 

¸é³Ü²õ²õ:ÌýGood morning, Eli. i noticed former tiger John Tonge is now averaging 18 points per game at Wisconsin. Why did he hit the transfer portal and not stay at Mizzou?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYes, John Tonje is having quite the season at Wisconsin: 18.5 PPG, 40% from 3, 92% at the line and rebounding well too. He wound up there after a bit of a portal saga: At first, he committed to New Mexico, then flipped from there to Wisconsin. 

The short answer is that I don't truly know why he left. He'd had a rough season with his leg injury, so maybe he felt he needed a change of scenery. Maybe he looked around at the players around him and decided it would be tough to get the playing time he wanted for his final season. Maybe the compensation wasn't what he wanted. Given that he was at first willing to go down a level to New Mexico, I'm inclined to think playing time and the ability to be a star were factors. 

²¹°ù²Ô±ð³ú³ú¾±:ÌýDo the advanced analytics exclude or otherwise make adjustments for the Quad 4 blood donor games? I think Mizzou’s defense may be its best I’ve seen in the last 45:years, and is the overshadowed reason for our success, but I’d like to see how it ranks nationally and in the SEC without its statistics in all the meaningless games.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýIt's easier to calculate that than you'd think. CBB Analytics, which is the analytics provider used by me and a couple of other writers on the beat (they're accessible, friendly and give us a decent amount of the data that the team gets from its analytics provider) lets you filter by a custom range of games. For the sake of this, I picked out all the SEC games, plus Memphis, Cal, Kansas and Illinois from the noncon slate.

In that span, Mizzou has an offensive rating of 115.3 points per 100 possessions (85th percentile nationally) and a defensive rating of 109.2 points allowed per 100 possessions (42nd percentile). That's interesting. It seems that the offense pops more than the defense against better opponents, at least in the numbers' eyes.

The defensive rating looks a little worse when you filter by just Quad 1 games. And when you look at the SEC and only SEC games, Mizzou is eighth of the 16 teams in defensive rating during conference play. With a defensive rating of 108 points allowed per 100 possessions in SEC action, the Tigers are in the 50th percentile.

Of course, they stand out in metrics like steal rate and turnover percentage, but that's where the overall defense falls. Though the defensive identity is a key part of this team's style, it really seems to be the offense that is shining brightest. 

²¹°ù²Ô±ð³ú³ú¾±:ÌýTo the untrained eye, Robinson has really regressed. I assume you would tell us if there was some injury or off-court reason that you could discuss. When HCDG talks about the team being able to be even better than it has been, I think about what this team would look like if he were playing like he did earlier. Luckily, Perkins and Barrett have more than filled the breach.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYeah. I'm not aware of anything limiting him other than foul trouble, turnovers and some really rough outings of late. I'll ask Dennis Gates about it tomorrow when he meets with reporters, but I think it's pretty evident that the coach is not happy with how Ant Robinson has been playing.

He picked up four fouls in six minutes of action. Most were needless. Robinson keeps getting called for sticking his elbow into defenders too much on drives, and his handsiness on defense is prone to drawing whistles, too. One of the things that Gates and the coaching staff have been trying to work with Robinson on is not going off the rails after one mistake — whether that's a foul, turnover or missed shot. That, to me, is what's compromised right now: As soon as Robinson messes up once, he goes to a bad mental place and that reflects on the floor. Building that mental resilience to make mistakes and stay sharp is a process. It looks like he's going through a tough run of that right now. 

²¹°ù²Ô±ð³ú³ú¾±:ÌýWhen does spring football practice begin and end? When does the spring portal open and close, and do the portal dates apply to all athletes in all sports?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'm expecting (and hoping, for my calendar's sake) to have spring football dates soon. More and more schools have announced their plans, so I'd think Mizzou could let folks know any day now – but I'm not included in the discussions of what their spring activities should look like. If past patterns hold, spring ball would wrap up relatively early in March.

The 10-day football portal window will run from April 16-25. That's for entries, not necessarily commitments. Other sports have their own windows, since they don't always have two like football does. Men's basketball, for example, runs from March 24 to April 22. Some other fall sports have windows from May 1-15. 

²¹°ù²Ô±ð³ú³ú¾±:Ìýin theory (although anything seems possible these days) could one of those LBs we signed from the portal decide to re-enter the portal when it re-opens now that Newson is returning?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYou're right that just about anything in terms of player movement seems possible. So yes, in theory, this is possible. I suppose because of this situation it would make an outgoing transfer a little more likely at linebacker than other positions, but it's hard to gauge how likely it actually is. 

Eli Drinkwitz said at the Music City Bowl that it was tough timing. He was of course happy to welcome Triston Newson back to use the extra year granted by the NCAA to JUCO players, but the Tigers had recruited and signed portal players to replace Newson. They picked MU in part because of the opportunity, I'm sure. Drinkwitz and co. can sell the program's competitive values in keeping them, and depth is always good, but it's yet another occurrence of sloppiness with college sports rules impacting the athletes. 

Enos Van Halen: Has Kirby Moore’s brother been hired as a NFL Had Coach? If so, have you heard of any concern our OC may be joining him?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'm no NFL insider, but it does seem there's real traction between Kellen Moore, Kirby's brother, and the New Orleans Saints to hire Kellen as the head coach there. Seems like that won't be decided until Kellen's season with the Eagles wraps up in the Super Bowl. 

That's one domino to fall. The next is whether he'd want to hire his brother to his staff, what that would look like and whether Kirby would want to go. I don't know how likely that is. It's probably a non-zero chance, but there are a lot of variables. I haven't heard any concern, necessarily. But given the buzz all parties should have time to think out how they want to handle this and what steps to take if things come together for Kirby to take an NFL assistant job.

²Ñ²¹°ù°ì:ÌýI have a student athlete question for you. How do players who transfer two, three times during their college days stay eligible? My daughter played D-I softball (2014-17 but not at MIzzou) and she was told you have to have so many hours/credits towards your degree each year to be eligible. She switched her major a couple times and had to go to summer school to remain eligible. The school she went to said it was an NCAA rule and not a school rule. With that being said, how can players switch schools and remain eligible when schools will not always accept hours/credits from other schools. Is academics even a thing in college sports anymore?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYes, it's a thing. The extent to which it's a thing varies sport to sport, of course, but the NCAA has some baseline policies. The two big ones, from my understanding are: Maintaining a 2.0 GPA and getting 20% closer to graduating every year/remaining on pace to finish in five years. Athletes have to be 40% of the way to their degree after two years, 60% after three, etc. 

That sounds very doable until you factor in the transfers. Even a non-athlete could run into roadblocks with course credits when going to, say, three schools in five years. But they make it work for athletes. There are folks in compliance and academic advising whose job is sorting this out to make transfers possible. I don't know how they logistically pull that off or how courses translate, but there's evidently a way. My inclination is that added summer courses might be part of the keeping-pace equation.

Evil Calvin: 19-29 free throws......'nuff said

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýWhat might be the most fascinating stat with this Missouri team: Mizzou is 2nd in the nation in free throw rate (getting to the line) but 195th in making free throws. The Tigers put a lot of points on the table via the free-throw line but also leave a lot of points on the table that way.

µþ´Ç²õ³Ù´Ç²Ô.²Ñ¾±³ú³ú´Ç³Ü:ÌýDo we have any other good bball recruits for this coming season in men’s bball. You would think our success this year parlays into some more players (I know we got two so far)

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýJust the two. Yesterday was the second signing day and there weren't any additions (because Mizzou wasn't going for any). Success this year will have a more immediate impact in the transfer portal, though it could help with some future recruiting classes too.

µþ´Ç²õ³Ù´Ç²Ô.²Ñ¾±³ú³ú´Ç³Ü:ÌýWho would you target if pingleton doesn’t come back

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýMolly Miller at Grand Canyon is from Springfield. Charmin Smith has built something impressive at Cal, and she's from St. Louis. She has WNBA coaching experience, too. Mark Kellogg has been a quick rise through the ranks and is now at West Virginia — he once coached Northwest Missouri State. But the real answer is that it depends on the level of investment from Mizzou. That will determine the caliber of coach who's willing to come in and rebuild this program. Poaching a high-major head coach will be tough if the investment isn't there.

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýEli: I have to admit that I was wrong about a lot of things with this Tiger team, most of which centered around my belief that the 3-point shooting wasn't there. I had no sense (did anyone?) that Grill, a career 35% shooter, would become a near 50% shooter from three. Huge. I wasn't sure the defense would be there based on the early season where the team seemed to coast on D a lot (I can't forget Howard basically getting any 3 it wanted), but the defense has really turned it up. And I credit Gates for his gutsiness--he believes in his players. Three times now he has given Barrett important minutes against tough SEC teams on the road, and the kid hasn't flinched. I think he's also found a way to use Gray well, given his offensive limitations. So, more kudos. The Tenn. game stings because a win within their grasp almost surely gives them the double bye and secures a top 4 seed in the tourney. But there is still time. Overall, this is a tough, tough team that I don't think anyone wants to play come tourney time. On the negative . . . I'll put those in the next entry.

On the negative, what's happening with Mitchell is what I feared. Against any size, he really struggles. I'm stunned he spent two years at Duke and came to Mizzou so unpolished, but he has no go-to moves around the basket. Teams have figured out that if their size is not very athletic, they just play off of him and let him dribble himself into traffic and they'll take the occasional good kick out pass from him as a tradeoff. Athletic bigs mean Mitchell has no hope. He's 4 for 20 from the field in the past four games. The other thing that concerns me is they still get bogged down with the dribble on offense, and so much it is about bad/sloppy play away from the ball. Against pressure, they don't screen away from the ball well to get guys open and get the ball moving. Thus, the scoring droughts. But I will say this: I don't think there's a team in the country they can't beat. So, the tourney will be what it always is: matchups and shooting.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThe hope was that Caleb Grill could shoot well, but I don't think anybody in their right mind thought he could do this. It's incredible what he's done this season, especially given that he'd been out for almost a year going into the campaign and now has missed a month without throwing off his rhythm. The Tigers really do seem capable of playing up to their competition, which does make them dangerous in a tournament setting. You're right that Gates fully trusts his players, too. That's what makes yanking Robinson last night stand out so much.

I'd thought Mitchell's finishing around the rim could be a liability as the season wore on, and it seems that's in the scouting report now. If you can avoid fouling him at the rim, you can defend those possessions well. The half-court offense really perks up with Grill out there because of his gravity and the cuts he makes. Watch his angles and timing as he moves around off-ball, it's really something.

I just come back to the depth of this team and that they only need 2-3 guys to be firing to have a chance at winning a game. It still feels like, as Gates has said, they can be better with more players clicking on a given night. That nature of this team makes me agree that they're fully capable of beating anyone in the nation.

µþ´Ç²õ³Ù´Ç²Ô.²Ñ¾±³ú³ú´Ç³Ü:ÌýWho besides membou and Luther get drafted. does membou go in the first round ?

Hoff: Johnny Walker Jr. and Theo Wease would be the other potential draft picks, though I admit I haven't paid close attention to where their stock puts them in the day 2/3/UDFA mix. Yes, I think Membou goes in the first round. I have yet to have anyone call me delusional for thinking he might get taken before Burden. 

¶Ù´Ç´Ç»å±ô±ð»å²¹»å:ÌýHey Eli, enjoy your work and word usage ... was happy to see Warrick back and contributing last night. I'd wondered why he didn't see the court in recent games, given (as pointed out by the commentators last night) that he's in very elite company (top five) for career scoring. He seems to be able to knock them down from outside and take the ball to the hoop as well. Your thoughts?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýHe's certainly a scorer and excels in that microwave role when the team needs somebody to come in and create points. There's a defensive drop off when Warrick is on the floor, though: Teams score about 6.9 points per 100 possessions more when he's in the game vs. out of it. It's not a perfect use of the stat, but the defense becomes about 6.9% worse with him in the game. The offense, however, gets 11.8% better — he's got the highest offensive on/off differential on the team. So that's the dilemma for Gates when considering whether to sub him in. Do you need a bucket at the expense of a couple that are perhaps conceded by Warrick's presence? Sometimes the answer will be yes, sometimes no.

µþ´Ç²õ³Ù´Ç²Ô.²Ñ¾±³ú³ú´Ç³Ü:ÌýWho is the most entertaining player and coach that you have interviewed

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýDawn Staley is fun to interview and great with media. Drinkwitz has his moments. But cornerbacks coach Al Pogue takes the prize here, he's a blast to interview. In terms of players, Darius Robinson was always good-natured, funny and insightful. 

´³´Ç³ó²Ô³¢:ÌýGood afternoon, Couple of issues: 1. Because of rules changes, the refs stop the games a few times to review potential flagrant fouls, etc. Why don't they review questionable fouls challenged by a coach. Last night the foul late on Theo was a bad call and impacted the outcome with about 2 minutes left. 2. The free throw shooting is alarming. Now we seem to can't count on Tamar and Tony to deliver down the stretch. What gives? More games will be lost of we can't hit FT. Please advise.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýWhat game was it that just had a miserable amount of video reviews? Florida? At least it wasn't that. But college basketball needs to sort out the use of the monitor. Last night's game was a fantastic one to watch until it got bogged down in the final four minutes. Maybe giving coaches challenges and leaving it at that would help. Then some of the constant harassment of refs and (sometimes rightful) complaints about significant calls being missed could be at least a little resolved. 

It'll take more than last night to have me concerned with Tamar Bates' free-throw shooting. But yes, it is a concern at a macro level with this team. If they're in a situation where the other team is looking to intentionally foul, they're going to be able to go after some favorable shooters. Only Warrick, Allen and Bates are above 80% on the season, and the first two might not be on the floor in that context. Pierce, Mitchell and Gray are below 70%. Perhaps it will prove costly down the stretch, but for now I'd say it's mostly a red flag.

Florida Al: Hi Eli...thanks for the opportunity to chat. One apparent weakness for Mizzou offensively is the lack of midrange shooting on the team when teams do what TN did in the second half against Mizzou last night...effectively lock them down around the 3-point perimeter and force them inside. While we have a few non-big players that can convert from outside the rim, like Bates, Crews, Warrick, and Grill, those are also the players Gates would like to pose a saturated threat behind 3 which enhances the chance of getting one of them open. Pulling them into the middle might play into the opponents hands. The larger problem seems to be on the interior. Most opponents with athletic bigs don't mind the ball getting inside to Mitchell or Gray. Mitchell is athletic and can pose a threat in there as a scorer, but neither he nor Gray have good short jumpers and they shoot a lot of bricks from there. Once they try to score with their backs to the rim, opponents try to make sure they can't score at the rim and foul at will. Neither, especially Gray, is a good free throw shooter. Pierce could be a future answer, but probably not this year. Any thoughts?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI agree. The offense is at its best when the guards are penetrating the paint and kicking the ball back out. The drive and kick flow is when the half-court offense really looks good, to my eyes anyway. Mitchell can accomplish some of that but Gray can't by nature. The guards getting down low can work off-ball, too. The "curl" action for Grill to come back out toward the 3-point line, cut around Gray/a big and take a handoff right into a 3 has been lethal. 

Some of the driving from the guards looks different because there isn't a Sean East-type who can get to a midrange or floater at will. The guards have their stepback moves, and Warrick can twist his way into something workable, but they're not always hunting down a spot or two to get to. I do think monitoring Mitchell in the post is worthwhile, as is the use of drive-and-kick in this context.

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýCompletely agree. Grill and Bates have shown consistency from 3. Pierce seemed to be there, but he's hit a 1 for 11 skid. But even so, between Pierce, Warrick, Robinson (who should shoot more), you have more solid 3 point guys, and then you have guys who can get hot--Crews and Perkins. So, that's a lot of depth, and the odds are on a given night, at least couple of them will get going, like we saw with Perkins at the open, Warrick in the middle of the UTenn game. The thing they're missing is a finisher with size. As we discussed, that's not Mitchell. That guy is not on this team. If were, well, they would be unguardable.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYour last point there is really an appreciation of what Kobe Brown became. Imagine him in this team... it really is built to feature a big man with his skillset. 

²Ñ²¹°ù°ì:ÌýWith the NIL in place,how much do players really make per year?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýIt's very rarely publicly/correctly revealed for any given player. Football players who see the field are certainly making enough to be comfortable, given that you see payrolls around $15-20 million there. Some are making a million-plus at big schools. Same for men's basketball players. Outside of those sports and the stars in them, the NIL deals are worth much less than you'd think. It's not like every athlete is getting rich these days.

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýSpeaking of Kobe, I keep wondering what he would be doing in the NBA right now if my Nuggets had chosen him instead of Julian Strawther. I thought Kobe was a perfect fit for that team with his versatility, and Denver was committed to putting that draft pick in the rotation. So much of the NBA is about opportunity and fit, and I hate that he's languishing on bench for a mediocre Clippers team that really isn't a good fit for him.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat would be a great fit. He's someone who would benefit greatly from finding a spot in a rotation somewhere to get the adjustment to that level under his belt. 

µþ´Ç²õ³Ù´Ç²Ô.²Ñ¾±³ú³ú´Ç³Ü:ÌýWhat’s your prediction on score for the superbowl

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýWe'll end today's chat with this one. I say Chiefs win 28-24.

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Mizzou, after a tough two-game road trip, returns home to host No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon.

The 15th-ranked Tigers are 17-5 overall, 6-3 in the Southeastern Conference after falling 85-81 Wednesday night at No. 4 Tennessee.

Texas A&M is 17-5 overall, 6-3 in the Southeastern Conference and has been off since a 76-72 road win Saturday at South Carolina.

Mizzou has lost four straight to the Aggies, its last win coming three years ago in College Station, Texas.

It's the annual Rally for Rhyan game, a tradition that began in 2016 to raise money for pediatric cancer after 5-year-old Rhyan Lhoos, daughter of then-Mizzou assistant AD Brad Loos, was diagnosed with leukemia

Here's how to watch Mizzou Tigers vs. Texas A&M Aggies basketball:

Mizzou Tigers vs. Texas A&M Aggies TV, live stream and radio

Game time: 2:30 p.m. CST/ 3:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 8

Location: Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

TV channel: SEC Network

Live stream:

Radio: KTRS (550 AM and 106.1 FM) in St. Louis, across Missouri and online through the .

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Can Missouri men’s basketball take another leap on Rocky Top? Its coach thinks so.

The No. 15 Tigers (17-4, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) will extend their arms toward the metaphorical ceiling against No. 4 Tennessee (18-4, 5-4) at 6 p.m. in Knoxville and on the SEC Network.

Mizzou has won its last two ranked road games, with the latest being Saturday’s 27-point drubbing of Mississippi State. But third-year coach Dennis Gates remains adamant his MU team could be better — even if, at face value, it seems disingenuous.

“The ceiling of our team has not been reached yet,� Gates said. “I truly believe that: There is another level or two that we can go to. I’ve mentioned it before in the past, and sometimes you guys think I’m just making statements, but I really do mean that because I base it off the potential that I see every day in practice. ... When it comes down to our potential, we have not yet reached it.�

Beating the Volunteers on their home floor would certainly raise the ceiling and expectations for a Missouri team that is already shaping up to be a potential top five seed at the NCAA Tournament.

The Vols have had a mixed bag of a slate so far this season. They rose to No. 1 in the nation after winning their first 14 games, including big nonconference victories against Louisville, Baylor and Illinois — none of which came on Tennessee’s home floor.

SEC play, however, has seen UT fall to Florida, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Kentucky. The loss to the Gators, which the Vols avenged over the weekend, was a 43-point output for Tennessee’s offense. Defeats to the Commodores, Wildcats and Auburn came by a combined eight points.

The Vols’ 20-point win over No. 6 Florida on Saturday seemed like a statement result. While Mizzou was bullying the Bulldogs in Starkville, Tennessee was blowing out a highly ranked UF team without two key players.

Zakai Zeigler, the 5-foot-9 guard who zips around the floor to the tune of 12.3 points and 2.1 steals per game, missed that contest with a knee injury suffered last week. The early sense out of Knoxville is that he avoided a serious injury, though, and could be back against MU.

Big man Igor Milicic, who averages 10.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, was out with an illness.

In their stead, guard Chaz Lanier shined. The Vols’ leading scorer is following in the steps of former Tennessee star Dalton Knecht, who transferred up a level to become one of the best players in the SEC a year ago. Lanier, a transfer from North Florida, scored 19 against Florida and averages 17.9 points per game while shooting 42.2% from 3-point range.

Gates called this Tennessee unit one of Vols coach Rick Barnes’ “better teams.� The MU coach likened his upcoming opponent to a past one, Auburn, in that the Volunteers have last season’s disappointment to counter.

“Last season, for Tennessee, ended prematurely for them,� Gates said. “I thought they had a national championship team, leave no doubt about it.�

One of the challenges for Missouri will be getting to the free-throw line, which has been one of the Tigers’ strengths this season. Tennessee commits 15.1 fouls per game in SEC play, which is the fewest in the conference. That leads to opponents attempting just 16.6 free throws per contest, also the lowest mark in the league.

Mizzou, meanwhile, has shot 25.3 free throws per game in conference play, which suggests something will have to yield in the way of the charity stripe.

“That doesn’t mean they don’t foul, they just do a great job of doing the things that they do well,� Gates said. “They are No. 1 in rim protection. They’re No. 1 in a lot of categories, defensively, and they’re going to do a great job. That environment is going to be a tough environment to play in.�

And the environment is where he thinks the Tigers can take a step toward their ceiling: by “making sure that we’re showing up, from an emotional, mental and physical standpoint to each and every game no matter the environment,� Gates said.

The other part is getting solid outings from more players in the rotation. The shooting of guard Caleb Grill has buoyed MU of late, and while Gates isn’t complaining about that, he’d like to see a tide that raises all boats flow through the rotation. Players like point guard Anthony Robinson II and forward Mark Mitchell are due for impactful performances.

“The other part of it is making sure all cylinders are clicking,� Gates said. “We have yet to play a game where every single person is playing up to their potential, and that’s what I gauge it off of.�

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Mizzou ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ News

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Many factors propelled the Missouri Tigers from 8-24 last season to 17-4 so far this season.

But we’ll start here: Coach Dennis Gates essentially traded young Jordan Butler to South Carolina for hardened Southeastern Conference veteran Josh Gray.

College basketball is a grown-man sport today, and Gates has a bunch of them, Gray included, playing at a high level.

Butler was part of a promising 2023 freshman class that wasn’t ready to produce. And when many things went wrong for the Tigers last season, that was exposed.

Anthony Robinson II struggled with the adjustment to college basketball on and off the court, due in part to family concerns. Trent Pierce dazzled during the summer, then vanished during the season while limited by an inner ear issue.

The wiry Butler threw himself into the fray, but he got manhandled in league play as the Tigers went 0-18.

Missouri would have been more competitive last season had Caleb Grill and John Tonje stayed healthy and starred like they have this season. That didn’t happen, so Truman took a beating.

Grill ranks second in Division I hoops on 3-point shooting with 49% efficiency; Tonje is averaging 18.6 points per game for Wisconsin after moving on from his lost season in Boone County.

Such scoring, combined with what Sean East II and Tamar Bates provided last season, would have won some games.

Ah, the would-haves and should-haves ...

Last season’s failure put Gates squarely on the spot. The equity he built with an exciting run to the NCAA Tournament in Year 1 was gone.

Gates had to make sure this time around. He lined up an excellent freshman class of high-level recruits, but he also marshaled the program’s resources to secure well-tested veterans via the transfer portal.

The Butler-Gray swap with South Carolina was symbolic of that commitment, but it was also integral. Butler still isn’t ready for the SEC, as his limited role with the Gamecocks this season underscored.

Meanwhile, Gray provides this team the rebounding muscle and general aggression needed in this highly physical conference.

Until he totaled 10 points at Mississippi, he hadn’t scored in double figures all season. But that’s not what he’s here for.

“I don’t think I even put a shot up in some of those games where I went scoreless,� Gray noted last week. “I was just really keying in on being locked in on the defensive side, running our stuff right and getting people open with my screens.�

Gates challenged this team to attack the basket and earn free throws. Duke transfer Mark Mitchell led that charge, beating bigger defenders off the dribble and backing down the smaller ones.

Iowa transfer Tony Perkins brought tough on-ball defense and steadiness running the point. He and Robinson set a tenacious defensive tone out front, something the Tigers lacked last season while turnstile Nick Honor logged big minutes.

Like Robinson, Pierce matured during his sophomore season and became an impact player. But UT Martin transfer Jacob Crews, who turns 25 this summer, can tag in as needed and add a lift at both ends of the court.

Northern Kentucky transfer Marques Warrick slid to the edge of the playing rotation during league play, but he is a pure scorer who has produced 12 or more points six times.

Last season, 7-foot-5 Connor Vanover wasn’t the biggest disappointment in program history, but he was among the tallest. Jesus Carralero Martin was a bust after transferring from Campbell — and this season he has been a bust at Bethune-Cookman after transferring there.

Junior college player of the year Curt Lewis quickly proved he wasn’t a high-major player. He moved on to more disappointment at mid-major East Tennessee State.

After enduring last season’s fiasco, Gates went overboard while improving his depth. He gathered 14 viable players, plus 7-foot-5 Trent Burns, who presumably is using a redshirt year to build strength.

Freshmen Marcus Allen, Peyton Marshall and T.O. Barrett have all delivered good stretches in key game situations. And prized recruit Annor Boateng might have the most upside of any player currently running 14th on a Division I depth chart.

But since freshmen eligibility became a thing, it’s never been tougher for first-year players to make a mark. Over at Illinois, Kasparas Jakucionis and Tomislav Ivisic are special cases because of their European training against older players.

Will Riley was one of the top 2024 North American recruits, and even he has experienced serious ups and downs for the Fighting Illini in his first year.

Across the major conferences, teams have acquired established transfer talent at the expense of teenagers. Name, image and likeness money and limitless transfers allow coaches to reload with seasoned veterans.

Jordan Butler doesn’t turn 20 until this summer. Josh Gray, in Year 5 of the SEC wars, turns 24 in April. Gray’s listed 260 pounds is only 20 more than Butler’s listed 240, but he brings about three times more heft in the lane.

Compared side by side, these two big men can tell the story of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 Missouri Tigers.

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Mizzou ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ News

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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri men’s basketball center Josh Gray and three former St. Louis University men’s basketball players are suing the NCAA and its power conferences, echoing familiar antitrust allegations as they seek monetary damages in a new federal lawsuit.

Gray and the former Billikens — Hasahn French, Lamont Evans IV and Jimmy Bell Jr. — are part of a group of 67 athletes arguing they have been harmed by their previous inability to receive compensation for their name, imagine and likeness. They’re now suing to be awarded an unspecified amount in damages.

Their lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in California, accuses the NCAA of price fixing through its policies. The Power Five conferences — the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 — are also defendants.

Those allegations, and the broader question of whether to award damages to college athletes who competed during a time when they were not allowed to receive compensation like they presently can, are nothing new. The sprawling House v. NCAA case in the same Northern California court tackled that issue and spawned a settlement which will send $2.8 billion in back pay to that class of athletes.

This new antitrust lawsuit is tied to the House settlement. The group of 67 athletes now suing the NCAA, led by former Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill, have all opted out of the House settlement.

Doing so is something of a legal gamble. By opting out, they forfeit their share of back pay, which court documents say spread over 10 years for men’s basketball and football players. (The exact amount that a specific player stands to receive is unclear.)

But opting out, which they had to do by Friday’s deadline, preserves their ability to sue the NCAA in similar fashion — which this group elected to do.

Whether this new lawsuit, dubbed Hill et al v. NCAA et al, will produce the damages that these athletes seek — or when that would happen — is also unclear. Nearly five years after the House case was filed, final approval of its settlement is still yet to come.

In the Hill lawsuit, the players argue that NCAA and conference rules kept them from earning compensation for their NIL and “athletic services.� The complaint contains mirroring assertions about those policies’ effect on each individual plaintiff — take Gray’s section as an example:

“Gray has been a valuable asset to the NCAA and the Southeastern Conference,� the lawsuit reads. “But the NCAA’s pay-for-play rules prohibited him from earning any compensation or benefits for his athletic services, aside from the limited and fixed categories of compensation that Defendants allow, primarily an athletic scholarship. But for the NCAA’s anticompetitive rules prohibiting pay-for-play compensation, (Gray) would have received substantial additional compensation in the relevant labor market for his services. He was harmed by these anticompetitive rules.�

The complaint also attacks the NCAA and conferences for making billions of dollars from college sports while athletes weren’t allowed to receive compensation for NIL until 2021.

“Defendants’ actions are solely to enhance revenue for themselves and their for-profit business partners by, for example, being able to take all of the revenue related to the commercial use of student-athletes’ names, images, and likenesses for themselves,� the lawsuit reads. “Defendants’ actions have no relationship to any alleged goal of ‘amateurism.’�

The amount of damages that the Hill plaintiffs are requesting “has not yet been ascertained,� according to the complaint, but given that the athletes opted out of the House settlement, it’s likely more than they would have received from that agreement’s back pay.

The lawsuit is not directed toward the University of Missouri nor St. Louis University.

Gray is in his first season with the Mizzou men’s basketball team and has played in all 21 of the Tigers’ games. He spent the 2020-21 season — the lone season of his career that would be subject to the lawsuit, since NIL compensation became permissible in 2021 — at Louisiana State before transferring to South Carolina.

French played four seasons at SLU, appearing in 117 games between 2017 and 2021.

Evans started his career at South Florida before joining the Billikens for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, in which he played seven games. He now plays at McNeese State.

Bell spent the 2019-21 seasons at St. Louis University before a junior college season, transfer to West Virginia and another transfer to Mississippi State. After giving football a try at his last stop, Bell has declared for the 2025 NFL draft as an offensive lineman.

There’s a chance that the Hill lawsuit will impact final approval of the House settlement. Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court in California’s northern district will hold a hearing April 7 to decide whether she’ll approve, modify or reject the settlement. A wave of objections to the settlement — including those from a former Mizzou walk-on football player and a current MU swimmer — rolled in last week.

“These follow-on lawsuits represent a very small minority of student athletes who could have participated in the settlement process,� the NCAA said in a statement. “We will explore all options as to these new lawsuits, but they do not present an obstacle to approval of the settlement, which will provide landmark new benefits to student athletes and is consistent with antitrust law.�

Did you ever see a football player get hit so viciously that you shudder?

Like, the guy gets hit so hard that your body is affected?

Well, there was this Nick Bolton hit.

It was back in 2019, when the Kansas City Chiefs’ current leading tackler was a Mizzou sophomore. The Tigers hosted Tennessee. The visiting Volunteers had the ball on the Mizzou 2-yard line. The direct snap went to receiver Jauan Jennings, who ran right and scampered toward the goal line. Unbeknownst to this poor fellow, the linebacker locked eyes on him. Bolton bolted to his left and violently crunched Jennings just inches from a touchdown. It wasn’t a tackle; it was a collision.

That was Nick Bolton, age 19.

And now, age 24, Bolton bruises ball carriers in the highest league.

OK, so he’s clearly not Kansas City’s most famous player. He is not even Kansas City’s best defensive player. And heck, watch some games or talk to superfans and you’ll learn about Bolton’s deficiencies in pass coverage. But Bolton is a blue-collar, indispensable part of the red-blooded Chiefs defense. He’s one of those old-school guys who would’ve fit in with the Hank Stram Chiefs.

He just hits.

Hard.

Stuffs the run. Stymies the opposition. And changes games.

Like, for instance, against Jauan Jennings’ team in last year’s Super Bowl.

Of course, the Chiefs are in this year’s Super Bowl — Kansas City will attempt to be the first team to win three straight NFL championships since the Packers did so in the 1960s. But last year, Bolton made a team-high 13 tackles in the overtime win against the 49ers, with two quarterback hits, too (Jennings, to his credit, caught a touchdown pass and threw one, as well).

Oh, and in Bolton’s first Super Bowl, he had a team-high nine tackles ... and scored a touchdown on a 36-yard fumble return.

Get him on the stage, and he’s trouble.

“Nick is the heart and soul of the Chiefs defense,� said former Pro Bowl offensive lineman Tim Grunhard, a member of the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame, to the Post-Dispatch on Sunday. “His hustle and grit that he shows on every play exemplifies the steadfast play that (defensive coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo asks for — and receives from this unit, game in and game out. At the end of games, you can’t call up exotic defenses if you don’t have a unit that can execute the plan. With Nick as the green dot, Spags believes in the communication and believes that his coach on the field will get the unit in the right spot. That is invaluable. The guy just is a student of the game.�

Bolton’s Mizzou story is fascinating because he was just a guy until he became The Guy. A three-star recruit out of Texas, the 2018 freshman Bolton stood out with his special work ethic on special teams. He ended up playing in every game, corralling 22 tackles — but eight came in a game against No. 1 Alabama, after starter Terez Hall (also Bolton’s roommate) was ejected for targeting.

And in Bolton’s second season, his tackle total went from 22 to 107.

One hundred-and-seven!

In that 2019 season, Bolton had the standout hit against Tennessee, but his biggest impact was in a win against West Virginia. Bolton tallied 10 tackles — including three behind the line of scrimmage. Oh, and he made two interceptions, while returning one of them for a touchdown. No. 32 looked like Sean Weatherspoon out there.

He finished the season as an all-Southeastern Conference linebacker. And Pro Football Focus named him to its third-team All-America.

And Bolton stayed after coach Barry Odom was let go.

And as a junior in the 2020 COVID season, Bolton finished with 95 tackles in 10 games — and was a Butkus Award finalist. The Chiefs picked him in the second round of the draft. At this point, he’s a Missouri treasure.

This season, Bolton led the Chiefs with his 106 tackles, including two games with 11.

And in the AFC championship game against the Buffalo Bills, Bolton made six tackles and deflected a pass, while also returning mid-game from an injury. Oh, and perhaps you saw one of his tackles — the fourth-down stuff of quarterback Josh Allen that might’ve, maybe, could’ve been a first down.

This week, the Chiefs will be in the sports media spotlight. Patrick Mahomes! Travis Kelce! Chris Jones! Andy Reid!

But here’s thinking come Sunday, Nick Bolton’s name will earn an exclamation point.

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On many Saturdays, Missouri’s impressive 88-61 victory at No. 14 Mississippi State would have earned some national attention.

Road victories are hard to come by in the Southeastern Conference. Blowout road wins against Top 25 SEC teams are very rare.

Usually, this would be a thing. But not on this Saturday, which was coast-to-coast crazy.

Upsets and unexpected blowouts abounded:

• Kansas State brought a 9-11 record into Ames and routed No. 3 Iowa State 80-61, stunning a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
• Arkansas took a 1-6 Southeastern Conference record into Rupp Arena and rolled to an 89-79 victory over No. 12 Kentucky in John Calipari’s emotional coaching return to Lexington.
• No. 5 Florida went to Tennessee and took a 64-44 powder against the injury- and illness-depleted Vols.
• No. 11 Kansas went to Baylor and got squashed 81-70. The Beakers have lost three of their past six games in the Big 12 to sink toward a middling NCAA Tournament seed.
• No. 6 Houston stumbled 82-81 at home to No. 22 Texas Tech.
• No. 7 Michigan State took a 70-64 fall at Southern California.
• No. 9 Marquette lost 77-69 at home against No. 25 Connecticut.
• No. 24 Vanderbilt took a 97-67 flogging at Oklahoma.

It was just one of those days, as Calipari noted after his Razorbacks shot lights out against his former school.

“Kentucky is a really good team,â€� Calipari said. “We’re fortunate. We had to shoot 70%, 55 and 52 to win the game. If we don’t do that, we lose the game. They’re very, very good. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ went to Tennessee with this same team and won. And then Tennessee comes back and beats Florida by 20.

“This league is crazy.�

In this era of name, image and likeness payments and limitless transfers, the whole industry is crazy.

Here is what folks have been writing about college basketball:

• MIKE LOPRESTI, : “How many screwball things can be crammed into 12 hours of college basketball? Saturday tried to answer that. Really, how could everything on this list happen in one day? But they did. Nos. 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 14 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll could all lose, five of them on their court. The two longest home court streaks in the nation could be guillotined on the same day. ... Kansas State could land in Ames, IA. with a 9-11 record and hammer No. 3 Iowa State by 19 points, the first time in AP poll history that a team below .500 went on the road and smacked a top-5 opponent by more than 15. So ended Iowa State’s 29-game home court winning streak — by a Wildcat team that committed 18 turnovers and had lost 14 true road games in a row.

“A few hours later, No. 6 Houston’s 33-game home court streak could also be snapped by a Texas Tech team that lost its coach and leading scorer to ejections four minutes after the opening tip. Winning 82-81 in overtime, Texas Tech is now 5-0 on the road in the Big 12. ... UC Irvine now has the longest home winning streak in the country at 22. No. 5 Florida, averaging 85.3 points a game, could be suffocated at No. 8 Tennessee 64-44, the first time in 1,168 games the Gators could not get to 45. Tennessee had one starter out sick Saturday, another out injured and only seven scholarship players available. You might remember these two teams played a month ago in Florida where the Gators won 73-43. That’s a 50-point swing in 25 days.�

• CAMERON SALERNO, : “Kentucky fans wanted this win. Arkansas fans wanted this win. People who aren’t fond of John Calipari probably rooted for Kentucky to win. As funny as this sounds, the emotion of Calipari returning to Rupp Arena — a place where he was familiar to the core — might’ve been an advantage for the road team. Had this game been played at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, who knows if it would’ve had the same shock factor. Kentucky lost the one game on its schedule that most of its fans circled on the calendar the second the SEC announced the schedule this past summer.

“The downside of the scheduling and conference expansion is this will be the only scheduled meeting. The only way these two teams will meet again (this season) is either in the SEC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament – with the former looking more realistic. Kentucky coach Mark Pope has worked wonders during his first season with the program. This loss shouldn’t overshadow how good his team has been. If anything, it proves there are no easy wins in the SEC.�

• CRAIG MEYER, USA Today: “Arkansas has moved its way onto the bubble after beating Kentucky in John Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena. The Razorbacks will need to continue to play close to that level to make up for a dreadful 1-6 start in SEC play. For now, 14 of the SEC’s 16 teams still have valid tournament hopes. Indiana, which has lost five of its past six, has little room for error, though its zero losses outside of Quad One games is helping keep it afloat for now. West Virginia’s tournament standing has gotten a little more precarious in the past few weeks, with five losses in its past seven games.”
• BRENDAN MARKS, The Athletic: “(Duke and North Carolina), like every club in college basketball, have fluctuated over the years. Some good, few bad, some truly spectacular. Duke looks like it might have one of the latter this season, a squad surely capable of making the Final Four and cutting down the nets in San Antonio. UNC does not, which in and of itself is not a fatal flaw. Only one team can win it all, right? But that the Tar Heels seem so far behind — and sinking further with each passing loss — is more concerning. And that’s not just about one blowout result, one lopsided loss.”
• MATT NORLANDER, : “Bill Self was hired at Kansas on April 21, 2003. Which means it took 7,957 days — until Saturday, specifically — for the Jayhawks to hit the low point of his Hall of Fame career. Given that it’s Kansas and Bill Self we’re talking about here, even the low points are still pretty high. Most programs can only wish for their darkest moments to look as relatively bright as Kansas’ worst days. Keep in mind the 15-6 Jayhawks are well on their way to the NCAA Tournament for a 35th consecutive time. Slotted No. 11 in the AP Top 25 this week, they’ll still easily be ranked when the polls refresh Monday. Plus, KU is still cozily top-15 in multiple predictive metrics.

“But Saturday proved for good that this team isn’t a 2025 Big 12 contender. ... The Jayhawks fell 81-70 to an unranked Bears team that was without starting point guard Jeremy Roach, then lost likely top-10 pick VJ Edgecombe to a left ankle injury early in the second half. Before that, Kansas was up 21 points. It proceeded to blow its biggest lead in a loss in school history. That’s more than 100 years of Kansas hoops. I can’t believe a Self-coached team actually vomited away that game.

“On a Saturday filled with outrageous finishes and season-altering outcomes, Kansas getting tidal-waved by Baylor is as meaningful a result as any. In the final 21 minutes of gameplay, BU outscored KU 64-32. Kansas became the first ranked team in 15 years to lose by double digits after holding a halftime lead of at least 15 points.�

Megaphone

“I was embarrassed for all of us. It starts with me. It is my responsibility to have the pulse and get them ready to go, either by game plan or motivation. Obviously, we were not today.�

Mississippi State coach Chris Jans, after Missouri curb-stomped his team.

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