Mizzou Hoops Back Home Tuesday Night vs. Charleston Southern

Tuesday, December 3

Columbia, Mo.

7 PM

University of Missouri

Charleston Southern

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Mizzou Hoops Back Home Tuesday Night vs. Charleston Southern

12/2/2019 4:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Tip off is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus

Mizzou Returns Home to Play Charleston Southern on Tuesday Night
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Charleston Southern	Columbia, Mo.	Tuesday, Dec. 3	7:00 PM	SEC +	Stats

Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

Game Notes

STORYLINES

Entering tonight's matchup with Charleston Southern, Mizzou is 17-1 at home in nonconference play under head coach Cuonzo Martin. The Tigers have won nine straight such games. A win tonight would give Mizzou a 5-0 start in home games for the second time in three seasons under Martin. The Tigers were 7-0 in nonconference action at home during the 2017-18 campaign.
In its four home games thus far, Mizzou has outscored opponents by 23 points per game, and each by at least 15 points.
Mizzou suffered back-to-back losses in nonconference play for just the second time since Martin took over at the helm. The Tigers have never lost three consecutive nonconference games in that span.
Mizzou and Charleston Southern face off for the first time in their program histories tonight. Mizzou is 6-1 all-time against Big South foes.
Mizzou's seven opponents thus far this season are a combined 36-14 this season, a winning percentage of .720. That is the 15th highest opponent winning percentage nationally. Only eight power conference teams have faced a tougher schedule when factoring the opposition's winning percentage.
Mizzou ranks 20th nationally in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency metric, allowing just 89.0 points per 100 possessions. The Tigers rank 47th in field goal percentage defense, 50th in 3-point field goal percentage defense and 17th in scoring defense.
The Tigers are cashing in at the charity stripe through seven games, making 75 percent of their attempts, the third highest clip in the SEC.
Mizzou has been heating up in second halves this season. Martin's squad has outscored every opponent in second halves and outpaced opponents by a combined 61 points in second halves this season (240-179).
No opponent has made more than eight threes in a game against Mizzou this season as the Tigers are allowing just 5.7 treys per game (40 total).
Before Oklahoma scored 77 in the Tigers' last outing, Mizzou had held six opponents to 63 or fewer points in six consecutive games to start a season for the first time since 1951-52, when the Tigers did so in eight straight games.
After Morehead State managed 52 points on Nov. 20, Mizzou is 19-0 under Martin when holding its foe to 59 or fewer points, and has won 26 of its last 27 games overall when doing so. Mizzou has held opponents under 70 points 43 times in 72 games under Martin (59.7 percent of games).

CAPITALIZING AT THE LINE

Mizzou is shooting 75 percent (96-of-128) at the free throw line this season, the SEC's third-best free throw percentage this season, trailing Kentucky and Arkansas. It's an improvement from Mizzou's 70.6 percent clip from the charity stripe last season.
The Tigers have only shot above 75 percent in a season two times in program history - 76.6 percent in 2011-12 and 75.8 percent in 1996-97.
Mizzou is earning more trips to the line this season, averaging 18.3 attempts per game after averaging 16 attempts per contest in 2018-19.
Mizzou's guard tandem of Dru Smith, Mark Smith and Xavier Pinson are a large part of the Tigers' success at the free throw line. The duo has taken 63.3 percent of Mizzou's 128 attempts, and converted a combined 81.5 percent of those attempts.
Dru Smith is boasting an SEC-best 92.6 percent clip from the free throw line (25-of-27), which ranks 30th nationally. Dru has made 22 consecutive free throw attempts, 17 shy of the Mizzou program record set by Jason Sutherland. Sutherland made 39 straight free throws in 1995-96.

SOPHOMORE PRODUCTION KEY

Coming into the season, Mizzou returned 60.4 percent of its scoring from 2018-19. The depth of the Tigers' bench figured to play a factor in Mizzou's
successes — eight of the 13 scholarship players on the roster had at least 31 games of Division I experience under their belts.
A key part of that returning experience is the sophomore trio of Xavier Pinson, Torrence Watson and Javon Pickett. The trio played a combined 94 games a season ago and made a combined 47 starts. They each scored 200+ points in their freshman season, becoming the first Tiger trio since Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding and Wesley Stokes in 1999-2000 to do so in their first campaign.
Pinson is averaging 8.6 points off the bench through seven games - fourth-best on the team, while shooting 40 percent from the field and 76.7 percent from the free throw line. He boasts a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks 11th in the SEC.
Pinson has scored at least eight points off the bench five times in seven games to begin his sophomore campaign. He reached the eight-point mark just 12 times as a freshman. The flashy point guard is carrying over success from a season ago. He averaged 13.3 points over the final three games, including 20 points vs. Ole Miss and 15 points in the SEC Tournament win over Georgia.
Pinson tossed in 15 points in the season opener vs. Incarnate Word, making a career-high eight free throws in the process. He added five assists, one shy of his career high. He followed with eight points and a career-high tying six assists off the bench vs. Northern Kentucky. He now has six 5+ assist games in his career. The performances vs. Incarnate Word and Northern Kentucky marked the first back-to-back 5-assist games of his career.
Watson has struggled out of the gate to get his shot going after draining a freshman program-record 53 triples a season ago. He broke out of the funk in Mizzou's last game vs. Oklahoma, scoring 11 points and hitting 3-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc off the bench.
Watson has made multiple triples in a game 16 times in his career after the performance vs. the Sooners. He's made at least one 3-pointer in 29 of his 39 career games.
Sophomore Javon Pickett is a do-it-all guard for head coach Cuonzo Martin, who describes Pickett as his construction worker who brings a hard hat every day, and can guard any position. Pickett has started 36 of 37 games since coming to Mizzou. He logged 808 minutes as a freshman - joining Jontay Porter, Terrence Phillips and Johnathan Williams III as the only Tiger freshmen with 800+ minutes this decade.
Pickett posted 10 points and eight boards vs. Incarnate Word, the fourth true guard to reach those numbers under Martin at Mizzou alongside Kassius Robertson, Jordan Geist and Mark Smith.
Pickett filled the box score with nine points, five boards and three assists in a team-high 33 minutes vs. Morehead State. He's scored at least seven points 22 times in 36 games at Mizzou. Pickett trails only Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., in offensive rebounds on Mizzou's roster this season. Thirty-three percent of his 27 rebounds this season have come on the offensive glass.
Pickett is also taking care of the rock better. After committing 48 turnovers in 31 games a season ago, he's coughing it up just 1.1 times per outing in 2019-20.

DRUUUUU

Dru Smith exploded for 22 points, a career-high 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals at No. 21 Xavier, securing his first career double-double. He became the first Tiger to record at least 22 points, 10 boards, four dimes and three steals in a game since Doug Smith did so vs. Oklahoma in 1991.
He had 11 points, nine rebounds & five assists vs. Morehead State, the first Tiger to hit those marks in a game since Earnest Ross in 2014.
Most recently, Dru poured in 19 points vs. Butler, then followed with nine points and seven assists vs. Oklahoma.
Dru now has two games with at least seven assists this season through seven outings. He's already become just the fifth Tiger since 2013-14 to have a pair of 7-assist games in the same season, joining Jordan Clarkson, Keith Shamburger, Terrence Phillips and Blake Harris.
Dru is averaging 12.3 points, and leading the team in assists (4.7), steals (2.0) and free throw makes (3.8). He is one of just 10 players in the SEC averaging 2.0 steals per game and one of just seven players in the league averaging at least 4.7 assists. Only Dru and Mississippi State's Tyson Carter are averaging both 2.0 swipes and 4.7 assists.
In his 56-game career, Dru has only gone one game without recording an assist, which came all the way back on Dec. 3, 2016, giving him 49 consecutive games with an assist. He's now posted 22 straight multi-assist outings after dishing seven vs. Oklahoma.
He's also collected a steal in 18 consecutive games dating back to Dec. 9, 2017.
Dru surpassed the 200 career assist mark with a season-high seven dimes vs. Wofford, his most in a game since Dec. 5, 2017, vs. Bowling Green. He's now dished at least six assists in a game 12 times in his career. He's the first Tiger with seven assists in a game since Jordan Geist vs. Illinois last season.
Dru sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. He is one of five Division I players in the last 20 years to shoot at least 45 percent from 3-point range, 55 percent from the field and 85 percent from the free throw line in the same season (Thomas Welsh - UCLA, Sterling Brown - SMU, Nick Masteron - Kennesaw State, Sam Sussenguth - North Dakota State). He's the only one in that group of five playing in 2019-20.
In 2017-18 at Evansville, he played just 22 games due to an injury. In those games, he reached double figures 18 times and scored 20+ points four times.
Dru is also a career 86.4 percent free throw shooter. He's made 67 of his last 73 attempts from the free throw line (91.8 percent). His 8-for-8 performance from the line at Xavier marked the best outing by a Tiger at the charity stripe since Kassius Robertson went 8-for-8 on Feb. 3, 2018, vs. No. 21 Kentucky. Dru's knocked down 22 consecutive free throws since missing two in the season opener. The Mizzou record is 39 consecutive made free throws set by Jason Sutherland in 1995-96.