The No. 15 Missouri Tigers have put their terrible 2023-24 season behind them and are skyrocketing with an offensive buzzsaw that is whirring through the conference.
The Tigers will take that explosive offense on the road Saturday night in Fayetteville, Ark., where they will face the Arkansas Razorbacks, who are having a resurgence all their own.
Missouri has shown plenty of firepower this season in rising into the ranks of the ranked, demonstrating that again Wednesday night as No. 4 Alabama rolled into the “Show Me State” looking to rebound from a loss to top-ranked Auburn.
The Tigers (20-6, 9-4 Southeastern Conference) were ready to shut down any Crimson Tide-colored redemption.
In the first half, Missouri shot 61.1 percent (22 of 36) from the floor while producing 59 points and hassling Alabama into 10 turnovers.
When the nets eventually stopped swishing in Missouri’s 110-98 victory, the Tigers had posted their highest point total in a non-overtime conference game since 1990.
Duke transfer Mark Mitchell notched a career-high 31 points, while Caleb Grill netted 25 and equaled his career best with 10 rebounds as Missouri beat a top-five foe for the third time this season.
The Tigers won of the fifth time in the past seven games, and they tallied at least 81 points in six of those seven contests.
The squad’s transformation from 0-18 SEC disaster last season into skilled shooters and high-flying transition players has been exquisite to watch.
Coach Dennis Gates improved by retaining five core players from season and adding transfers Mitchell, guard Tony Perkins (Iowa), 7-footer Josh Gray (South Carolina), guard Marques Warrick (Northern Kentucky) and guard Jacob Crews (UT Martin).
“The past is the past,” said the sharpshooting Grill. “You can only control what’s going forward. You’ll have anxiety about last season if you think about last season, and that’s an uncontrollable.”
The Razorbacks (15-11, 4-9) will have to be better against the red-hot Tigers, who won 83-65 at home on Jan. 18 to deal Arkansas its fifth straight setback to start conference play.
Since then, coach John Calipari’s team bounced back nicely and entered the NCAA Tournament conversation.
On Wednesday at Auburn, Arkansas hung in against the nation’s top squad for the game’s majority and even took a one-point lead with 3:06 left. However, that bucket by Johnell Davis turned out to be the visitors’ last field goal in a 60-67 loss that damaged the Razorbacks’ March Madness hopes.
In February, the Razorbacks have split their six games. One of those contests was an 89-79 upset win at then-No. 12 Kentucky, where Calipari coached for 15 seasons.
Arkansas cannot have the scoring drought that it did at Auburn if it hopes to beat Missouri, which has won three straight and ranks fifth in SEC scoring at 83.7 points per game.
While the No. 1 team went only 4 of 24 on 3-point attempts against Arkansas, the Razorbacks could not capitalize, canning just 3 of 19 from long range, including an 0-for-9 performance by 7-foot-2 Zvonimir Ivisic.
Ivisic’s missed shots did not bother Calipari. The effort did.
“You don’t have to make shots, but fight and come up with balls,” Calipari said after his side was outrebounded 42-29. “Don’t even give me an excuse. He outworked you. That’s what we’ve had happen.
“Every goal we talked about we reached, except the rebounding.”
