They don’t come much more overmatched, on paper, than this.
Missouri basketball will play Mississippi Valley State on Thursday evening at Mizzou Arena, the visiting Delta Devils arriving in Columbia as the last-ranked Division-I team on the basketball analytics site KenPom’s rankings.
The team from Itta Bena, Mississippi, is 1-1 on the season, dropping its opener at Iowa State 83-44 before defeating Division-III Mississippi University for Women last Thursday.
Mizzou (2-1) is currently on its first winning streak since winning four straight over the course of last November and early December. Dennis Gates’ Tigers defeated Eastern Washington on Monday behind 33 points and nine rebounds from senior guard Caleb Grill, which followed a win against Howard last Friday and a loss at Memphis in their season-opener.
The Columbia Daily Tribune is live on site at Mizzou Arena for the Tigers’ third home game of the season. You can follow along on this page for updates on every key play and major update live from the game:
This section will be updated when the game begins.
5:10 p.m.: Eli Hoff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported that Missouri point guard Tony Perkins will miss this evening’s game with a leg injury. The injury is not believed to be serious. Still no word on freshman center Trent Burns, who has missed the past three games, but we’ll reach out to a team spokesperson to check.
Missouri’s game against Mississippi Valley State will begin at 6:30 p.m. CDT Thursday at Mizzou Arena.
Tickets for the game at Mizzou Arena are currently available on StubHub for as low as $1.
Missouri’s game against Mississippi Valley State will stream live on SEC Network+, which is accessible via ESPN+. KOMU’s Ben Arnet will be the play-by-play announcer for the game, and former Missouri women’s basketball guard Jordan Roundtree will be the on-air analyst.
The game will not air on a cable network, but if your cable subscription has SEC Network included you can access SEC Network+ for free.
You can also watch Missouri-Mississippi Valley State on FUBO, which offers a free trial to potential customers.
Watch Missouri vs. Mississippi Valley State free with FUBO
Missouri 82, Mississippi Valley State 49
Anything other than an opportunity for some relief reps for the Tigers’ reserves late on in this game is a hiccup. The Delta Devils went 1-30 last season.
“The things we have to improve on, when you look at our stat sheet, is a positive a more positive assist-to-turnover ratio; more positive rebounding margin, continue to execute on the free throw line,” Gates told local media Wednesday. “But also when it comes down to the second half, I think we’ve got to continue to do a better job of putting two halves together. Those are areas that I think we can learn from and continue to grow.”
Missouri’s 7-foot-5 freshman center Trent Burns has missed the Tigers’ first three games of the season with what has been reported as an illness. There is currently no official word from the team if he will be available to face Mississippi Valley State or not.
Home games are listed in bold.
Neutral-site game listed with an asterisk (*).
All times listed in CDT.
Date (time) | Opponent | Location | TV channel / Result |
Nov. 4 | Memphis | Memphis, Tenn. | Memphis 83, Mizzou 75 (0-1) |
Nov. 8 | Howard | Mizzou Arena | Missouri 77, Howard 62 (1-1) |
Nov. 11 | Eastern Washington | Mizzou Arena | Missouri 84, EWU 77 (2-1) |
Nov. 14 (6:30 p.m.) | Miss. Valley State | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Nov. 22 (6:30 p.m.) | Pacific | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Nov. 24 (4 p.m.) | Arkansas-Pine Bluff | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Nov. 27 (5:30 p.m.) | Lindenwood | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Dec. 3 (6 p.m.) | California | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Dec. 8 (noon) | Kansas | Mizzou Arena | ESPN2 |
Dec. 14 (11 a.m.) | LIU | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Dec. 17 (6:30 p.m.) | Jacksonville State | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Dec. 22 (noon) | Illinois* | St. Louis | ESPN |
Dec. 30 (6:30 p.m.) | Alabama State | Mizzou Arena | SECN+ |
Jan. 4 (3 p.m.) | Auburn | Auburn, Ala. | SEC Network |
Jan. 7 (8 p.m.) | LSU | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Jan. 11 (2:30 p.m.) | Vanderbilt | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Jan. 14 (8 p.m.) | Florida | Gainesville, Fla. | ESPNU |
Jan. 18 (5 p.m.) | Arkansas | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Jan. 21 (8 p.m.) | Texas | Austin, Texas | SEC Network |
Jan. 25 (5 p.m.) | Ole Miss | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Feb. 1 (noon) | Mississippi State | Starkville, Miss. | SEC Network |
Feb. 5 (6 p.m.) | Tennessee | Knoxville, Tenn. | SEC Network |
Feb. 8 (2:30 p.m.) | Texas A&M | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Feb. 12 (8 p.m.) | Oklahoma | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Feb. 15 (2:30 p.m.) | Georgia | Athens, Ga. | SEC Network |
Feb. 19 (8 p.m.) | Alabama | Mizzou Arena | SEC Network |
Feb. 22 (7 p.m.) | Arkansas | Fayetteville, Ark. | ESPN/ESPN2 |
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.) | South Carolina | Mizzou Arena | ESPN2/ESPNU |
March 1 (5 p.m.) | Vanderbilt | Nashville, Tenn. | SEC Network |
March 5 (7 p.m.) | Oklahoma | Norman, Ok. | SECN+ |
March 8 (11 a.m.) | Kentucky | Mizzou Arena | ESPN/SEC Network |
March 12-16 | SEC Tournament | Nashville, Tenn. | TBD |
March 18-April 7 | NCAA Tournament | TBD | TBD |
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