The No. 9 ranked Missouri Tigers are back at home after splitting the past two games on the road to take on the Texas Longhorns. Conference play has just began an both teams are sitting at 2-1, the loss for Missouri came against the Kansas St. Wildcats and was their first loss of the season.
The difference in this game could come down to experience as Missouri is one of the more experienced teams in the country as they start three seniors, a junior and a sophomore, while their top three off the bench are all seniors. As for Texas they are one of the greenest teams in the country and rely heavily on six freshman.
Rock M Nation takes a look at the strengths and weaknesses of Texas:
Where the 'Horns are weakest
I covered some of it above, but they rank 233rd in Off. 3PT% and 147th in Def. 3PT%. They are 325th in Experience, 264th in Def. Reb% and 269th in fouling. Their strengths are strong, and their weaknesses are really weak.
Where they are best
It is an odd contradiction, but when they are not giving up open 3's, they are probably giving up a well-contested 2. They are ninth in Def. 2PT%, and their ranking of 25th in Def. FT% suggests that most of their fouling takes place inside (where Mizzou doesn't have many foul-drawers). And again, they do pull down second-chance opportunities and go to the line quite a bit. The messier this game is, the better chance Texas has.
Game date/time: Saturday, Jan. 14, 12:00 p.m CT.
Location: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Mo.
TV: ESPN
Radio: 680 The Fan, NBA Audio League Pass
Online Streaming: WatchESPN
For more on the Missouri Tigers go check out Rock M Nation and for all things related to the Texas Longhorns go visit Burnt Orange Nation.