The Missouri Tigers won 20 games and made the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season last year. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

COLUMBIA, MO — The University of Missouri men’s basketball program announced on Thursday that it has added another marquee game to its non-conference schedule for next season.

Mizzou will play a neutral sit, non-conference game against longtime Big 8 and Big 12 rival, Nebraska, on December 12, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

The Tigers and Cornhuskers have played 219 previous meetings, with Missouri leading the all-time series, 126-93. It will be the first time Mizzou and Nebraska will face off since March 1, 2011, when the ‘Huskers defeated the Tigers, 69-58, in a Big 12 game in Lincoln.

When Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates met with local media back in April, he hinted at a toughening up his squad’s non-conference schedule for this season.

“With the addition of spots in the NCAA Tournament, I think we’ve got to — and I have to — increase our strength of schedule,” Gates said. “Because the opportunity to get in there as a, you know, not only a 20-win team but something near below, is definitely going to be there if you look at the teams that missed it that they are predicting could have gotten into it if there was an increase to 76 instead of the 68. So when you look at strength of schedule, you want to cover that route.

“When you look at fan participation and neutral site games, that is an advantage in the NET, that’s an advantage in all kind of (matrices) from the standpoint of wins and losses. But also, strength of schedule is going to be important to prepare your team for conference, and we’ve done a good job of that having an Illinois and a Kansas and an SEC/ACC Challenge. But now, what other games are there? I think you guys have read the opportunities that we have of whether it’s going to Chicago, going to Kansas City, or even trying to figure out more games in St Louis, which is important to us.”

Dennis Gates will be back for his fifth season as Mizzou’s head men’s basketball coach. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

Missouri’s other currently scheduled games include a home game against Howard (a team Mizzou played on the road last season), a presumed home game in the ACC/SEC Challenge, the Annual Border War Game against Kansas (which will also be played at T-Mobile Center), the Braggin’ Rights game in St. Louis against Illinois, and, as first reported by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, a neutral-site contest with Marquette in Chicago.

Rothstein also reported that Gates and the Mizzou program have had discussions with Saint Louis University about a potential meeting in St. Louis this season, though those plans have yet to be made official.

Mizzou’s full schedule, including its SEC slate is expected to be released later this summer.