Mizzou point guard Nick Honor pulls in a loose ball during Friday night’s men’s basketball game against Memphis at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (Photo: Cedric Williams)

NCAA Men’s Basketball12Final
Memphis (2-0)264470
Missouri (1-1)332255

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

COLUMBIA, MO — In his first season as University of Missouri men’s basketball head coach Dennis Gates wanted to help his team build confidence by scheduling a bunch of early season games against opponents that were also trying to rebuild their own programs.

That ploy worked, as the Tigers won their first nine games, were 11-1 heading into SEC league play, and eventually went 25-10 to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

This year, with a team that features a few more older players and a number of returnees that know and understand his style, Gates wanted the early season schedule to be a bit different. This time, he wanted to put a few more challenging games on the schedule.

Missouri faced its first real test on Friday, when it hosted Memphis, an NCAA Tournament team from last year, that might be one of the best mid-major teams in the country.

Mizzou failed that first test, as Memphis came to Mizzou Arena and took over in the second half to hand the host Tigers a 77-50 defeat.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Gates said. “Obviously, I thought we played an unreal 17 minutes. Then that middle portion of the 40
minutes, that core nucleus of the game; I thought Memphis was able to win it.”

Missouri led 31-19 with four minutes to go in the first half, but Memphis was able to close the gap to 33-26 by halftime. Then when the visitors came out for the second half, they really took over the game.

Memphis put together two tremendous runs. First, it began the second half with a 12-3 burst to take the lead at 38-36. Then after, Mizzou scored a bucket to tie the score again, Memphis went on a 10-0 run to go up 48-38.

In that middle stretch of the game Gates mentioned, Memphis outscored Missouri 29-7 to take a lead it would never relinquish.

“They were able to make some shots early,” Gates said. “Once we got a tie, I want to say at the nine-minute mark, we missed probably 16 (of 17) shots, but we got eight or nine stops ourselves. We weren’t able to capitalize on what I thought were the advantages that we created that came with rebounds and getting the open looks that we got.”

Poor shooting is what really hurt Mizzou. The Tigers made just 18 of 56 shots on the night, including just six-of-28 three-point attempts, and scored just 22 points in the second half.

Memphis didn’t shoot great either, but it did put up 44 points in the second half to put the game away.

“I’m just tremendously proud of my guys,” Memphis assistant coach Rick Stansbury said. “This crowd here tonight was unbelievable and they made it really tough for us at the beginning of the game. But we talked about before the game, you have to withstand that and get past it and stay together. And our guys did that.

“This Missouri team is a really good team and they’re gonna be a team that at the end of the year, nobody’s gonna wanna play them. So for us to come in here and play well against them and handle this crowd, it gives me a lot of confidence about this team.”

Four Memphis players scored in double-figures, led by former Alabama star Jahvon Quinerly, who put a game-high 18 points. Teammate David Jones had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

For Missouri, Sean East scored 14 points — all in the first half — and was joined by Noah Carter, who had 10 points, as the only players to reach double-figures in scoring. Caleb Grill led the team with 10 rebounds, but also made just two-of-11 shots and only hit one-of-eight three-pointers.

“I still want these guys to shoot the shots that they took,” Gates said. “I truly believe there may not be a shooting display like that, we went 6-for-28. That is not the stat that I want. I think and I know our guys are better shooters than that and they have displayed it over a long period of time since the summer.”

Mizzou (1-1) will look to get on the winning track when it hosts SIU-Edwardsville in a game at Mizzou Arena on Monday. The Tigers will then play their first road game of the season, in another big early-season test, when it visits Minnesota on Thursday.

“I think going forward is learning and learning from your experiences, which is ultimately why we schedule the way that we did,” Gates said. “I thought putting yourself in a situation where on the positive side, you can come away with a win and on the negative side, you can lose a game.

“Now is it a loss or a lesson? That’s the question and we will find out Monday. But ultimately, we’ll figure out how and what we gained from this opportunity, no different than we did last season. That is where the test comes in. Again, our fans showed up. It was a tremendous atmosphere. It displayed that in the first half. Now we will look at the film and decide if it is either a loss or a lesson and figure out which one it is.”

Tip off for Monday’s matchup with SIUE is set for 7 p.m.

Memphis 70

##PlayerGSMINFG3PTFTORB-DRBREBPFATOBLKSTLPTS
11Quinerly,Jahvon*347-102-42-20-881540318
10Walton,Jaykwon*335-83-50-10-333202113
08Jones,David*274-142-50-31-9103210110
23Dandridge,Malcolm*112-30-02-32-24410206
02Jourdain,Nick*140-20-10-01-56210100
03Brown,Jordan176-100-00-02-352010212
09Mills,Caleb332-50-14-53-14221108
01Young,Jayhlon61-20-00-00-22101002
25Hardaway,Jayden170-50-21-20-00221001
00Pierre,Jonathan50-30-10-01-01001000
04Hardaway,Ashton30-00-00-00-00001000
TMTEAM00-00-00-01-34000000
Totals–20027-627-199-1611-36472015116770

Missouri 55

##PlayerGSMINFG3PTFTORB-DRBREBPFATOBLKSTLPTS
55East II, Sean*385-82-42-40-111210214
35Carter, Noah*344-121-41-20-662210010
10Honor, Nick*313-62-30-00-22111018
31Grill, Caleb*292-111-81-21-910111026
13Carralero Martin, Jesus*140-50-10-02-13322110
02Bates, Tamar141-30-24-40-00201026
14Robinson II, Anthony100-20-25-50-22100005
23Shaw, Aidan161-20-00-00-33301102
01Brown, Kaleb21-20-10-00-11101002
05Tonje, John21-10-00-00-11001002
11Pierce, Trent50-30-20-00-22101100
00Butler, Jordan30-10-10-00-00100000
45Majak, Mabor20-00-00-00-00000000
TMTEAM00-00-00-02-02001000
Totals–20018-566-2813-175-2833178123855

2023-24 Mizzou Tigers Men’s Basketball Schedule

DateTimeAtOpponentLocationTV
November 13, 2023 (Monday)7 p.m.HomeSIU-EdwardsvilleMizzou Arena
November 16, 2023 (Thursday)8 p.m.AwayMinnesotaMinneapolis, Minn.
November 19, 2023 (Sunday)5 p.m.HomeJackson StateMizzou Arena
November 22, 2023 (Wednesday)6 p.m.HomeSouth Carolina StateMizzou Arena
November 25, 2023 (Saturday)11 a.m.HomeLoyolaMizzou Arena
November 28, 2023 (Tuesday)6:30 p.m.AwayPittsburghPittsburgh, Pa.
December 3, 2023 (Sunday)2 p.m.HomeWichita StateMizzou Arena
December 9, 2023 (Saturday)4:15 p.m.AwayKansasLawrence, Kan.
December 17, 2023 (Sunday)4 p.m.T-Mobile CenterSeton HallKansas City, Mo.
December 22, 2023 (Friday)8 p.m.Enterprise CenterIllinoisSt. Louis, Mo.
December 30, 2023 (Saturday)2 p.m.HomeCentral ArkansasMizzou Arena
January 6, 2024 (Saturday)NoonHomeGeorgiaMizzou Arena
January 9, 2024 (Tuesday)6 p.m.AwayKentuckyLexington, Ky.
January 13, 2024 (Saturday)2:30 p.m.HomeSouth CarolinaMizzou Arena
January 16, 2024 (Tuesday)6 p.m.AwayAlabamaTuscaloosa, Ala.
January 20, 2024 (Saturday)TBAHomeFloridaMizzou ArenaESPN or ESPN2
January 23, 2024 (Tuesday)8 p.m.AwayTexas A&MCollege Station, Texas
January 27, 2024 (Saturday)Noon CTAwaySouth CarolinaColumbia, S.C.
January 31, 2024 (Wednesday)7:30 p.m.HomeArkansasMizzou Arena
February 3, 2024 (Saturday)2:30 p.m.AwayVanderbiltNashville, Tenn.
February 7, 2024 (Wednesday)8 p.m.HomeTexas A&MMizzou Arena
February 10, 2024 (Saturday)7:30 p.m.HomeMississippi StateMizzou Arena
February 17, 2024 (Saturday)7:30 p.m.AwayOle MissOxford, Miss.
February 20, 2024 (Tuesday)6 p.m.HomeTennesseeMizzou Arena
February 24, 2024 (Saturday)11 a.m.AwayArkansasFayetteville, Ark.ESPN or ESPN2
February 28, 2024 (Wednesday)5:30 p.m. CTAwayFloridaGainesville, Fla.
March 2, 2024 (Saturday)7:30 p.m.HomeOle MissMizzou Arena
March 5, 2024 (Tuesday)8 p.m.HomeAuburnMizzou Arena
March 9, 2024 (Saturday)7:30 p.m.AwayLSUBaton Rouge, La.
March 13-17, 2024 (Wednesday)TBABridgestone ArenaSEC TournamentNashville, Tenn.