Missouri Basketball: 3 reasons why Tigers can advance in NCAA Tournament

1. Can get red-hot from three-point range

When Mizzou starts hitting threes they are a hard team to beat. Missouri is one of the best teams in the country when it comes to making threes, hitting 309 of them. On the season the Tigers are averaging 9.4 made threes per game, which ranks 23rd in the country. This year, Missouri was able to make 10 or more threes 17 times, going undefeated in those games.

The biggest reason for their success from three this season was senior guard D’Moi Hodge, who accounted for 95 made threes by himself. Hodge averaged nearly 3 made threes per game while hitting them at a 40 percent clip. While teams were focused on stopping Hodge from getting hot from three, this opened up opportunities for other Tigers to knock down some shots behind the arc. Nick Honor and Kobe Brown also provided a large portion of the teams made threes this season. Honor made 52 threes, hitting 39.7 percent of his shots from behind the arc.

Brown was the biggest surprise when it comes to three-point shooting. Kobe was known for his size and for being a matchup nightmare for anyone who guarded him, but this year added another strength to his game – a consistent three-point shot. In his previous three seasons at Missouri Brown made a total of 49 threes, only making 23.6 percent of them. This year Kobe has made 46 total threes shooting 44.7 percent, a huge improvement.

When Missouri starts hitting threes there aren’t many teams that can match them shot for shot. The Tigers are great at running the court and looking for early open threes. If Mizzou gets a favorable seed in the NCAA Tournament, I don’t think many teams have the team depth to run with the Tigers and prevent Missouri from making shots from behind the arc.