Missouri vs Jackson State: 2023-24 college basketball preview, TV schedule

After coming back to beat Minnesota earlier in the week, Missouri looks to avoid a letdown as they take on Jackson State of the SWAC.

TV Schedule: Sunday, November 19, 6:00 pm ET (ESPN+)
Location: Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri

Coming off an emotional win over Minnesota on Thursday night, the Missouri Tigers (3-1) look to get a second win in a row when the Jackson State Tigers come to town. Missouri fell behind early against Minnesota, who couldn’t miss from behind the three-point arc even if they wanted to, making seven first-half threes. Mizzou kept the game in check only trailing by six at the break. Before things got better for the Tigers things got worse.

Within the first ten minutes of the second half, the Gophers had pushed their lead to 20 points, Caleb Grill got tossed from the game, and it looked like a route by Minnesota was all but certain. But this only lit a fire under Missouri. Nick Honor went on an eight-point scoring run of his own to cut the lead to 12. Within roughly six minutes of game time, the lead was down to four. Missouri took its first lead of the game with 9.9 seconds left and held on for the win. But we aren’t here to completely relive the Minnesota win, so let’s move forward to the matchup with JSU.

Through the first four games of the season, Missouri has three players averaging over 11 points per game. Sean East II continues to lead the team, averaging 16 points. Followed closely by fellow returning seniors Noah Carter who is averaging 13.3 points and Nick Honor with 11.8 points per game. The offense might not be as good as it was last season, but the offensive play of these three should put Missouri in a good position to win a lot of games again this year.

The defense, on the other hand, has looked improved early this season. Though the first four games last season Missouri was giving up over 77 points per game, this season through the first four games that number is just under 67 points per game. And the games this season have been against better competition, so to see the defense step up like this is reassuring as the team moves forward. A large part of the improvement on this side of the court has been the play of Aidan Shaw, who is averaging 5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks.

Jackson State (0-5) hasn’t found much success this year, as they are still looking for their first win. JSU dropped their most recent game against Tulsa by 20 points. Their closest game to date has been a 14-point loss to Cal Baptist. The one bright spot for JSU has been the play of Ken Evans, who boasts a season-high of 33 points in a loss to Loyola Marymount. Evans is currently averaging 18.2 points and 5 rebounds. A handful of other Jackson State players are averaging over 5 points, but haven’t been adding a ton to the offense. Mo Williams’ squad is averaging just over 64 points per game while giving up over 84. There isn’t much going right for JSU so far this season on the defensive end.

This will be Missouri’s second matchup against a SWAC opponent, and much like their first this shouldn’t be much of a game. Missouri has all of their major players back from injury/suspension and is starting to mesh well as a team. Mizzou will need to keep an eye on Ken Evans, but JSU has proven that even if Evans goes off the rest of the offense isn’t enough to get the win. Missouri should be able to score with relative ease in this one.

I don’t think this game will be a close one. I expect Missouri to try out a few different lineups, as Head Coach Dennis Gates continues to figure out the best rotations moving forward. Barring any disasters, Missouri should walk away with win number four on the season.