From early in the game, there was absolutely no doubt that the Tigers would beat Mississippi State. Mizzou took a 14-point lead into the half and never looked back. The 27-point win over No. 14 Mississippi State gives Missouri its fourth win over a ranked opponent this season and its second straight win over a ranked team for the first time since the 2022-23 season. This is also the first win in Starkville for the Tigers since February 2013.
Eleven different Missouri players scored in the 88-61 win, but none were more impressive than Caleb Grill. Grill made six threes and led the team in scoring with 20 points off the bench. Tamar Bates scored 14 points in the win, and Josh Gray finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for his third career double-double and his first as a Missouri Tiger.
Missouri also had a great day on the defensive end. The Tigers held a solid Mississippi State offense to just 61 points and 37 percent from the floor. Missouri also forced 11 turnovers, most of them in the first half, and scored 17 points off turnovers. This was the 20th game this season that a Missouri opponent finished with at least 10 turnovers.
With how well the Tigers played, it was hard to drill down to just a few takeaways from this massive win, but here are three takeaways from Missouri’s win over No. 14 Mississippi State.
1. Caleb Grill has turned Missouri into an great three-point shooting team.
Beating a team that makes double-digit threes is incredibly hard to do. Just ask any Mizzou opponent. Since Dennis Gates took over as head coach, the Tigers have an incredible 33-4 record when making 10 or more threes. The four losses came last season, which was a complete disaster. This season the Tigers are 11-0 in such games. The biggest difference has been Caleb Grill.
Everyone knew Grill was a good three-point shooter, but he has proven to be one of the best in the country this season. Prior to the game at Mississippi State, Grill was making 48.3 percent from deep. Following a 6/11 performance in Starkville, his average has improved to 49 percent on the season. Multiple other players on the roster are complimentary three-point scorers, but none come close to what Grill has done this season.
Since the start of SEC play, including the game at Mississippi State, Missouri is the second-best three-point shooting team in the conference making 39.9 percent from deep (trailing only Kentucky). While Grill is having a great season, he is pulling the team along with him, greatly improving Missouri’s offensive ceiling.
2. Rebounding isn’t as big a concern as it once was.
One of my biggest frustrations with Missouri since Dennis Gates took over has been how bad the Tigers were on the boards. While still not great, this season has proved that even with the high-pressure defense that Gates likes to run, the Tigers can still be competitive on the glass. Gone are the days of getting absolutely crushed on the boards. Last season, Missouri was out0rebounded by double-digits 16 times in 32 games. This season, that has only happened three times, with the only loss being to Illinois.
Mississippi State is one of the best rebounding teams in the SEC and Missouri held the Bulldogs to its third-lowest rebounding total (31) of the season. That isn’t something that I thought would be possible coming into the season. Having the likes of Mark Mitchell and Josh Gray patrolling the boards has made a huge difference for Missouri this season. There are still a couple of teams on the schedule that will test the Tiger's rebounding, but from what we’ve seen so far this season the Tigers are more than capable of holding their own on the glass.
3. The defense is good but still has room for improvement.
A year ago, or even at the start of the season, if you told me that Missouri would be holding opponents to under 69 points per game this far into the season I wouldn’t have believed you. Even in Dennis Gates’ first season in which the Tigers won 25 games, the defense gave up over 74 points per game. Teams are only making 42 percent from the floor, which has been a huge boost for this Missouri team. One of the big reasons for the defensive improvement has been that the roster makeup is much more even across all positions and there are some legitimate defenders on the team, most notably Anthony Robinson, Josh Gray, and Mark Mitchell.
Though the defense is better, the Tigers still have some things to work on. The biggest is defending the three. Missouri has allowed 10 teams to make at least 35 percent from behind the arc this season, including Auburn and Memphis. Outside of those two losses, Missouri’s three-point defense almost cost the team a couple of wins against mid-major programs early in the season. Though it didn’t make a huge difference against Mississippi State, the Tigers allowed an MSU team that averages 8.5 made threes per game to hit six from deep in the first half. This could cause some issues if the Tigers ever go cold from deep, but luckily for Mizzou, this hasn’t been an issue yet this season.