SEC Basketball Preview/Prediction: Missouri at Vanderbilt

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Missouri visits Vanderbilt on Wednesday in a key SEC basketball matchup. Look inside for a preview of the game along with a prediction of the game’s final score.

By 14Powers Hoops

Team Statistical Analysis

	FG%	3PT%	FT%	ORB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
Missouri	0.413	0.306	0.773	286	933	311	185	84	384
Missouri OPP	0.408	0.294	0.736	263	909	284	161	93	389
Vanderbilt	0.431	0.335	0.693	240	869	311	194	93	349
Vanderbilt OPP	0.468	0.357	0.731	259	972	356	153	102	377

Statistical Leaders

Missouri Points Leaders

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
PLAYER	TEAM	GP	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Dru Smith	Missouri	27	12.6	103.0	113	21
Xavier Pinson	Missouri	27	10.4	87.0	83	25
Javon Pickett	Missouri	27	7.2	76.0	27	15
Kobe Brown	Missouri	26	6.1	58.0	25	18
Torrence Watson	Missouri	27	5.0	42.0	18	33
Mitchell Smith	Missouri	26	4.8	39.0	30	16
Reed Nikko	Missouri	26	4.7	46.0	29	0
Tray Jackson	Missouri	23	3.1	25.0	16	6
Parker Braun	Missouri	21	1.6	15.0	3	0

Missouri Top Rebounders

PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Mitchell Smith	Missouri	35	89	124	4.8
Dru Smith	Missouri	30	84	114	4.2
Javon Pickett	Missouri	37	64	101	3.7
Kobe Brown	Missouri	28	65	93	3.6
Reed Nikko	Missouri	45	44	89	3.4
Mark Smith	Missouri	6	80	86	4.3
Xavier Pinson	Missouri	17	49	66	2.4
Jeremiah Tilmon	Missouri	26	29	55	4.2
Tray Jackson	Missouri	11	35	46	2.0
Torrence Watson	Missouri	5	33	38	1.4
Parker Braun	Missouri	7	17	24	1.1
Mario McKinney Jr.	Missouri	5	6	11	1.6
Axel Okongo	Missouri	1	1	2	0.3
Evan Yerkes	Missouri	1	1	2	0.3

Vanderbilt Points Leaders

PLAYER	TEAM	GP	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
PLAYER	TEAM	GP	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Saben Lee	Vanderbilt	27	17.9	162.0	128	31
Scotty Pippen Jr.	Vanderbilt	27	11.3	87.0	102	28
Maxwell Evans	Vanderbilt	27	8.3	77.0	32	38
Dylan Disu	Vanderbilt	27	6.9	64.0	19	40
Jordan Wright	Vanderbilt	27	5.7	52.0	43	7
Ejike Obinna	Vanderbilt	26	3.5	36.0	18	0
Matthew Moyer	Vanderbilt	25	2.0	17.0	10	5

Vanderbilt Top Rebounders

PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Dylan Disu	Vanderbilt	24	123	147	5.4
Ejike Obinna	Vanderbilt	43	67	110	4.2
Maxwell Evans	Vanderbilt	18	70	88	3.3
Saben Lee	Vanderbilt	14	73	87	3.2
Jordan Wright	Vanderbilt	25	49	74	2.7
Scotty Pippen Jr.	Vanderbilt	12	61	73	2.7
Aaron Nesmith	Vanderbilt	11	57	68	4.9
Matthew Moyer	Vanderbilt	10	45	55	2.2
Clevon Brown	Vanderbilt	22	32	54	6.0
Braelee Albert	Vanderbilt	14	11	25	1.7
Oton Jankovic	Vanderbilt	5	9	14	0.8
Jon Jossell	Vanderbilt	0	3	3	0.4
Isaiah Rice	Vanderbilt	1	0	1	0.1

NCAA NET

Missouri: 87

Vanderbilt: 145

Missouri Players

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Torrence Watson	G	6′-5″	205	SO	St. Louis, MO
1	Xavier Pinson	G	6′-2″	170	SO	Chicago, IL
2	Tray Jackson	F	6′-8″	215	FR	Detroit, MI
4	Javon Pickett	G	6′-5″	220	SO	Belleville, IL
5	Mitchell Smith	F	6′-10″	221	JR	Van Buren, AR
10	Evan Yerkes	G	6′-3″	187	SO	Tinley Park, IL
11	Mario McKinney Jr.	G	6′-2″	185	FR	St. Louis, MO
12	Dru Smith	G	6′-3″	203	JR	Evansville, IN
13	Mark Smith	G	6′-5″	220	JR	Edwardsville, IL
14	Reed Nikko	F	6′-10″	240	SR	Maple Grove, MN
15	Axel Okongo	F	7′-0″	240	JR	Saacy-sur-Marne, France
23	Jeremiah Tilmon	F	6′-10″	260	JR	East Saint Louis, IL
24	Kobe Brown	F	6′-7″	240	FR	Huntsville, AL
25	Brooks Ford	G	6′-0″	187	SO	St. Louis, MO
42	Parker Braun	F	6′-8″	217	FR	Overland Park, KS

Vanderbilt Players

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Saben Lee	G	6′-2″	183	JR	Phoenix, AZ
1	Dylan Disu	F	6′-9″	220	FR	Pflugerville, TX
2	Scotty Pippen Jr.	G	6′-1″	170	FR	Los Angeles, CA
3	Maxwell Evans	G	6′-2″	190	JR	Houston, TX
4	Jordan Wright	G	6′-5″	226	FR	Baton Rouge, LA
5	D.J. Harvey	G	6′-6″	235	SO	Bowie, MD
10	Drew Weikert	G	6′-0″	170	SO	Nashville, TN
13	Matthew Moyer	F	6′-8″	229	JR	Gahanna, OH
14	Isaiah Rice	G	5′-11″	195	JR	Indianapolis, IN
15	Clevon Brown	F	6′-8″	232	SR	San Antonio, TX
20	Trace Arbuckle	G	6′-2″	170	JR	Carmel, IN
21	Jon Jossell	G	5′-9″	160	SR	Arcadia, OK
24	Aaron Nesmith	F	6′-6″	213	SO	Charleston, SC
42	Quentin Millora-Brown	F	6′-10″	229	FR	Lorton, VA
50	Ejike Obinna	F	6′-10″	243	SO	Enugu, Nigeria
55	Oton Jankovic	F	6′-10″	212	FR	Napa, CA

Team/Game Analysis

Missouri (13-14, 5-9 SEC) fell to Arkansas 78-68 on Saturday in Fayetteville. Kobe Brown led the Tigers with 17 points. Isaiah Joe topped the Razorbacks with 21 points while making 5 of 10 3-point shots. Three-point shooting was the key stat that decided this game. The Hogs made a blistering 12 of 25 3-point shots compared to the Tigers’ 4 of 21 3-point shooting. It’s a wonder that Mizzou didn’t lose by even more.

Dru Smith leads the Tigers in scoring averaging 12.6 points a game. Xavier Pinson is the only other Mizzou player who scores in double figures (10.4 ppg). Mitchell Smith is the top rebounder for Missouri (4.8 rpg). The Tigers are 12th in scoring offense (67.4 ppg) and ninth in scoring defense (65.8 ppg). Missouri is one of those teams that relies a really good defense and solid free throw shooting (77.3%). The Tigers of fourth in the SEC in field goal defense (40.8%) and third in the conference in 3-point defense (29.4%).

Vanderbilt (9-18, 1-13 SEC) had its hearts ripped from it yet again on Saturday when poor officiating allowed Georgia to win 80-78 off a last second shot that should have never occurred. Vanderbilt had rebounded the ball with 12 seconds left after a missed Commodore shot. The rebounder was called out of bounds when video replay clearly showed his foot four or five inches from the line. This was apparently the same crew that made the ridiculous call in the Tennessee game in Nashville last season where what should have been an obvious over the back call on Tennessee, turned into a hook and hold call on Vandy. That call swung this game to the Vols and caused Vandy to finish winless in the SEC and set the record for consecutive SEC losses.

Vanderbilt’s top scorer is guard Saben Lee (17.9 ppg). Lee is a quality shooter and can also drive to the basket well. Freshman guard Scotty Pippen Jr. is the team second leading scorer (11.3 ppg). Vandy doesn’t a have a dominate inside player. Freshman forward Dylan Disu leads the team in rebounding (5.4 rpg).

The Commodores have the SEC’s ninth best scoring offense (71.9 ppg) and 13th best defense (74.6 ppg) in the league. Since losing their top scorer Aaron Nesmith to injury earlier in the season the Commodores have dropped to fifth in the conference in 3-point shooting (33.5%) and 11th in field goal shooting (43.2%). The Commodores also struggle defensively allowing opponents to make 46.8% of field goals and 35.7% of 3-point shots. Vandy is third in the league in turnover margin (+1.1).

This is another tough one to pick. Mizzou has struggled on the road this season. The Tigers have won just one road game and it wasn’t a conference game. Vandy’s coming off a heart wrenching, last second loss. Can the ‘Dores pick themselves up and put together a solid game? We think they will.

Missouri-Vanderbilt Prediction

Vanderbilt 77, Missouri 73

Wednesday‘s game tips off at 9:00 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT). TV: ESPNU.