COLUMBIA, MO. • After a few choppy weeks to open the season, the Missouri men’s basketball team has found smoother waters lately. With Tuesday’s 65-45 victory over the University of Texas-Arlington, the Tigers have two wins in three days and now face a manageable course the rest of the month.
Mizzou’s final four nonconference opponents are just 13-21 collectively, and while that foursome includes two high-profile opponents in Xavier and Illinois, Cuonzo Martin’s Tigers (5-3) are starting to resemble a functional team. Mizzou exploited its size advantage against the smaller Mavericks of the Sun Belt Conference and kept up the hot shooting from the perimeter and the foul line.