Mizzou has a lot to prove in Nashville, starting Thursday night.
No sense dancing around it: Tonight’s game is big for Mizzou Hoops.
The whole of the 2024-2025 season has been a welcome journey for Tiger fans, one that started with low expectations and peaked with April expectations something close to a month ago. But a recent regression in form has Missouri fans wondering if Dennis Gates and his team can rediscover their best selves ahead of next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Tonight’s game against Mississippi State will tell us a lot. Missouri handled the Bulldogs in Starkville earlier this year, so they should be, by all accounts, the favorite. But the Bulldogs are surging while the Tigers are floundering, so all bets are off.
Win, and the Tigers rediscover a bit of mojo before getting a chance at knocking off Florida again. Lose, and they’ll carry a four-game losing streak into the first round of the tournament, a matchup that will be much tougher than they would’ve wanted due to a slide in seeding.
We’ll see how things play out tonight at 6 pm.