COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 The last time Missouri men鈥檚 basketball played a game in Kansas City, three players had Smith on the back of their jerseys and Kobe Brown was a true freshman prospect. That was four years ago, a westward cameo for two Thanksgiving week losses in 2019.
The Tigers (7-3) will return to Kansas City for a Sunday afternoon matchup with Seton Hall (6-4) in the T-Mobile Center. The game tips off at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
Mizzou is 8-10 in that arena since its 2007 opening, with one of those wins coming memorably against Baylor for a Big 12 crown in 2012. Its last win in Kansas City was against Hawaii in 2013.
Sunday鈥檚 game, scheduled for a time of year when most students have left campus for winter break, is the first of two that MU will play in its two-hours-away metropolitan areas, with the annual Braggin鈥 Rights showdown with Illinois to follow in 51黑料 next week. Getting a game to Kansas City has been a priority for second-year coach Dennis Gates, and the timing of the matchup with Seton Hall worked out.
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鈥淜ansas City is important to me because it鈥檚 a place that I want to be able to play basketball,鈥 Gates said. 鈥淏eing in CoMo is one thing, but we have a game against Illinois in 51黑料 鈥 we wanted to play and bring our team to Kansas City and this is the opportunity to do so.鈥
The Tigers are looking to recover from a strong start but dastardly mid-game collapse against No. 2 Kansas.
Seton Hall, meanwhile, is coming off a win over Monmouth. The New Jersey-based Pirates have lost to the likes of Rutgers, No. 6 Baylor, Iowa and USC so far this season. At No. 112 in the NCAA鈥檚 NET rankings, Seton Hall would be a Quad 3 win for Missouri.
鈥淲e have a tough opponent,鈥 Gates said. 鈥淏eing able to do that against a Big East foe, ideally, is very important to our scheduling matric as it relates to our guys competing against the best. (The) selection committee, by nature, looks at the Big East Conference as one of the top five conferences in basketball, and they鈥檝e had, obviously the national champion in the UConn Huskies. As it relates to Seton Hall, I think it鈥檚 important that we look at that opponent. They did defeat last year鈥檚 national champion last season, one of few teams to do so in conference play.鈥
Seton Hall did squeak out a one-point win over the Huskies last season, led by 18 points from point guard Kadary Richmond, who is back this season and still leading the Pirates in scoring.
鈥淭hey have a great, great point guard in Kadary Richmond,鈥 Gates said. 鈥渉e has a balance of ball-handling, strength, size, getting to the rack, being able to post guards up. He鈥檚 a tremendous player.鈥
At 6-6, Richmond stands tall for a collegiate point guard, potentially posing matchup problems for Mizzou鈥檚 defense 鈥 starting point guards Sean East II and Nick Honor are 6-3 and 5-10 respectively, suggesting the likes of off-ball guard Tamar Bates, who is 6-5, may be called in to defend Richmond.
Richmond鈥檚 production has been, as Gates said, balanced. He has scored 14.8 points per game while averaging 6.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.1 steals a game.
For the second game in a row, the Tigers will face an opponent that is generally uninterested in shooting the 3-ball. The Jayhawks sit 336th in the country 鈥 out of 350 teams 鈥 with 17.3 attempted 3s per game. The Pirates aren鈥檛 much more prone to shooting from beyond the arc, landing 325th in the nation with 18 3-point attempts per game. Seton Hall averages 5.2 made 3s, a 28.9 percent clip.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 rely on the 3-point line but they are capable shooters,鈥 Gates said. 鈥淭hey can shoot and make 3s 鈥 when they have to. But their job and what they do is getting to that free throw line and (being) a physical presence and also being able to get in that paint. You鈥檙e going to see guys being able to crash the glass as well, trying to generate second-chance points. It鈥檚 a tremendous style of basketball.鈥
The Pirates manage 12.8 offensive rebounds per game, a handful more than Missouri鈥檚 8.9. They also wind up shooting an average of 20 free throws, once again more than the Tigers鈥 15.8.
Playing in Kansas City will be something of a homecoming for two players on Mizzou鈥檚 roster. Bates, who transferred from Indiana, hails from just across the Missouri-Kansas border and won the DiRenna Award in 2020, which is given to the best high school player in the Kansas City metro area.
Aidan Shaw, who鈥檚 from Overland Park, Kansas, won the same honor in 2022.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to go back to my hometown,鈥 Shaw said. 鈥淕oing to KC and being able to see familiar faces in the crowd will be nice, getting my family to come out to the game, getting as many tickets as I can.鈥
Gates, who wore a Kansas City-stylized MU shirt to his Friday press conference, urged area fans to take advantage of the Tigers鈥 trip west so that the program can justify playing there regularly moving forward.
鈥淕et out there. We need your support,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e want to have future games in Kansas City, but we have to be able to go out there and make it make sense.鈥
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