{"id":586809,"date":"2026-02-06T19:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586809\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T19:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:15:16","slug":"missouri-intends-to-draw-a-line-in-visit-to-south-carolina-field-level-media-professional-sports-content-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586809\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri intends to draw a line in visit to South Carolina – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Missouri battles to make the NCAA Tournament\u2019s field of 68, perhaps the most important number it needs to pay attention to is 332.<\/p>\n

That is where the Tigers currently sit, out of 361 Division I teams, in free-throw shooting percentage as coach Dennis Gates\u2019 team faces South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Missouri (15-7, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) has made just 67.4% of its shots from the free-throw line, making the team dead last in the SEC. That includes an atrocious 34.8% (8-for-23) showing in a 90-64 setback at Alabama last month.<\/p>\n

The Tigers rebounded in an 84-79 victory over Mississippi State last week, making 75.8% (25 for 33) of their free throws, including 10 of 12 in the final two minutes to hold off the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

It is not the sexiest statistic, but it could end up making the difference as Missouri tries to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s good coaching. I was able to telepathically get into their brain right there on the line and start whispering, \u2018Calm down, calm down.\u2019 And you just saw a swish. So, the coaching. I\u2019ll take that today,\u201d Gates said.<\/p>\n

Mark Mitchell led Missouri with 19 points and seven rebounds in the triumph over Mississippi State. T.O. Barrett added 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.<\/p>\n

Trent Pierce, who made 19 starts last season but missed this year\u2019s entire nonconference schedule, started for the first time in nine appearances this year and made two early 3-pointers on the way to 13 points.<\/p>\n

Mitchell leads the team with 17.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. He has scored in double figures in 20 of 22 games. Jayden Stone is averaging 14.6 points and 5.3 rebounds.<\/p>\n

The Tigers are just 1-3 on the road in the conference, but in South Carolina, they are facing a spiraling squad poised to miss the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in nine years. The Gamecocks have lost four straight and eight of 10.<\/p>\n

South Carolina has dropped two straight and four of five at home and lost its last outing 84-75 at Texas on Tuesday despite jumping out to an early lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot of right things that allowed us to be in a position to win the game. \u2026 Our first responsibility was to do enough right things that when it got to game-winning time, you were right there to win the game,\u201d Gamecocks head coach Lamont Paris said. \u201cIt stings to be in that position and then in the last 2 1\/2, 3 minutes, not be in a position to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meechie Johnson scored a career-best 35 points while shooting 12 of 21 from the field and 10 of 14 from the free-throw line. Elijah Strong added 12 points.<\/p>\n

Johnson leads the team with a career-best 16.5 points, 4.3 assists, and 1.3 steals. He is averaging 22.6 points over his last seven games.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeechie has had a good year. He\u2019s been getting better at his one-on-one attacking,\u201d Paris said. \u201cSo he\u2019s been doing that a lot more, I\u2019d say, in the last few games, especially getting to the rim and finishing strong. That\u2019s been a point of emphasis for him to try to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Field Level Media<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Missouri battles to make the NCAA Tournament\u2019s field of 68, perhaps the most important number it needs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544],"class_list":["post-586809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116025291137970340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}