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Mizzou at Xavier: The First Road Test of the Season

Mizzou heads on the road with a trip to OH-10 to take on the Musketeers of Xavier, can they get their first road win of the season?

By Chris B
John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Mizzou is 2-0, two games over .500 for the first time in the Kim Anderson....ever! Can they go out on the road and steal a victory against Xavier (to quote Terrence Phillips) while locking up Kim Anderson's first road win in his second year at the helm of the Tigers?

WHO?

Missouri Tigers (2-0)
@
Xavier (1-0)

WHAT?

Mizzou's first road game of the season.

WHEN?

Tuesday, November 17
5:30 PM CST

WHERE?

Cintas Center
Cincinnati, OH

WHY?

Mizzou hasn't won a road game in the Kim Anderson era, does that change tonight?

WATCH

Fox Sports 1
Joe Davis and Donny Marshall on the call

LISTEN

Tiger Radio Network
Mike Kelly, Gary Link

Two games in and two victories in the can, not a bad start for our young Tigers. While both games were in the friendly confines of Mizzou Arena this young team must go on the road and prove something not only to themselves but their coaches and the fans, do they have the mental fortitude to get it done away from home? Xavier, a perennial NCAA Tournament team gave the Tigers quite the beating last year in Columbia in what was Jakeenan Gant's first game off of an NCAA suspension. But the Uber driver is gone as is Dee Davis, so potentially there's chance, a small one but still a chance. Let's see what Sam Snelling's three keys to the game are and break them down into bite size tl;dr thoughts.

1) Jalen Reynolds - Reynolds is a 6'10 Junior coming off a tremendous game against Miami of Ohio where he put up a double double. If Mizzou is to have any chance, they have to contain him and in so doing keep their bigs out of foul trouble. Jakeenan had some foul issues against UMES, so this may come down to a by committee approach to slowing him down.

2) Defensive Rebounding - To stay in this game Mizzou is going to have to secure the boards when they're available. Get the rebounds and Reynolds can't get easy put backs and you bang the offense into transition where the Tigers can exploit their quickness.

3) Three Pointers - Mizzou shot the ball well from three against Wofford and less so against UM-ES, seemingly as a result of not figuring out the zone they were seeing for the first time this young season. Take good three pointers, and hope Xavier doesn't bury you in them (like they did last year) and you've got a shot.

Some things you should know about Xavier that you may not have known or bothered to care to know:

  • Xavier is in Cincinnati, affectionately known as "Porkopolis" because back in the day pigs roamed the streets, doing whatever they pleased. How quaint!
  • D'Artagnan is the name of their mascot, a musketeer who served Louis the Fourteenth back in the day in France. Nice. What they wish you didn't know is that they have another mascot called "The Blue Blob" which is supposed to be less scary than D'Artagnan because he doesn't carry a sword or have facial hair. On what planet is this thing less scary than a man?! It's a nightmare!
  • Their basketball court has a stupid skyline on it. Their court is ugly and they've tried to burn it to the ground but failed to date. It should be sanded down and just made into a giant X.
  • Finally, John Boehner attended Xavier...it is unknown how much a dip in the sales of bronzer dipped after he graduated.
    It's game time Tigers, let's get Tramaine level serious!

As always eel free to leave your trifecta picks in the comments below, with the size of this roster and the minutes being given out as they have been, getting it right will quite the feather in your cap!

Let's get at it! M-I-Z...

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