It’s game day! Mizzou hosts Ole Miss tonight, hoping to bounce back from a strange, disappointing stumble against LSU on Saturday. And no more of this “6 pm tipoff” nonsense.

Mizzou Men’s Basketball (18-9, 8-6) returns home for its second-to-last game at Mizzou Arena as the Tigers host Ole Miss (11-16, 4-10) on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

Maybe the most noteworthy thing about this game: no Andy Kennedy.

After announcing last week that he would part ways with the University of Mississippi basketball program at the end of the season, it was announced that head coach Andy Kennedy would resign immediately on Sunday afternoon. [...]

Tasked with replacing Kennedy will be interim head coach Tony Madlock. Madlock, who has been an assistant at Mississippi for four years, was on the staff for the team’s 2015 NCAA Tournament team.

There’s no telling what that might do for the Rebels’ motivation levels (probably not good things, but who knows), but hopefully there’s carryover from what Mizzou brought to Oxford not too long ago.

On a teleconference Monday, Madlock said he hopes his players show some pride against Missouri, which downed the last-place Rebels 75-69 two weeks ago in Oxford, Mississippi. Tigers guard and back-to-back SEC Player of the Week Kassius Robertson scored 27 points in the win, and freshman Jontay Porter scored 18 points off the bench.

One thing is (as) certain (as it can be): Jeremiah Tilmon will play, and he will be fine.

Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said after the game that Tilmon wasn’t feeling great and confirmed Monday that he had dehydration. The 6-foot-11 freshman could be seen chugging water on the sidelines throughout the LSU game. “He battled through it and came up short,” Martin said on Monday’s SEC teleconference. The Rebels have a smaller lineup than most schools Missouri has played. Martin said on Monday that Tilmon will be “ready to go” for Tuesday’s game.

Mizzou is better than Ole Miss, so it would take a combination of inspired Rebel performance, and a little bit of a dud, for the Tigers to stumble. But stumbles happen. Fingers crossed.

Yesterday at Rock M

More Links:

• Mizzou Women’s Hoops is back on the cusp of the AP top 10 and has a healthy shot at hosting an NCAA regional. Queen Sophie Cunningham, by the way, spoke to the KC Star about Mizzou, milestones, haters, and worthless scholarship offers.

• Robin Pingeton and company are just hitting every right note of late.

• Oh man, spring football is not that far away.
• Kul wants Bama. (Actually, Bama wants Kul.)

• Mizzou! Miami! Baseball! Tomorrow evening! Brett Bond has something to prove (not just in this game)!
• The Mizzou Swimming & Diving men finished fifth, and the women finished sixth, at the SEC Championships, which are finally over after like 38 days of competition.
• Jim Sterk speaks: