Mizzou basketball is making things interesting, aren’t they?

After Tuesday night’s 71-68 win over Ole Miss, Missouri is back to the overall .500 mark (13-13, 5-8 SEC) and as of right now, the Tigers are out of the Wednesday SEC Tournament picture! Mizzou has won four consecutive home games and are now 3-1 in their last four games.

And the three-point defense has come up HUGE in this four-game stretch.

Xavier Pinson has been okay, too. Just 93 points in his last four games. No big deal! And here’s what he had to say after the Ole Miss win on SEC Network with Daymeon Fishback and Dave Neal.

As a sophomore, this is only the beginning for Xavier Pinson.

And how about Parker Braun, though?

Maybe it’s too little too late to put together something legitimately successful for this season, but there’s definitely something to play for in these final five games. Either way, this recent surge has been A LOT of fun to watch. Saturday on the road against a desperate Arkansas team will tell us a lot.

Onto some football coverage, Brendan Wiese and T.J. Moe of The Big 550 KTRS were at a Mizzou Tiger Scholarship Fund event and were joined by Missouri Athletics Director Jim Sterk and head coach Eli Drinkwitz on The Big Sports Show.

Sterk on Drinkwitz’s coaching staff: “The student athletes were looking for something different, they got it, and they’re pretty excited about it.”

Drinkwitz on landing Ennis Rakestraw: “When he chose us, it really just brought validity to what we’re trying to do with the “New Zou”.

Onto the links!

Yesterday at Rock M

• “New Zou” need not apply to the Tigers’ defense, writes Brandon Kiley
• Matthew Antonic writes Parker Braun steps up for Missouri
• Mizzou-Mississippi Photo Gallery, by Karen Steger and SeanWest

More Links:

• From Gabe DeArmond and Mitchell Forde at PowerMizzou: And One: Tigers keep it rolling in win over the Rebels
• Mizzou notebook: Assist to Sophie? Braun breaks through for Tigers, from STLToday’s Dave Matter
• With Missouri’s thin depth, KC Star’s Souichi Terada writes that Parker Braun has provided the spark
• How Mizzou’s Xavier Pinson dominated Mississippi, writes KC Star Souichi Terada
• On the SportsBeat KC with Blair Kerkhoff and Souichi Terada, Mizzou once again in victory lane
• From ABC17’s Andrew Kauffman: Cuonzo Martin is proud of this team’s growth throughout the season

• Get those Mizzou Softball tickets, people. The home opener is set for February 29th vs Wichita State!

• On MUTigers.com, No. 18/19 Mizzou Softball Heads West to Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
• On MUTigers.com, Mizzou Baseball Opens Texas Schedule Swing This Weekend at Kleberg Bank College Classic
• On MUTigers.com, Mizzou Women’s Basketball Faces Vanderbilt in Music City tonight
• The Athletic subscribers ($$) - former Mizzou DL Jordan Elliott is among the Houston Texans’ needs for the upcoming NFL Draft, writes (former MU scribe) Aaron Reiss
• PowerMizzou subscribers ($$) - read up on Gabe DeArmond’s latest mailbag
• A Master’s Degree and now playing in the XFL? A HUGE congrats to Marcell Frazier! Read the feature story here.

• Mizzou makes the Top 7 for J. Michael Sturdivant, a 4-star WR from Flower Mound, Texas

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