Welcome back, Jeremiah Tilmon and Mark Smith!

It was good to see them back on the floor (even if it was only for limited minutes), and their return seemed liked a good time for Missouri to pick up their first conference road win of the season.

And they did!

Once again, it was the Xavier Pinson show as he led the team with 17 points. Pinson now has 125 points combined in the last six games. And he’s starting to get some national attention as well.

Missouri improved to 7-1 this season when Xavier Pinson scores 14 or more points, according to Mitchell Forde of PowerMizzou.

And how about Reed Nikko with a career-high 14 points? That wasn’t the whole story, though. Check this out. (Matter corrected the tweet a few minutes later to 14)

With this win, Missouri got back to the .500 mark overall (14-14) and improved to 6-9 in SEC play. Currently, the Tigers are still in 10th place in the SEC standings holding a tiebreaker rule over Arkansas, which means Mizzou would avoid the dreaded Wednesday play-in games at the SEC Tournament.

Winners of four of their last six games, maybe — just maybe — the Tigers are getting hot at the right time to make some noise in the SEC Tournament. And Friend of the Site Blake Lovell agrees.

Missouri is back in action on Saturday afternoon, hosting a Mississippi State team that is currently on the NCAA Tournament bubble, so the Bulldogs have plenty to play for when they visit Mizzou Arena. Should be a fun one!

Onto baseball, and unfortunately, it was a rough day on the diamond in Louisiana for the Missouri baseball squad as they lost to McNeese State 12-4 to fall to 4-4 on the young season.

Up next for the Tigers is a huge opportunity but tough challenge, as they play at the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children College Classic in Houston, Texas (held at Minute Maid Park). Missouri will play three Big 12 teams in three days; Baylor (Friday at 11:00 a.m.), Oklahoma (Saturday at 11:00 a.m.), and Texas (Sunday at 3:00 p.m.). The other SEC teams involved are LSU and Arkansas. Looking forward to what should be a great event!

Onto the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Hoops Preview: Vanderbilt, like Missouri, enters the home stretch short-handed, writes Josh Matejka
• PODCAST: Before The Box Score Returns, with Nate Edwards and Brandon Kiley. Give it a listen! (And read the recap)
• GAME THREAD: Mizzou visits Vanderbilt, by Ryan Herrera
• Anchor Goes Down, Missouri knocks off Vanderbilt, gamer by Matthew Antonic

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More Links:

• PLEASE vote YES to keep Mizzou’s student newspaper “The Maneater”. You can vote here.

• So, apparently The Fifth Down game is now a Jeopardy answer. Neat.

• Here it is: Looks like Joshua Christopher will announce his college decision on April 13th

• Pinson, Nikko lead Mizzou to first SEC road win, writes STLToday’s Dave Matter.
• PowerMizzou’s Mitchell Forde had his keys to the game and prediction on the Tiger Tipoff preview.
• From PowerMizzou’s Pete Scantlebury: Voice of The Fantlebury: Mizzou’s Combine Conundrum
• And One: Mizzou picks up first conference road win at Vandy, as PowerMizzou’s Mitchell Forde has the game recap
• Here’s postgame video from Cuonzo Martin, by Mitchell Forde at PowerMizzou. Video credit from Chris Lee at vandysports.com
• Mizzou defeats Vanderbilt for first SEC road win of the season, writes KC Star’s Souchi Terada
• How about Aijha Blackwell getting some hype on Courtside Films Twitter?

• On KTRG.com, Matt Michaels has a new Tiger Baseball Podcast - Season 1, Episode 1. Give it a listen!
• Congrats to former Missouri Tiger Laurence Bowers and his wife on their newest addition to the family!

• Congrats to senior forward Hannah Schuchts on being named to the 2020 SEC Community Service team!

• Congrats to Missouri Volleyball’s Claudia Dillon, Leandra Mangual-Duran, and Kenna Sauer on receiving their official Mizzou letter jackets!

• Due to weather, there’s been some schedule changes for the Mizzou Softball Tournament this weekend.

• Mizzou Women’s Basketball freshman Aijha Blackwell and Hayley Frank are pretty, pretty good!

• On MUTigers.com, Mizzou Baseball drops 12-4 Wednesday Contest at McNeese State
• On MUTigers.com, Mizzou Women’s Basketball Hosts Auburn for Final Home Game
• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)