Study Hall: Mizzou 84, Auburn 74

Hey we like everything again!

It’s funny how the ebbs and flows of the season can get you angry and despondent, and then turn around and feel hopeful and excited a few hours later. Welcome to Mizzou Basketball 2025-26.

During the month of December, Mizzou was playing like the worst team in the SEC, 126th in the country per BartTorvik.com. Since the calendar turned to 2026, the Tigers have flipped the script, playing pretty close to what we thought they’d be: currently the 29th team in the same metric. That’s 6th in the SEC.

We’re still in “small sample size” zone as it’s been just four games. Texas is 4th in the same metric, largely buoyed by their large win over Vanderbilt last night. But the results have felt fairly promising. More small sample size fun, Mizzou’s opponents so far in SEC play have entered their matchup against the Tigers with one victory (Auburn over Arkansas), and after facing the Tigers have yet to lose a game.Florida is 3-0, Kentucky is 2-0, Ole Miss is 1-0. So good luck to Auburn on Saturday.

Against Auburn, Missouri did what they needed to do. They beat a flawed team at home.

The win was the first over Auburn under Dennis Gates, and the last one since Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith each gave Bruce Pearl’s squad 28 points. Auburn may not be the same under Steven as they were under Bruce, but it’s still important game to cross off.

Missouri played bad, then they were great, then they were horrifyingly bad, then they recovered and held on.

TEAM STATS

Missouri destroyed Auburn at the rim. If you read Matt Harris’s Lookahead on Rock M+ you knew that Auburn was vulnerable in the paint. Johni Broome isn’t patrolling the paint anymore, neither is Dylan Cardwell. This year the offense for the Tigers is still quite good, they’re 9th overall in efficiency per KenPom.com. But the defense has fallen to 91st, and 2 point FG defense is 230th. Teams shoot 53% on the season inside the arc against Auburn, Missouri did better hitting on 62.1%, including 16-23 on layups and dunks.

Shooting and free throws is what carried the day, while Mizzou wasn’t great on the glass, and they had a few too many turnovers.

• On their Turnovers, Mizzou had three in a little over a minute from 3:08 mark to the 2:03 mark, it saw their lead go from 9 down to 6. It eventually got to 4 before they stabilized. Outside of those three, Missouri really took care of the ball. They were lucky that minute didn’t completely bite them in the backside, it just gave us all heart burn.
• Losing the turnover battle and still clearing Auburn in BCI was important. Basically the assists. Missouri hit on more catch and shoot jumpers, and were living at the rim.

Now if Mark could have made his free throws.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Trifecta: Jayden Stone, Trent Pierce, Mark Mitchell

On the season: Mark Mitchell 33, Jacob Crews 19, Anthony Robinson 17, Jayden Stone 15, Jevon Porter 5, Shawn Phillips Jr. 5, Sebastian Mack 3, Trent Pierce 3, T.O. Barrett 1, Annor Boateng 1

Mark Mitchell was terrific (yet again). 20 points, 7 made field goals, 5 assists, a steal and a block. Basically a perfect night, if you just forget about the 8 missed free throws. He started the season poorly (6/15), but in between he made 72 of 98 (73%). So last night was bad for him, but the free throw shooting woes aren’t really Mark’s fault (except for last night). But there was a moment early in the second half where Mark just made it clear he knew there was nobody on the Auburn roster who could guard him. He took 13 shots, went to the line 14 times, and again had four assists. Plus two turnovers and he was responsible for 5 assists which led to 14 points. So he was responsible for about 40% of the offensive output.

This was not the first game where we noticed the impact of Trent Pierce, but it was the first time he was as impactful in the scoring column. Pierce’s 12 first half points were huge. He came into the game and Missouri promptly gave up a 7-0 run, but then Pierce got a breakaway dunk and a foul, then a three a few plays later, and Missouri’s offense steadied from there.

The Tigers missed 10 of their first 11 shot attempts before Pierce’s dunk. They made 26 of their last 37 after, including his dunk. That’s a stabilizing effect.

Another good output from Stone, he didn’t score until a made three with 2:32 to play in the first half but added 16 points in the second half. Despite not making a second half three.

On a night when Ant wasn’t playing his best, T.O. Barrett stepped up with a great performance. If it weren’t for his two consecutive turnovers, we’re all looking back even more fondly on the night.

So you got good nights from Trent, TO, Mark, and Jayden. Anthony Robinson wasn’t bad. That was enough to beat Auburn at home.

But Missouri is still search for more consistency from the other options. Annor Boateng, Luke Northweather, Nicholas Randall, and Shawn Phillips. Jacob Crews has gone a bit silent since a bad night against Illinois. He made 9 of 10 free throws against Florida, but otherwise had shot 3/10 from outside the arc, and reached double digits just once (Florida again).

When you go on the road you’re going to need a few more guys pulling on the rope.

Saturday in Baton Rouge is another opportunity on the road against a team struggling. Missouri is playing better than LSU, but LSU is desperate for a win. The same way Ole Miss was desperate for a win. Beating Mizzou helped their season, they went to Georgia and won.

LSU has also been very close in two games. They probably should have beaten Texas A&M to start conference play, and then came out flat against South Carolina. But they were up 18 over Kentucky before halftime. So you’d better be ready. The Tigers have a chance to get to 4-1 in the league with two winnable home games next week. Just take advantage of your opportunity here.

I’ve moved the glossary to a static page at RockM+ to reduce the size of the bottom of this post.

So if you’re looking for what any of these stats mean, Check out the Glossary!

In attempting to update Study Hall, I’ve moved away from Touches/Possession and moving into the Rates a little more. This is a little experimental so if there’s something you’d like to see let me know and I’ll see if there’s an easy visual way to present it.

If there’s something you’d like to see more of an explanation on, drop a note and let me know!