Tennessee makes their first SEC road trip of the season on Tuesday night when they take on the Cuonzo Martin-led Missouri Tigers.
No. 3 Tennessee (12-1, 1-0 SEC) opened up SEC play over the weekend with a dominating 96-50 victory over Georgia. The win was the Vols’ second-largest margin of victory in a conference game in school history. Missouri (9-3, 0-0 SEC) hasn’t played an SEC game yet, so the Vols will be their first test in conference play.
Both schools come into Tuesday’s game riding extended winning streaks. The Vols have won eight-straight games over the last month-plus of action, and Missouri has won six consecutive games.
Last year, Missouri beat the Vols in the only game the two teams played against each other. It was also Cuonzo Martin’s first game against Tennessee since he left the Vols as their head coach after the 2013-14 season to go coach at Cal. Missouri won 59-55 in Columbia, holding Tennessee to their lowest point total of the season up to that point.
Much like last year, Missouri plays at a slow tempo and tries to bog down opposing teams. That’s the mark of a Cuonzo Martin team, as Vol fans are well aware.
According to Ken Pomeroy, Missouri plays at the second-slowest tempo of any team in the SEC and has one of the slowest tempos of any team in Division I college basketball. Because of that, opposing teams don’t get many opportunities to score against the Tigers. Missouri has held their opponents to the fewest attempted field goals in college basketball (649), and teams are only scoring an average of 63.2 points per game against the Tigers.
Tennessee is 6-7 all-time against Missouri, and they’re just 1-5 in Columbia. The last time (and only time) the Vols won on the road against the Tigers was on January 17th, 2015.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Vols’ match-up with the Tigers on Tuesday night. And if you can’t make it to the game, here’s how you can watch and listen to the Tennessee vs. Missouri game.
Tip-Off: 7:00 Eastern, January 8th, Mizzou Arena (Columbia, MO)
TV: ESPN2
Streaming Online: WatchESPN.com or ESPN app
Radio: Vol Network (99.1 FM or 990 AM in Knoxville/surrounding areas)
Line: Tennessee (-8.5)
