COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri men’s basketball opened its 2024-25 season with a 90-45 win in an exhibition against Lincoln Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
The 45-point exhibition victory is the largest margin since a 46-point win over Missouri Southern in 2011. Additionally, Mizzou’s 90 points was its most in an exhibition contest since 2015, when the Tigers tallied 92 against Missouri Western.
Junior guard Mark Mitchell led Missouri with 22 points, 15 of which were in the first half. Graduate guard Caleb Grill followed with 20 points and led with six rebounds for the Tigers. Overall, the duo combined to shoot 14-of-17 from the field and 7-of-8 from 3-point range.
The Tigers gained momentum early, racing to a 33-8 lead en route to a 53-19 advantage at the end of the first half. Missouri found 14 of those points from turnovers and six from fastbreaks.
Sophomore guard Anthony Robinson II tallied four assists and four steals in the opening 20 minutes, as he finished the game with four points, six assists and six steals overall.
Grill and Robinson found the net for two back-to-back shots in the first half. Grill ran the ball upcourt for a dunk for Missouri, and Robinson followed shortly after in the same fashion. Grill closed the first half for Missouri with two back-to-back three-pointers to give the Tigers a 34-point edge over Lincoln.
The Tigers had their biggest lead of 50 points in the second half at 8:44, 80-30, en route to the 45-point victory. MU also collected 24 points from turnovers and 19 from fast breaks.
Freshmen Peyton Marshall, Marcus Allen, Trent Burns, T.O. Barrett and Annor Boateng made their debut on the court as a Tiger, coming in after Missouri ranks top five in recruiting class for 2024. Mizzou transfers Marques Warrick, Josh Gray, Jacob Crews and Mitchell made their first appearance as a Tiger, coming in as the No. 13 transfer class.
UP NEXT
The Tigers officially open the 2024-25 season at FedExForum against Memphis on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
