Mizzou men's basketball builds early-season momentum in exhibition rout against Lincoln

Missouri men’s basketball does not officially begin its season until 7 p.m. Nov. 4, when the black-and-gold Tigers hit the road to take on Memphis at FedExForum.

Despite that, Mizzou will head into its season-opening game with a bit of momentum following a lopsided 90-45 exhibition win over Division II opponent Lincoln on Saturday at Mizzou Arena.

Defense and 3-point shooting were the highlights of the afternoon for Mizzou, with the Columbia squad forcing 26 turnovers — 15 of which came from steals — and holding the Blue Tigers to 18-of-53 shooting from the field.

MU went a combined 10-for-19 from beyond the arc.

Missouri’s stout defensive performance was spearheaded by sophomore guard Anthony Robinson II, who amassed a game-high six steals in the win.

“I thought he did a tremendous job of executing our defensive game plan,” coach Dennis Gates said. “The analytics show that he is one of the top players in the country at being disruptive defensively.”

Robinson also notched four assists and four points.

Junior guard Mark Mitchell also shined in his first action in the black and gold. Ranked as the No. 7 transfer in the portal this offseason, according to CBS Sports, Mitchell was efficient with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.

Graduate guard Caleb Grill made his presence known as well, putting together an impressive two-way performance. Grill, who wanted to improve his jump shot in the offseason, looked smooth en route to a 20-point performance and was 5-for-6 on 3-pointers.

Grill also snagged six rebounds and two steals.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been able to play an actual basketball game,” Grill said. “Having that ability to just go out there, I just wanted to give everything I had to the game and play as hard as I could on both ends of the floor.”

After appearing in Mizzou’s first nine game last season, Grill missed the final 23 after suffering a wrist injury.

Outside of redshirt freshmen Danny Stephens and JV Brown and graduate student Tony Perkins, every freshman and player on scholarship for the Tigers made an appearance on the court in Saturday’s game. Perkins, an Iowa transfer and guard, was kept out of the exhibition match because of “precautionary measures,” Gates said.

Gates hopes that the early experience will help in quelling any early-season jitters or anxiety among his younger players.

“Things are going to move fast for them,” Gates said. “They have to do a better job of slowing things down in their mind and not trying to catch every raindrop, so to speak, and the film will be able to tell us a lot more.”