Missouri Tigers’ men’s basketball schedule features Coach Cal’s Hogs + OU, Texas

Doug Engle/Ocala Star Banner/USA TODAY NETWORK

The Missouri Tigers’ Southeastern Conference men’s basketball schedule for the 2024-25 season was released this week as the SEC announced its slate of league games.

The Tigers will step on the court for 18 conference games, including matchups against Oklahoma and Texas, former foes from the Big 12. This is inaugural season in the SEC for the Sooners and Longhorns.

Mizzou will play a home-and-away series against Arkansas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks and Sooners will be the Tigers’ permanent opponents, and the three teams will play one another twice every year. The third home-and-away opponent will change each season, with the Commodores taking the spot for the 2024-25 season.

With the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, the SEC has now expanded to 16 teams, but there are still 18 games. The format has switched from three permanent rivals — who were Arkansas, Texas A&M and Ole Miss — to two permanent rivals and one rotating opponent.

Missouri will head to Norman, Oklahoma, for the first time in 13 years to play either March 4 or 5, and the Tigers will host the Sooners on Feb. 11 or 12. Mizzou and Oklahoma last clashed in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, where the Sooners eked out a 72-68 win.

Missouri will travel to Texas to play either Jan. 21 or 22. The last time these two met was in 2012, when former Tigers head coach Frank Haith, who is an assistant coach for the Longhorns, led MU to a 84-73 victory.

Missouri’s SEC schedule will tip off with a road match against Auburn on Jan. 4. Mizzou will be seeking its first SEC regular-season win in 672 days, last defeating Ole Miss on March 4, 2023.

New Arkansas coach John Calipari will return to Mizzou Arena on Jan. 18. Calipari last appeared in Columbia as coach of Kentucky but left the program after 15 years after an 80-76 loss to Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The three-time Naismith College Coach of the Year and 2012 national champ will welcome the Tigers to Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Feb. 22.

Missouri will host Texas A&M and South Carolina, two teams that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament, on Feb. 8 and Feb. 25, respectively.

Alabama, fresh off a trip to the Final Four, will travel to Mizzou Arena for a game on Feb. 18 or 19.

The Tigers end the regular season hosting Kentucky and new coach Mark Pope on March 8, a game that could have postseason ramifications.

The Tigers look to rebound from a 2023-24 season that saw the team go 0-18 in conference play and will attempt to get back to something similar to their 11-7 SEC record in the 2022-23 campaign.

Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian

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