The Missouri Tigers (13-3, 2-1 SEC) not only ended their SEC losing streak last week, they also started a two-game winning streak. Now they’ll take those consecutive wins into a matchup against the No. 5 Florida Gators (15-1, 2-1) in a game where there’s not much to lose for the Tigers, but plenty to gain.

Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (CT) in Gainesville, which seems crazy starting at 9:00 p.m. local time, but I think that’s where we’re at when it comes to quality TV. slot on SEC Network.

Here’s a scouting report, some notes, and what I’ll be watching tonight.

Florida begins a two-game winning streak after beating then-top-ranked Tennessee in a blowout, dropping the Volunteers all the way to No. 6 with the loss and beating Arkansas 71-63 on the road on Saturday.

Florida played a handful of tough non-conference opponents and beat them all. The Gators defeated Florida State 87-74 and Wake Forest 75-58. Wichita State 88-51, Virginia 87-69, Arizona State 83-66 and North Carolina 90-84.

The Gators’ only loss came on the road, 106-100, at Kentucky to open SEC play.

Florida averages 86.3 points per game but allows 64.8, giving it an average margin of victory of 21.4 points.

The Gators are shooting 46.7 percent from the field, 34 percent from 3 and 72 percent at the free throw line while allowing 36.9/27.0/71.2 shots to their opponents.

Florida attempts 15.3 free throws per game and only allows 13.0.

The Gators outrebound their opponents by an average of 46.1-33.4.

Senior security guard Walter Clayton Jr. (6-foot-3, 195 pounds) leads the Gators with 17.2 points per game and dishes out a team-high 4.0 assists per game while also playing guard Aliyah Martin (6-2, 210) averages 15.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.69 assists per game.

Senior security guard Will Richard (6-4, 206) scores 13.3 points per game while grabbing 5.2 rebounds and a team-high 2.0 steals per game. Second-year forward Alex Condon (6-11, 230) scores 11.0 points and grabs a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game while averaging 1.63 blocks per game as a sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu (6-10, 260) rounds out the starting five that Florida has used in every game this season.

The Gators added a second-year forward Thomas Haugh (6-9, 215) has appeared in all 16 games this year and is a junior forward Sam Alexis (6-8, 240) and junior guard Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 190) in 15 each.

This is the main rotation the Gators use.

Florida leads the all-time series at 11-4 and has won the last four matchups, dating back to a 72-70 win at Mizzou on March 3, 2021. Every matchup has occurred since Missouri joined the SEC.

Mizzou notes: Missouri rose to No. 34 in the NET rankings after the Tigers’ win over Vanderbilt, Florida is No. 5… Mizzou has won the rebounding battle in all three SEC games played… The Tigers are ranked 2nd in SEC play: 1 For the fourth time in school history, they haven’t started 3-1 or better… Mizzou is seeking its first top-five road win since 2012, when it was No. 3 Baylor defeated… Tamar Bates enters the matchup with 978 career points Caleb Grill has 970… The Tigers are 10-0 when scoring 80 points this season and 3-3 when under the mark. Mizzou is 12-0 when its opponents score fewer than 80 points.

Back seats

The Gators are powered by a strong group of guards in Clayton, Richard and Martin. These three all average at least 30 minutes per game, so be prepared to see them on your screen a lot.

Florida only has one guard who regularly plays off the bench and a very tight bench rotation. With more than 41 of the Gators’ 86 average points coming from three guards on this team, their defense will be key to the Tigers adding another decisive win to their tournament resume.

Ant Robinson will have his hands full sticking with them, depending on the defense Dennis Gates decides to go along tonight.

Rebounding

I’m excited to see if the Tigers can maintain this focus, especially on the defensive boards. Everyone has been talking about how Mizzou currently leads the SEC in defensive rebounding rate, which is wonderful, but the Tigers have also played two very small teams in their last two games.

Will Mizzou be able to sustain this with other 6-10, 6-11 players on the field?

I think this is the path to a win for Missouri. The Tigers are again shooting about 25 three-pointers per game and have had a lot of success there in the last few games, going 12-of-25 (48 percent) against LSU and 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) against Vanderbilt.

The Vanderbilt game didn’t feel like a great long-range shooting performance after the Tigers’ first four shots, as they then hit just 6 of 20 (30 percent), but you can’t knock off the first four just because they made it Everything came about in about a three-minute sequence.

If the Tigers can continue to shoot 40-45 percent from deep, that will go a long way toward at least staying close tonight.

As I said at the beginning, there isn’t much for Missouri to lose tonight.

A loss on the way to the No. 5 team is not something that Mizzou ignores in the tournament predictions; it is expected as long as it is not a loss.

But a win sparks a lot of new conversations about how good the Tigers are this season.