February 21, 2026; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Mark Mitchell (25) drives against Arkansas Razorbacks forward Malik Ewin (12) in the second half at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 94-86. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Image With three games left in the SEC’s regular season, Missouri is looking for a top-four spot in the conference standings when it faces Mississippi State on Saturday in Starkville, Mississippi.
The fifth-ranked Tigers (19-9, 9-6 SEC) remain one game behind No. 22 Tennessee, which faces No. 17 Alabama on Saturday. Missouri earned a 73-69 home win over the Volunteers on Tuesday.
Missouri opened conference play with an impressive 76-74 win over defending national champion Florida, and after going 2-4, has now won five of its last seven games.
“What I see is a team, and now that we have valuable pieces in Trent Pierce and Jaden Stone, the team is starting to solidify,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said.
“There is no more trying to find a role. These people have accepted their roles.”
TO Barrett, who averages 8.8 points per game, scored a career-high 28 points against Tennessee, and Mark Mitchell added 23 points. Mitchell leads the team in three categories: scoring (17.4), rebounds (5.4) and assists (3.8).
Stone is averaging 14.1 points and shooting 40.0% (42 of 105) from 3-point range. Pierce added 10.7 points.
The Tigers have won 18 of their 19 games this season and have scored at least 73 points.
Despite dropping five of its last seven contests, Mississippi State (13-15, 5-10) still received plenty of production from Josh Hubbard, who ranks second in the SEC with 21.6 points per outing. He trails only Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. (22.2).
Hubbard was the conference’s leading scorer in Wednesday’s 100-75 road blowout loss at No. 17 Alabama, but was held to just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting for his third-worst performance thus far.
The Bulldogs’ problem was defense. The points allowed per game is 80.0, ranking 15th among the 16-team league and only ahead of Alabama (83.6).
“It was definitely buzzing, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a game where another team had 16 3-pointers and four 2-pointers after 20 minutes,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans said after Alabama took a 63-33 lead at halftime and ultimately made 22 of 50 3-pointers (44.0%).
Jayden Epps is the only Bulldogs player to score 14.0 points and lead the way from the foul line at 82.9%.
–Field level media
