Add another game to the Tigers’ slate.
The Columbia Daily Tribune learned through an open records request that Missouri basketball will face Mississippi Valley State on Thursday, Nov. 14, at Mizzou Arena. Mizzou will pay the visitors $100,000 for the game, per the competition contract obtained via the request.
Mizzou faced the Delta Devils in MU coach Dennis Gates’ first season in Columbia, during the 2022-23 campaign. The Tigers won 83-62. MVSU went 1-30 last season.
Through the public records request, the Tribune also confirmed previous reporting by the X (Twitter) account Made for March that Missouri will face Eastern Washington on Nov. 11 and in-state Lindenwood on Nov. 27. Each game also will cost MU a total of $100,000, per the contracts provided, and will be played at Mizzou Arena.
The records also confirmed reporting by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein that Missouri will open its season at Memphis on Nov. 4 — the opening day of the men’s college basketball season.
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Those four games make Mizzou’s nonconference schedule more clear, but do not quite complete the slate.
Missouri is under contract to play Kansas in the Border War in Columbia this season, but a date for the matchup has not been set. The Tigers also will play Illinois in the Braggin’ Rights game in St. Louis, with a reported Sunday, Dec. 22, date set for the matchup, per Rothstein.
The Tigers will face Gates’ alma mater, conference-newcomer California, in the 2024 SEC/ACC challenge on Dec. 3 at Mizzou Arena.
Mizzou is expected to play Minnesota in the return leg of a home-and-home. The Tigers won the first leg on the road last season. Missouri reportedly will play two games in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, which is likely to be held near Thanksgiving. No details for that multiple-team event have been released.
College basketball bracketologist Rocco Miller reported that Missouri will face Pacific during its nonconference slate, but no contract or details of that game were provided in the Tribune’s records request.
Altogether, that’s 11 confirmed or reported games. Missouri is likely to play 13 nonconference matchups, meaning it has room to add two more games.
The Tigers also already know their SEC opponents, as the conference released the matchups for the 2024-25 campaign.
MU will face the following teams at Mizzou Arena: Alabama; Arkansas; Kentucky; LSU; Ole Miss; Oklahoma; South Carolina; Texas A&M; and Vanderbilt.
Mizzou will travel to face the following teams on the road: Arkansas; Auburn; Florida; Georgia; Mississippi State; Oklahoma; Tennessee; Texas; and Vanderbilt.
The league has not yet released the specific dates for when those games will take place.
Before then, here’s an updated look at how the 2024-25 nonconference slate is looking:
Full updated dates for Missouri basketball’s 2024-25 nonconference schedule
- Nov. 4: at Memphis
- Nov. 11: vs. Eastern Washington
- Nov. 14: vs. Mississippi Valley State
- Nov. 27: vs. Lindenwood
- Dec. 3: vs. California
- Dec. 22: Illinois (in St. Louis)
- TBD: vs. Kansas
- TBD: vs. Minnesota
- TBD: Multiple Team Event Game 1
- TBD: Multiple Team Event Game 2
- TBD: vs. Pacific
- TBD: –
- TBD: –
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