Game Information
Missouri Tigers (1-0) vs Southeast Missouri Redhawks (0-1)
Time: 7pm CT Friday
How to watch: SEC Network+
DraftKings Odds
Spread: Mizzou -25.5
Total: 157.5
KenPom Projection
Mizzou 90, SEMO 66
Tigers Host SEMO
The Missouri Tigers play their home opener tonight against in-state foe Southeast Missouri.
The Tigers are riding a 10-game winning streak in home openers with the victories coming by an average of 21.2 points. They are also 9-0 all-time against SEMO.
Phillips Impressing For Mizzou
Mizzou won its first game of the regular season 88-67 on the road at Howard this past Monday. Senior center Shawn Phillips Jr. impressed by posting a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The athletic, 7-foot, 245 pound Phillips is an integral part of a roster that is the tallest in Mizzou history. That length was a big reason why the Tigers were able to pull away and cover against Howard.
SEMO’s Tour Of Missouri Continues
SEMO opened up their season at Chaifetz Arena this past Monday, losing to Saint Louis University 92-67.
The Redhawks are coming off a 2024-2025 campaign where they went 21-12 and won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship. However, they are currently ranked 263rd out of 365 Division One teams according to KenPom.
My Lean
A trend last season for the Tigers was they were excellent at covering the first half spread. They did it against Howard on Monday as well, and I think we are going to see that trend continue at least early on this season.
Mizzou’s length highlighted by Phillips is going to be incredibly disruptive against smaller schools. Howard couldn’t cope with it, and I think SEMO will have difficulty adjusting to it as well. The Redhawks are not a good offensive team anyways, as KenPom has them tabbed as the 306th best offensive team in the country - and I think they’ll struggle to score early on in particular.
I expect the Tigers to come out flying and put this one out of reach by halftime against an overmatched SEMO squad.
Lean: Mizzou -15.5 in the first half at -115 on DraftKings
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Wednesday night on the STL Sports Central YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Get Eric's picks for all sports by following him in the Action Network app with the username "esontag". Disclaimer