The Missouri Tigers and Arizona Wildcats are playing live on the NCAA college basketball schedule for the EA Sports Maui Invitational and the matchup is on at 5 pm ET on ESPN2 and streaming from the WatchESPN website as the number two team in the nation meets up with Mizzou and the 'Cats are considered a title favorite this season.
Arizona comes in as one of the best teams in the nation and they are now 3-0 on the season and undefeated at home to start things off. The team plays against Missouri after a matchup with UC Irvine that was an easy win and they will next matchup with Gardner-Webb. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is leading the team in scoring and TJ McConnell has played well to start the season and they are coming into the matchup allowing 60 points per game over the first three matchups.
The team has played well on defense and Sean Miller said that his team is ready for challenges and he said they will not overlook the Tigers. Arizona comes in ranked 36th in field goal percentage to start the season and they are averaging nearly 80 points per game across three contests. The team has a matchup with Gonzaga coming up and they also will play against Michigan next month for their first matchups with ranked teams.
Arizona is the top team in the Pac-12 this season and they start things off in the conference with a matchup against Arizona State. The team has four of five games on the road and that comes as they start up the conference schedule and they will play against Oregon and Oregon State before later matchups with UCLA, USC and Cal. The team doesn't play a current ranked team for a while after the Michigan matchup, although that could change if some of the conference teams surprise.
Missouri comes into the game at 2-1 on the season and they are coming in after a win against Oral Roberts and they will play against SE Missouri State next. The team is averaging 65 points per game and they have a tough SEC to deal with, as the team has Kentucky, Florida and Arkansas coming in ranked this season. The team has Kentucky in January on the schedule and that will be on the road and after playing against Arizona, they have some tough games with Arkansas, Oklahoma and OK State on the schedule.
This is a nice early season matchup, but Arizona is clearly the favorite and while they lost their best player to the NBA, many see them as a sleeper national title contender this season. Arizona is ranked number two behind Kentucky and this will be a nice test for the team to start things off after three easy games to open up.
Check here for the Missouri Tigers and Arizona Wildcats live coverage.