Forget the Missouri Team You Saw at Bud Walton

The eerie emptiness of Mizzou Arena gives it an odd home court advantage

The last time Arkansas and Missouri locked up on the court it was a blowout. 

But this isn't the same Missouri team and Mizzou Arena isn't Bud Walton. 

While places like Arkansas, Kentucky and Auburn provide home court advantages with houses packed full of fans looking to make opponents miserable, Mizzou has oddly created a home court advantage of its own.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

It's eerie watching games at Mizzou Arena on television. Thousands of seats sit empty. 

Every individual can be seen and every individual voice can be heard, including the strange antics and ramblings of head football coach Eli Drinkwitz. 

Eli Drinkwitz is a mad man!

Reminds us of @BigOrangeVolz after he nails a lock of the week selection pic.twitter.com/UN1QJrZLFY

— that SEC podcast (@thatSECpodcast) January 29, 2022

It's an atmosphere that nearly took down Auburn, bamboozled Florida, drained Alabama and put Ole Miss in a full blown state of melancholy. 

Missouri has won two of its last four and is a pair of free throws away from it being three of four. So beyond playing in an empty gym, what do the Tigers have going for them?

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

When Arkansas caught Missouri last time, the Tigers were in a 2-week stretch of giving up 86 points per game. The also welcomed a Missouri team coming off the high of an offensively explosive upset of Alabama.

As Arkansas knows, a team coming off an emotional high upset is prime for a potential letdown the following game. 

Missouri is coming off a win at home last Saturday over Ole Miss, but that's no emotional upset. The Tigers carried momentum, not emotion out of that game.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

What Missouri has figured out is how to get high levels of production out of at least four guys at once. Some combination of Kobe Brown, Amari Davis, DaJuan Gordon, Jaron Coleman and Ronnie DeGray III will make up the four who will score 13-20 points in their games lately.

In addition to finding consistent scoring, Missouri is getting consistent on defense. Only Vanderbilt has broken the 70-point barrier on the Tigers over the past six games, and that was exactly 70 points. 

Even the offensive juggernaut that is the Auburn Tigers could only muster 55 points in an ugly war in Columbia.

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

So for the Razorback fans who glanced at the schedule after the streak ended last Saturday and saw Missouri as the next team up and thought "OK, we're all good," need to think again.

This game is a trap waiting to happen, and that's why it might take Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman's best coaching job of the year to win. Appreciate it for what it truly is if it happens.