Five Takeaways from Mizzou’s 90-81 exhibition loss at UNLV

Mizzou Basketball lost their exhibition game against UNLV on Thursday night. The game didn’t count, so as much as I’m not going to talk up their win over Kansas State, I’m not going to talk down this loss to UNLV. Winning always feel better than losing, regardless of whether the game counts or not. But it looked like Dennis Gates was willing to make a few concessions with his lineups early. Also, Jamier Jones, CJ Gunn, and Jaylen Carey were all sidelined and not dressed out.

Anyway, here’s the box score screen cap from Statbroadcast:

There are 13 players listed as having played, but I don’t remember Luke Northweather seeing the floor. But there was a lot to think about, so let me try to parse through things quickly, since the 9pm tip means I’m starting this out well after 11.

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UNLV outplayed the Tigers

My biggest takeaway was that one team played a lot harder than the other. The Tigers didn’t have their full foster of players, but neither did UNLV. But you could see early the Rebels were focused on crashing the glass and being incredibly physical.

Jason Crowe played 36 minutes, Toni Bryant played 28, Aidan Chronister played 15. Those three players were able to overwhelm K-State, a team who is very focused on skill. Against UNLV the three freshmen, and not just those three but the whole roster, just got bodied by the effort of the Rebels. Lindenwood transfer Dontrez Williams, a Sikeston native, was only 1-5 from the floor and scored just 4 points, but he was +21. Mainly because he was out there playing his ass off.

Mizzou also struggled with MJ Thomas, a 6’8 225 forward who snagged 5 offensive rebounds. The same number as bouncy forward Tyrin Jones.

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In all the Rebs grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, and scored 20 points off second chances. In the expected rebound battle Missouri was -5.8. And it felt worse than that.

First shot defense was decent!

Obviously 20 second chance points and a 42% offensive rebounding rate from the Rebels can skew your defensive…

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Publish date : 2026-10-30 05:15:00

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