COLUMBIA - Today is Senior Night for Missouri, and as the Tigers honor Jordan Barnett, Kassius Robertson and Brett Rau, questions about the return of Michael Porter Jr. still swirl.
If the coaches have any concern of Porter Jr. upstaging Missouri's two leading scorers and a walk-on who has seen an increased role due to continued roster attrition, none surfaced in Thursday's media availability. Razorbacks and former Tigers head coach Mike Anderson said he was preparing his team as if Porter Jr. would play.
Missouri (19-11, 9-8 SEC) and Arkansas (21-9, 10-7 SEC) will tip off at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.
The guard play of Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon, as well as the interior presence of another excellent freshman forward Daniel Gafford, has given the Razorbacks an edge against teams that can't cover both at the same time. The Tigers showed that, after the first 10 minutes of the first half in Fayetteville, they were able to keep with the Razorbacks, but couldn't close it out in a 65-63 loss Jan. 13.
Finishing the job might be easier in the friendly confines of Mizzou Arena, but Missouri's defense will still have its work cut out: Cuonzo Martin's approach was one of three in the conference to hold Arkansas to fewer than 70 points.
Usually, Senior Night is a way for a program to reward four or five years of a player's time, but Missouri is in a unique situation with its seniors.
Rau was a solid contributor at Elgin Community College in Illinois before walking on at Missouri, and Barnett played a year and a half for Texas before transferring to Missouri and playing the second half of the 2016-17 season.
Robertson stunned everyone with his success in the Southeastern Conference after four years at Canisius, and is a team leader on and off the court. The Tigers' three seniors have played two, one and a half, and one season, respectively, while at Missouri.
"It's been pretty cool," Rau said. "With all of the people we lost all of a sudden, I know I always had to be prepared at any moment to step in, and at practice every day coach Martin had prepared me for that. It's been a great season, I've enjoyed it a lot. We're winning, so that's a good thing."
Rau played just seven minutes across five games in 2016-17 and missed his only shot attempt. But when the best Missouri team of the past few years came up short at guard, Martin went to Rau for depth in conference games. He's played 28 minutes in nine games this season, six in the SEC. And after two turnovers in 10 minutes against Wagner, he has not turned the ball over, though he's 0-for-1 from the field in SEC games.
Barnett said when he signed with the Longhorns he could have never imagined playing his Senior Night in Columbia, so close to his home of St. Louis and more accessible to family and friends.
He was Missouri's leading scorer by average in the half-season he played at 12.2 points per game, 12.9 in conference play, led the team in field goal percentage and free throw percentage in SEC play and tied Kevin Puryear's mark of 102 rebounds in 18 conference games. Martin said he never talks to Barnett about his offense, and challenges him on the defensive end instead, and Martin was very happy with his defensive performance against Jeff Roberson of Vanderbilt on Tuesday.
For Robertson, this will be the second Missouri game his mom will be able to attend. It was an easier trip from Toronto to Canisius, which is in Buffalo, N.Y., and joked she would be as nervous as him. Robertson has not asked the event staff to play the Canadian national anthem, which was not played at any of Missouri's other 15 home games this year.
"I just hope there's one, two Canadian flags in the crowd or something like that," Robertson said. "But if they play the national anthem, if they don't, it is what it is.
"It's been a really fun season, really cool season. Lot of ups and downs, but still so much to go. We haven't accomplished our goal yet. We're on our way though. A lot more focus and hard work is going to go in these next couple weeks."
In Porter Jr.'s absence, he's been the player other teams have had to game-plan for to stop. He's scored in single digits just five times this season, and just one of those games, at Texas A&M, was a loss.
When Robertson isn't scoring, it's usually because everyone around him is, which was the case against the Commodores. Jontay Porter had 24 points in the best game by a Tiger big in recent memory and Barnett added 17, while Robertson made 3-of-6 from 3-point range, content to take a backseat in the offense.
With or without Porter Jr., Missouri will need Robertson today.
"I don't want to think about that," Martin said when asked to think about where Missouri would be without Robertson, before joking, "I probably wouldn't be sitting here."