COLUMBIA - If Mark Smith returns to the court today for the Missouri men's basketball team, it would not just be the return of one of the Tigers' main offensive threats after six games on the bench with an ankle injury.
It would mean one of the Southeastern Conference's best 3-point shooters getting a crack at the league's worst 3-point defense.
Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin said Monday on his radio show that "If all goes well" this week Smith would play today as the Tigers take on Mississippi at 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
Rebels' head coach Kermit Davis is one of the front-runners for SEC coach of the year, as his team has turned a 12-20 record and a 5-13 conference mark a year ago into 17-7, 7-4 SEC this year, and were ranked for two weeks. One of the only things that remains to be fixed from last season's team is how effectively they guard the perimeter.
Missouri (12-11, 3-8 SEC) shoots 36.6 percent from deep, but have not reached that average since Smith went down, converting fewer than 30 percent on 3s in four losses, and 31.8 percent against Vanderbilt and 34.6 percent against Arkansas, both home wins.
Clearly, the Tigers could use a jump-start in that are of their game.
Smith is 48-of-101 from beyond the arc after shooting 16-for-66 at Illinois as a freshman, and through the course of the season has said all he can say about doubling his 3-point field goal percentage.
He transferred in April, got to Columbia and started working on his shot without knowing whether or not he'd play this season. Once the Illini helped Missouri get an NCAA waiver for Smith to play immediately, he was inserted in the starting lineup and fit in immediately.
One thing that's not clear is if Smith's shot - he was shooting 47.5 percent from three, seventh in the country, before his ankle injury late in the game at Arkansas - will be there right away. Martin said Smith practiced before the LSU game but then did not practice with the team afterwards.
Mississippi's offense is perimeter-driven: in all but one game either point guard Breein Tyree, small forward Terence Davis or combo guard Devontae Shuler have led the team in scoring. Tyree, who scored 25 points in last season's overtime win against Missouri in Columbia, is averaging 19 points per game, while Davis adds 16 points per game.
The Rebels also have three other players averaging eight or more points per game.
Tyree, Davis and Shuler all shoot better from 38 percent from three and 43 percent overall, and help lead the conference's best foul-shooting team.