Speaking to CBS Sports, Miami head coach Jai Lucas downplayed Miami playing Missouri in the first round in St. Louis. Lucas called playing Missouri in St. Louis a road game, but he noted that the Hurricanes have eight road wins in 2025-26 and that it is business as usual.
The road wins for Miami in 2025-26 were at Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Boston College, North Carolina State, Florida State and SMU, all in ACC games. The only road losses for Miami in 2025-26 were at Clemson and Virginia. Miami also won in the ACC/SEC Challenge at Mississippi.
Clemson, NC State, SMU and Virginia all earned NCAA Tournament berths. North Carolina State plays in the First Four against Texas on Tuesday night and SMU plays Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio. Clemson plays ninth-seed Iowa in the first round and Virginia plays Wright State.
Missouri plays Illinois every season at the Enterprise Center, where the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be held. Illinois beat Missouri 91-48 in December. The eight road wins all at power conference programs should have Miami prepared to play Missouri in St. Louis.
"They could have put us on the moon. We still gonna show up, lace em' up, and do what we do." 😂
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 17, 2026
Miami Hurricanes head coach Jai Lucas is not fazed having to play Missouri in St. Louis, Missouri. pic.twitter.com/ZeoPg0WZJR
"They could have put us on the moon. We're still going to show up. Do what we do. For us, it didn't really matter. We won eight road games. This is a road game. It's no different and we'll go business as usual."Miami head coach Jai Lucas
Comparing Miami and Missouri resumes
Miami is 32nd in the Net Ratings and Missouri is 58th. If this was a regular-season game that counted towards the Net, playing Missouri in St. Louis would count as a quadrant two game for Miami. Miami is 6-2 against quad two opponents in 2025-26. Missouri is 5-7 against quad one opponents and was 4-5 against quad two.
Miami is a 1.5-point favorite over Missouri. The ESPN Basketball Power Index projects Miami with a 55.1 percent chance to beat Missouri. Missouri finished 15-3 at Mizzou Arena in 2025-26. The Tigers will have a home crowd advantage, but that is frequently the case for Miami across multiple sports.