Mizzou basketball adds commitment ... and prepares for chance to return to AP Top 25

Missouri fell out of the top 25 for the first time this month, but the news wasn’t all bad on Monday.

The Tigers picked up a new commitment: Curt Lewis, a 6-5 guard from John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill. If that two-year school seems familiar to Mizzou fans, it’s where Tigers guard Sean East played last season for now Missouri assistant coach Kyle Smithpeters.

Lewis is averaging 14.7 points while shooting 49.1 percent on three-pointers for Logan, which ended the weekend with a 14-2 record. He announced his decision on Twitter.

Lewis spent the previous three seasons at Eastern Kentucky. He sat out his freshman year as a redshirt and started 43 of 56 games over the next two years. Lewis averaged 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and shot 34.4% on threes. In those years, Eastern Kentucky spent one season in the Ohio Valley Conference and another in the Atlantic Sun.

Missouri, meanwhile, has dropped three of four, including last Saturday’s 73-64 loss at Florida, and has fallen out of the AP Top 25 after being ranked No. 20 in each of the previous two weeks.

But there is plenty of opportunity for the Tigers to return to the rankings. On Wednesday, they play host to No. 25 Arkansas, another program that’s hit a recent rough patch. The Razorbacks have dropped three straight since their Jan. 4 home victory over the Tigers. Tipoff is 8 p.m. (SEC Network).

On Saturday, Missouri entertains one of the nation’s hottest teams, No. 4 Alabama, winners of 10 of 11. The Crimson Tide lead the SEC at 5-0.