Mizzou-Illinois Post Game Notes
12/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2009
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Missouri Basketball Post Game Notes
Missouri (8-3) vs. Illinois (8-4)
Dec. 23, 2009 - St. Louis, Mo.
Game Notes
Final Score - Missouri: 81, Illinois: 68
Attendance- 20,497
Leading Scorers- MU: English (24); IU: Tisdale (14)
Double-Doubles - MU: None; IU: Tisdale (14 pts., 13 reb.), Davis (11 pts., 13 reb.)
Ties/Lead Changes- Six ties, four lead changes
Mizzou Field Goal Percentage - 41.2-percent
Pregame Notes
- Tonight's game marks the 29th installment of the Busch Braggin' Rights Series. Overall, it is the 39th meeting between the cross-state rivals.
- Tonight's contest marks the Tigers' fifth game away from Mizzou Arena in 2009. - Freshman guard Michael Dixon made his second-consecutive start - and fifth of the season - in tonight's contest. It marks the second time this season that Dixon has started two-straight games. The other occasion was in back-to-back contests with UT-Pan American and Chattanooga on Nov. 22 and 24, respectively.
- The Tigers' other four starters were JT Tiller, Keith Ramsey, Laurence Bowers and Kim English.
- Tiger senior guard Zaire Taylor was a game-time decision with a seasonal illness. Taylor saw his first action of the game after entering at the 12:46 mark of the first half.
- Wednesday's game is the basketball program's 113th appearance in St. Louis.
First Half Notes: Score at Halftime: Mizzou 41, Illinois 34
-Mizzou forced Illinois into three turnovers on its first four possessions of the game as Mizzou scored the first five points of the game. Mizzou forced Illinois into five turnovers prior to the first media timeout.
- English connected on his first two 3-point attempts on the night, the second of which gave Mizzou a 14-11 advantage. The Tigers as a team connected on three of their first seven attempts from beyond the arc (42.8-percent).
- Mizzou went on a 13-1 run that was capped off at the 1:26 mark after a pull-up 3-point jumper from sophomore guard Miguel Paul. That run gave the Tigers a 12-point lead at 41-29.
- The first half featured six ties and four lead changes.
- English finished the half with a game-high 15 points on 5-7 shooting, including 4-5 on 3-point attempts.
- Mizzou forced Illinois into 13 turnovers in the first half.
- The 41 points that the Tigers hung on Illinois were the second-most by an Illini opponent in the first frame in any game this season. Only Clemson scored more points in the opening half against Illinois this season as they netted 47 when the two teams met as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Dec. 2.
- Mizzou shot 55.2-percent from the floor in the first half and connected on 6-11 3-point shots, good for 54.5-percent.
Second Half Notes
- Mizzou began the second half on an 8-2 run, capped by a three-point play from Tiger forward Laurence Bowers.
- The Tigers connected on three of their first eight 3-point shots in the second half, two of which belonged to Marcus Denmon, who missed the majority of the first half with foul trouble.
- Mizzou equaled the largest lead of the game after Michael Dixon converted a three-point play at the 3:36 mark of the half, giving Mizzou a 75-61 lead. The three-point play also gave Dixon a career-best 16 points in the game.
- Mizzou was much better with the ball in the ball during the second half, committing only six turnovers.
Post Game Notes
- The win for the Tigers is their first over Illinois in 10 tries. The Tigers had lost the previous nine games in the Busch Braggin' Rights series.
- The 13-point win is also the largest win for the Tigers over Illinois since 1994 when they won, 76-58 in the annual showdown.
- The win gives Mizzou its third win in a row and fourth in five games.
- The starting lineup of Tiller, Dixon, English, Ramsey and Bowers is now 2-0 on the season.
- Mizzou finished the game by forcing 22 Illini turnovers, posting 10 steals.
- Dixon finished the game with a career-best 16 points, topping his previous best set in the Tigers' last game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff last Saturday (Dec. 19).
- Mizzou assisted on 19 of 28 field goals in the game. Conversely, Illinois had only 13 on 27 field goals.
- Kim English matched his season-high with five 3-point baskets in the game. The five makes are the most for English since he dropped five on UT-Chattanooga on Nov. 24. It eighth time this season that a Tiger has hit more than four 3-point shots in a single game.
- English also netted a game-high 24 points, his most since scoring a career-best 26 points against Chattanooga.
- Mizzou shot 40-percent from beyond the arc in the contest, connecting on 10-25 in the game.
- The Tigers were also near perfect at the free throw line, connecting of 15-17 in the game. Five different players shot free throws for Mizzou in the game. Conversely, Illinois hit only 9 on 14 attempts in the game.
- Illinois entered the contest as the Big Ten's third-best shooting team, hitting 49.1-percent of its field goal attempts on the season. Mizzou limited the Illini to just 39.7-percent shooting. The 39.7-percent shooting was their second-worst of the season, just missing their season-low of 39.0-percent.
- Both Dixon and Tiller posted a game-high five assists. In fact, the Tiger backcourt accounted for 15 of the team's 19 assists.
- Tiller finished the game with 12 points, his sixth double-digit scoring output of the season.
