Tigers Look For Two Straight In Big 12 Play
1/14/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2000
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers (8-6 overall, 1-1 in Big 12 Conference play) host the Kansas State Wildcats (8-5, 1-1) Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 12:45 p.m.
The Tigers are coming off an impressive performance against Colorado, in which MU shot a season-best 66.7% from the floor, and scored 100 points for the first time in four seasons. Missouri will be looking for its second straight win, after dropping three straight games.
Kansas State has also split its first two league games, as they opened the Big 12 season with a home win over Nebraska. The Wildcats lost last Wednesday at Kansas, and are looking for their first win in Columbia since 1985.
Kansas St. (8-5, 1-1) at
Missouri (8-6, 1-1)
Jan. 15, 2000 - Columbia, Mo.
TIPOFF: 12:45 p.m. (central).
ARENA: Hearnes Center (13,300). Opened in 1972. MU is 6-2 at home this season.
RADIO: Tiger Network (Mike Kelly, play-by-play/Gary Link, color). Carried on more than 50 stations statewide, and on the Internet at www.mutigers.com.
TV: ESPN Regional. John Walters, play-by-play, Jon Sundvold, color. Carried throughout the Big 12 region. Please see page seven of this release for a list of statewide affiliates.
RANKINGS: AP: KSU (n/a)/MU (n/a), ESPN/USA Today: KSU (n/a)/MU (n/a).
SERIES: KSU leads, 106-103, but MU has won three of the last four, and 10 of the last 14 in the series. MU has won 15 straight over KSU in Columbia, dating back to 1985.
COACHES:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89), 8-6 at MU (1st season), 8-6 overall (1st season).
Kansas State: Tom Asbury (Wyoming '68), 84-74 at KSU (6th season), 209-133 overall (12th season). Asbury is 4-6 against MU.
OFFICIALS: Will be announced prior to tipoff.
MISSOURI TIGERS (8-6, 1-1)
(Probable Starting Lineup/Just an SID's best guess)
| P | NO | NAME | HT | WT | YR | HOMETOWN | PPG/RPG |
| F | 24 | Jeff Hafer*** | 6-5 | 212 | Sr. | Joplin, Mo. | 6.9 / 3.2 |
| C | 33 | Tajudeen Soyoye | 6-9 | 236 | Jr. | Lagos, Nigeria | 9.9 / 6.7 |
| G | 5 | Keyon Dooling* | 6-3 | 184 | So. | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | 16.8 / 1.8 |
| G | 12 | Brian Grawer** | 6-0 | 165 | Jr. | St. Louis, Mo. | 6.4 / 2.7 |
| G | 4 | Clarence Gilbert* | 6-2 | 197 | So. | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | 12.1 / 3.4 |
KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (8-5, 1-1)
(Probable Starting Lineup/Just an SID's best guess)
| P | NO | NAME | HT | WT | YR | HOMETOWN | PPG/RPG |
| F | 4 | Tony Kitt* | 6-8 | 235 | Sr. | Charlotte, N.C. | 12.3 / 9.3 |
| F | 3 | Quentin Buchanan | 6-7 | 200 | Fr. | Junction City, Kan. | 4.0 / 3.5 |
| C | 44 | Kelvin Howell | 6-9 | 240 | Jr. | Buckner, Ark. | 7.9 / 7.5 |
| G | 2 | Cortez Groves* | 6-5 | 195 | Sr. | Kansas City, Mo. | 16.1 / 2.4 |
| G | 1 | Galen Morrison | 6-0 | 200 | Jr. | Omaha, Neb. | 12.0 / 2.0 |
MISSOURI-kansas state SERIES
Kansas State leads the longtime series by a slim margin of 106-103, but Missouri has won three of the last four meetings, and 10 of the last 14 games, overall, dating back to 1993.
With just three wins separating the two schools, the MU-KSU rivalry is the closest between Missouri and any of the other former Big Eight schools.
Missouri has won 15 straight games over Kansas State at the Hearnes Center, with KSU's last win coming in 1985. MU leads the series at Hearnes by a 21-8 margin.
Please see page four of this release for a breakdown of the last 20 games of the MU-KSU series.
LAST YEAR AT COLUMBIA
MU 70, Kansas State 63Jan. 27, 1999 -- Columbia, Mo.
Freshman Keyon Dooling scored 19 points and Albert White added 15 as Missouri beat Kansas State 70-63. Dooling scored 12 points in a see-saw first half as he made his second start of the year. Then the 6-foot-3 guard canned a key 3-pointer with 1:36 left for a 65-58 lead as Missouri beat Kansas State at home for the 15th straight year. KSU erased a 37-34 halftime deficit with an early surge in the second half and took a 40-39 lead on Manny Dies' bucket. But Missouri unfurled a 14-4 run with Brian Grawer hitting a key 3-pointer and took its biggest lead at 60-50 with 8:59 remaining. Kansas State got within four points at 62-58, but then as the shot clock ticked down to 1 second, Dooling pulled up and sank his decisive 3-pointer.
| KSU (63) | FG | 3PT | FT | RB | A | PF | TP |
| Dies - f | 3-8 | 0-0 | 4-4 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Groves - f | 9-17 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| Rhodes - c | 2-7 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Griffin - g | 3-7 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Reid - g | 1-7 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Kimm | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Reynolds | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 3-6 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Leonard | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kitt | 3-8 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Sims | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 24-62 | 5-17 | 10-13 | 40 | 11 | 23 | 63 |
| MU (70) | FG | 3PT | FT | RB | A | PF | TP |
| Hafer - f | 2-6 | 0-1 | 6-8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| White - f | 6-13 | 0-2 | 3-4 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 15 |
| Hardge - c | 2-8 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Dooling - g | 7-11 | 1-2 | 4-10 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 19 |
| Grawer - g | 3-9 | 2-7 | 0-1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Gilbert | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Parker | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Woods | 1-4 | 0-3 | 5-5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Schumacher | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 22-54 | 4-17 | 22-34 | 39 | 14 | 14 | 70 |
Officials: O'Neill, Garibaldi, Sanzere
Attendance: 13,300
| Kansas State | 34 | 29 | - 63 |
| Missouri | 37 | 33 | - 70 |
OFFENSE GETTING UNTRACKED
Staging the best comeback since John Travolta rose from the dead, the Missouri Tigers had a brilliant offensive performance Wednesday in a 100-86 win over Colorado.
Missouri shot a scintillating 64.6% from the floor against the 'Buffs, which is the best shooting day for an MU team since the Tigers hit for 64.7% against Chicago State on Dec. 2, 1995. It's also the best mark put forth by a Tiger team since the inception of the Big 12 Conference. The previous Big 12 best by MU was a 56.7% shooting day at Texas A&M in 1999. Seems like a millennium ago!
In scoring 100 points for the first time since beating Southern, 111-69 on Dec. 30, 1996, the Tigers' offensive prowess was impressive, considering the fact that just eight days earlier, MU suffered through its worst shooting performance in over 22 years. On Jan. 8th, MU fell to Winthrop, 51-46, in a game in which the Tigers made just 25.0% of their shots. That was MU's lowest output since shooting 23.9% in a 96-49 loss to Kansas on Dec. 28, 1977.
MORE OFFENSIVE MATERIAL
Missouri has now shot 50.0% or better in three consecutive halves of play, entering Saturday's game with Kansas State.
Prior to the sharpshooting performance against Colorado, MU connected at a 52.8% clip in the second half at Iowa State in the Big 12 opener on Jan. 8th.
Additionally, Missouri scored a season high in points Wednesday vs. Colorado, despite having a season low 15 three point attempts. It didn't hurt that MU made 10 of those attempts from beyond the arch, good for 66.7%. The Tigers are now 3-0 on the year when attempting 20 or fewer three pointers, and are just 5-6 when launching more than 20.
GILBERT LEADS BIG 12 IN SCORING
Sophomore guard Clarence Gilbert enters Saturday's game as the top scorer in Big 12 Conference games, as he's scoring at a 22.5 points per game clip. He's got a slight lead over Marcus Fizer of Iowa State and Cortez Groves of Kansas State, who are both tied for second, at 22.0 points a game.
Additionally, Keyon Dooling ranks 5th in league games with a 19.0 per-game average, and Johnnie Parker is 15th with a 13.0 average.
Yes, we're just two games into the league season, but Tigers rank high in nearly every category thus far. Here's a quick look:
FG% - Johnnie Parker, 2nd (81.2%)
Assists - Brian Grawer, 4th (5.5)
FT% - Brian Grawer, 1st (100.0%)
Steals - Brian Grawer, 5th (2.5)
3-pt. FG% - Jeff Hafer, 1st (100.0%)
3-pt. FG% - Clarence Gilbert, 4th (57.9%)
3-pt. FG% - Keyon Dooling, 5th (53.8%)
3-pt. FGs - Clarence Gilbert, 1st (5.5)
3-pt. FGs - Keyon Dooling, 4th (3.5)
MORE CONFERENCE STATS
Missouri has turned things around offensively in league play, as the Tigers lead the league in scoring (90.5 ppg) and field goal percentage (53.4%) in conference games.
That's up from respective rankings of 9th (70.7 ppg) and 11th (42.2%) in overall season stats.
THE QUIN-TISENNTIALS
The 15th head coach in Missouri basketball history, Quin Snyder is 8-6 in his first season as a head coach. He notched his first career win Nov. 13th vs. Princeton, when the Tigers grabbed a 51-48 victory in the NABC Classic in Syracuse, N.Y. His first win in the Big 12 Conference came on Wednesday, as the Tigers jumped Colorado, 100-86.
An exciting new era began at Missouri this past April, when Snyder was introduced as men's head basketball coach by Director of Athletics Michael Alden.
Snyder, an assistant coach at Duke University the past four years, is just the fifth different head coach at Missouri since 1926.
Snyder's mission is to take the Tiger program to the next level. And if that next level represents the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, Snyder will be a repeat visitor. In 10 years at Duke, he took part in five Final Fours - three as a player (1986, 88, 89) and two more as a coach (1994, 99). For those of you keeping score at home, that's exactly five more Final Fours than Mizzou has qualified for in its previous 93 years.
Snyder had served as Duke's associate head coach the past two seasons, and was entrusted with numerous on-court coaching responsibilities, as well as recruiting duties for the Blue Devils by Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski. He was widely credited with recruiting the group of student-athletes (including 1999 national player-of-the-year Elton Brand) at Duke who compiled a 37-2 record last year and finished as NCAA runners-up.
Snyder and his wife, Helen, were married on Sept. 24th of this year. Snyder celebrated his 33rd birthday on Oct. 30th.
TIGER QUICK FACTS
OUR 'A' MATERIAL
Statistics can be manipulated to explain any number of things, but thus far through the season, one fact seems to say alot about Missouri's success.
When junior center T.J. Soyoye plays 26 minutes or more in a game, the Tigers are 8-1 on the year. He's averaging 11.3 points in those nine games.
When he has been sadled with foul trouble and has played 25 minutes or fewer, the Tigers miss his presence - they're 0-5. He's averaging 7.4 points in those games.
RUSH BACK FOR TEXAS a&M GAME
The NCAA has ruled that freshman forward Kareem Rush must miss a total of nine games, down from the original ruling of 14 games. He's already sat out six games thus far, and will miss three more, including Saturday's game vs. Kansas State. The first game he'll be back for is on Jan. 29th vs. Texas A&M.
After declaring Rush ineligible for competition on Dec. 14th, the University of Missouri learned from the NCAA on Dec. 21st that Rush could be reinstated given that certain conditions are met.
The NCAA ruled that Rush will be required to repay the amount of money he received from an AAU coach, prior to his enrollment at Missouri, which has been deemed as an impermissible benefit. Rush will have the length of his eligibility to complete the payment. The money will go to the charity or charities of his choice.
The reinstatement staff has also ruled that Rush must be withheld from 33 percent of Missouri's competition during the 1999-2000 season (nine games). Prior to the appeal, the NCAA had ruled that he must miss 50 percent (14 games).
TIGERS CONTINUE HOMESTAND
Missouri continues an important stretch on Saturday in which they play three of their next four games at home. Due to a scheduling rarity, each of the Tigers' five games thus far outside of the Hearnes Center have been played at neutral-court sites, making the Jan. 8th league opener at Iowa State MU's first true road game of the year. Missouri opened up at the NABC Classic in Syracuse, N.Y., and never faced the host Orangemen. Later, the Tigers played a pair of neutral-site games in St. Louis and closed out 1999 by facing Kentucky in New Orleans, La.
The Tigers hold a 6-2 record in games at the Hearnes Center thus far. Here's a look at the Tigers' numbers this season at home compared to the six games they've played thus far outside the friendly confines of Hearnes:
| Category | Home | Away |
| Record | 6-2 | 2-4 |
| Points | 75.0 | 65.0 |
| Opp. Points | 64.8 | 69.5 |
| FG % | 44.1 | 39.6 |
| Opp. FG % | 41.6 | 50.2 |
| 3-pt. FG % | 35.6 | 39.0 |
| Rebounds | 35.5 | 28.8 |
Individually, numbers which stand out include the following: T.J. Soyoye is averaging 12.1 ppg at Hearnes, and just 7.0 away from home ... Soyoye is shooting an outstanding 62.3% from the floor at Hearnes (38-of-61 FGs), and just 42.4% away from home (14-of-33)...Conversely, leading scorer Keyon Dooling is averaging 20.2 ppg away from Hearnes, compared to 14.3 ppg at home.
CARDIAC KIDS
While the Tigers would certainly prefer a big win on Saturday vs. Kansas State, MU has been predisposed to playing tight ballgames this season.
All but four of MU's 14 games this year have been decided by 11 points or less, including eight which have been decided by 6 points or less. The Tigers are 4-4 in games decided by six points or fewer, and dropped two straight games that were decided by five points, prior to Wednesday's 100-86 win over Colorado.
THE DYNAMIC DUO
Batman and Robin beware, Missouri can claim a pretty potent duo of its own, in sophomore guards Keyon Dooling and Clarence Gilbert.
Dooling and Gilbert, childhood friends and high school teammates from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are the top two scorers on the Tiger squad, entering the Kansas State contest.
Dooling leads all MU scorers, and ranks 9th in the Big 12, with an average of 16.8 points a game. He leads the team in field goals made and attempted, three-point field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, steals and minutes played, and is second on the squad in assists.
Gilbert is second on the team with a scoring average of 12.1 points a game, nearly three times his freshman average of 4.2. Gilbert is averaging 22.5 points a game in league play, a statistic which currently leads the league. He's shooting 43.2% from three-point range, up from 23.7% a year ago.
GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
Missouri has used the three-point shot to its advantage this year. The Tigers enter the Kansas State game as the top three-point outfit in the Big 12 Conference. Through 14 games, Missouri has hit 129-of-348 three pointers, both totals which are tops in the Big 12 Conference thus far.
MU has made at least 10 three pointers in in six of its last 11 games, and is coming off a scorching night against Colorado when the Tigers hit 10-of-15 attempts for a season-best 66.7% clip.
Ironically, however, MU scored a season-high 100 points on Wednesday against Colorado, but the 15 three point attempts were the fewest they've tried this season.
Taking a look at the season stats, it appears that when MU tries fewer threes, they are more successful. The three games in which MU has attempted the fewest number of threes this year, MU is 3-0. The three games in which they have attempted the most number of threes this year, the Tigers are just 1-2. Here's a breakdown:
| 15 vs. Colorado | W |
| 17 vs. SMU | W |
| 20 vs. Illinois | W |
| 31 vs. Morgan State | W |
| 30 vs. Indiana | L |
| 30 vs. Winthrop | L |
MU tied a single game school record back on Nov. 27th when it made 15 threes in a rout of Morgan State. The 15 threes made tied an MU single-game record, previously accomplished in 1997 vs. Wake Forest and in 1998 vs. Kansas State.
Seven different Tigers dialed long distance vs. Morgan State, including freshman Josh Kroenke, who came off the bench to nail five treys for the second straight game.
Conversely, Tiger opponents have yet to reach double digits in threes made for a game. Princeton had an opponent high when they hit eight treys on Nov. 13 against the Tigers.
Season records to keep an eye on include 214 three-pointers made and 580 treys attempted, both by the 1997-98 squad. Through 14 games, the Tigers are on pace to make 267 three pointers in 721 attempts.
REBOUND THAT BASKETBALL
Missouri is not exactly what you'd consider a huge team, as only two players on the roster stand 6-foot-9 or taller.
The Tigers had a huge rebounding performance Wednesday against Colorado, which keyed MU's win. Mizzou outrebounded CU by only one, 30-29, but Colorado came into the game as the Big 12's 2nd-best rebounding team.
In MU's previous six games the outsized Tigers had been outrebounded by a margin of 244-to-170 (an average of 40.7 to 28.3), including a season-high deficit of 18 against Kentucky (44-to-26).
Missouri is averaging 32.6 rebounds a game entering the Kansas State contest. The Tigers are 4-0 when outrebounding their opponent, and 3-5 when losing the battle of the boards.
GETTING TO THE LINE
Missouri was aggressive on the offensive end Wednesday against Colorado, as the Tigers' efforts to get to the hoop resulted in a season-high 28 made free throws. MU shot a solid 77.8% from the line (28-of-38), which was a big factor in the outcome of the game, as CU was 19-of-28 on the night.
Previously, MU faced a huge deficit at the foul line last Saturday at Iowa State, as the Cyclones hit 24-of-34 free throws, compared to just 8-of-11 for the Tigers. MU actually outscored ISU by a 73-62 margin from the field, but couldn't overcome the Cyclones advantage from the line.
Missouri enjoyed a nice advantage at the foul line against Winthrop, shooting 25 foul shots to 10 for the visiting Eagles. But the Tigers could convert on only 15 of those freebies (60.0 percent), and made only two of six free throws in the game's final two minutes.
MU had trouble getting to the line against Indiana. In that game, MU earned only eight free throw attempts, making six, while the Hoosiers connected on 18-of-27 on the night - clearly a deciding factor in IU's five-point win.
DEFENSE LOOKING FOR TUNE-UP
MU is looking to regain its defensive touch after giving up 86 points in each of its two league games - season highs for opponents.
In its previous game, Missouri played solid defense, and held Winthrop to just 35.3 percent shooting.
Prior to that, Missouri had turned up the heat defensively, and those efforts helped key wins over Iowa and Illinois.
Illinois shot a respectable 48.2 percent against MU, but that number was largely skewed by the fact that UI hit 13-of-16 shots to open the contest. From that point on, MU held the Illini to just 35.0 percent (14-of-40), which was certainly a key in MU's comeback from a 14-point deficit.
Against Iowa, MU held the Hawkeyes, who opened the season with a win over defending national champion UConn, to just 37.3 percent from the floor. Mizzou also harassed Iowa into 16 turnovers on the day, paving the way to MU's 72-61 win.
On Dec. 12th, Saint Louis shot an opponent season-high 58.3%, and scored a season-most 75 points against Mizzou, despite the fact that the Tigers forced 25 Billiken turnovers. SLU's ability to get points down low were the deciding factor, as SLU outscored MU 46-24 in the paint.
The Tigers have twice held opponents to under 35% - including an opponent season-low mark of 34.5% percent vs. Morgan State.
TIGERS SIGN THREE PREP BLUE-
CHIPPERS DURING EARLY PERIOD
MU Head Coach Quin Snyder has signed three high school standouts in what looks to become one of the nation's top recruiting classes.
During the early signing period, which ran from Nov. 10-17, Snyder inked prep stars Rickey Paulding, Arthur Johnson and Wesley Stokes to national letters of intent.
Here's a look at each of them:
RICKEY PAULDING
Paulding, a 6-foot-5 guard from Detroit Renaissance High School, is considered one of the nation's top 30 prep prospects, and has been selected to the pre-season all-American team by Street & Smith Magazine . He averaged 25.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots per game last season at Renaissance High, and was selected to Michigan's all-state team in 1999. His point total led the extremely competitive Detroit Public School League last year.
Paulding selected Missouri over Michigan State, Ohio State and Miami, Fla.
ARTHUR JOHNSON
Johnson, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Detroit Pershing High School, is considered a top 30 national prospect by many recruiting services. He's one of the top big men in the country, and is coming off a season in which he averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds per game as a junior. He led his Pershing team to a top-five ranking in the state last year, and earned all-state honors for his efforts.
Johnson selected Missouri over Miami, Fla., Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State. His high school coach is Arnold Neville.
WESLEY STOKES
Stokes, a 5-foot-10 point guard out of Long Beach Poly, is considered the top-rated point guard prospect in the West, and is a top-50 national recruit. Stokes averaged 16 points, eight assists and four steals per game last year as a junior, and garnered much attention after some superb play in various summer all-star camps.
Stokes selected Missouri over Southern California, San Diego State, Texas and Massachusetts. His high school coach is Ron Palmer, who directed Long Beach Poly to a 24-7 record last season, and the quarterfinals of the Southern California Regionals. They are a pre-season favorite to win the Southern Section Division I-AA championship, which would be their second in the past four years.
"We're obviously very excited to have such good kids want to join our program," said Quin Snyder. "We get better with all three of them, in different ways."
MIZZOU SETS ATTENDANCE RECORD
At Missouri's home game on Dec. 7th vs. Indiana, the Tigers played in an electric atmosphere that included 13,782 fans.
That was a single-game attendance record for the Hearnes Center - breaking the previous mark of 13,706 set in 1989 vs. Kansas. It is only the second entry in the top ten that involves a non-conference team.
Here's a listing of the top ten single-game attendance records at Hearnes.
| 1. | 13,782, 12-7-99 vs. Indiana |
| 2. | 13,706, 2-11-89 vs. Kansas |
| 3. | 13,645, 1-14-89 vs. Iowa State |
| 4. | 13,610, 2-27-88 vs. Kansas |
| 5. | 13,558, 2-21-88 vs. Oklahoma State |
| 6. | 13,544, 1-23-88 vs. Iowa State |
| 7. | 13,471, 3-3-88 vs. Oklahoma |
| 8. | 13,470, 2-4-89 vs. Kansas State |
| 9. | 13,454, 12-28-88 vs. Arkansas |
| 10. | 13,360, 1-21-89 vs. Oklahoma State |
TIGER QUICK NOTES
Sophomore forward Matt Rowan left the University of Missouri men's basketball team, and will transfer from MU at the following of the fall semester, as announced Nov. 16th by Head Coach Quin Snyder.
Rowan, a Liberty, Mo. native, did not play in either of Missouri's games at the NABC Classic in Syracuse, N.Y. The 6-foot-7 forward saw limited action last season as a freshman, averaging 0.8 points and 1.4 rebounds in 17 games. He averaged 4.9 minutes played in those contests.
Rowan will remain on scholarship through the end of the fall semester, after which time he will be released from his commitment. By releasing him at the end of the semester, Rowan will be allowed to pursue a number of options. He will be eligible to play immediately at any Division II school, and would have to sit out until the end of the first semester of the 2000-2001 season if he was to choose another Division I program.
"We wish Matt the very best, and we'll do whatever we can to help him with his future plans," said Coach Snyder. "He's made a personal decision that he wants to be in a program where he'll be able to make more of a contribution, and we certainly understand and respect his decision."
A quick check of the MU record book shows that Missouri had never before won a game when shooting worse than 30.0%. The Tigers managed a 51-48 win over Princeton on Nov. 13th despite shooting just 29.4%. The previous low shooting night during a Tiger win was back on Feb. 8, 1995, when MU shot just 30.0%, but beat Iowa State, 59-56 in Columbia.
The first point scored in the Quin Snyder era came on a free throw from T.J. Soyoye. Johnnie Parker hit the first field goal (a three-pointer), got the first steal and blocked shot. Soyoye grabbed the first rebound, and Jeff Hafer was the first sub. Keyon Dooling clinched the first win for Snyder with a pair of free throws late in the game vs. Princeton.
An impressive handful of visitors have come calling in the early season to check out Quin Snyder and his Tigers. Early in the year, Doug Collins, current NBA analyst for NBC Sports, and a former NBA head coach and all-star player, visited Tiger camp. He saw the Tigers three days during his visit, and addressed the Tiger team following one practice.
Also paying a visit to Columbia a few weeks ago was former Duke and Vanderbilt standout Billy McCaffrey. He saw practices on two days before heading out of town.
Earlier this summer, current Detroit Pistons Head Coach Alvin Gentry paid a visit to Columbia. Gentry coached with MU associate head coach John Hammond at Detroit.
