Nov. 28, 2001
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3rd-Ranked Tigers Return Home To Face Jackson State
After three straight games away from home, the 3rd-ranked Missouri Tigers return to the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center, where they'll begin a two-game homestand Thursday against the Jackson State Tigers (1-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Missouri comes home after acing three tough mid-term exams last week, as the Tigers defeated #22 Alabama, #9 Iowa and Xavier in an impressive five day stretch. The first two wins earned MU the championship of the inaugural NABC Guardians Classic, while the latter was part of the John R. Wooden Tradition played in Indianapolis, Ind.
Jackson State visits Columbia for the first time since November of 1998, and the sixth time overall. The Tigers are 1-2 on the season, losing at Southern Mississippi (L,83-58) and splitting home games vs. Stephen F. Austin (W, 68-59) and Arkansas State (L, 90-79).
Rush Earns Big 12 Honor
Missouri junior forward Kareem Rush was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week Tuesday by the league office for averaging 19.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in leading MU to a 5-0 start to the season. This is the first week for the award.
Rush, who led the Big 12 last season with a scoring average of 21.1 points per game, is coming off perhaps his best all-around performance in a Tiger uniform. He led MU to a solid victory Saturday over Xavier in Indianapolis, with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists in 39 minutes. He also played excellent defense, holding one of Xavier's top scorers, Romain Sato, to a 4-of-13 shooting night.
The league award marked the fifth time the that Rush claimed a Big 12 weekly honor. A pre-season first team All-American, Rush was named Big 12 Player of the Week twice last season, and earned the league Freshman of the Week honor twice during his freshman season of 1999-2000.
Last Time Out: MU 72, Xavier 60
Kareem Rush scored 24 points and had 12 rebounds, and Wesley Stokes scored 14 as No. 5 Missouri beat Xavier 72-60 in the John Wooden Tradition.
The Tigers (5-0) led 52-50 with 10 minutes left, but used a 14-2 run to pull away. The Tigers scored the final 10 points of the run.
At one point during the stretch, Rickey Paulding, who scored 10, put back a miss and followed with a free throw to make it 59-52.
Lionel Chalmers scored 23, and David West had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Xavier (1-1), which shot 39 percent from the floor.
A pull-up jumper by Gilbert pushed the Tigers' lead to 46-39, but Chalmers converted a 3-point play to make it 46-44.
Xavier cut it to 52-50 after Chalmers' basket with 10:02 left, but Missouri then went on its 14-2 run.
Xavier led 19-16 early in the first half, but an 11-2 run put the Tigers ahead for good. Missouri led 36-34 at the half.
Rush had 13 points in the first half and finished 11-for-21 overall.
Stokes opened the second half with a 3, then Chalmers hit one to make it 39-37 but Gilbert answered with another 3-pointer.
The Tigers shot 9-of-18 from 3-point range, but were only 1-for-3 from the free-throw line.
Stokes was 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and Gilbert and Rush each made two.
Tigers Strong Out Of The Gate
Missouri is off to its first 5-0 start to a season since the 1991-92 squad won its first 11 games.
Only 10 times previously in school history has MU won its first 6 games to begin a season. The current bunch has a ways to go to match the best start in school history, as the 1981-82 team won its first 19 games on its way to a #1 national ranking and eventual 27-4 record and Big Eight championship.
Taking Care Of The Ball
Missouri is taking quite good care of the ball thus far, as Quin Snyder's group is averaging just 11.6 turnovers per game. That's nearly two fewer turnovers per game than the school record of 13.3 turnovers per game set in the 1999-2000 season.
Mizzou set that record in Snyder's first season at the helm. The Tigers committed an average of 15.1 miscues per game last season. The highest average per game in a season since turnovers have been kept beginning in the 1978-79 season, was 18.3 during the 1985-86 season.
Where's The Charity?
Missouri got a quality 72-60 win Saturday over Atlantic-10 Conference favorite Xavier, despite the fact that the Tigers didn't get much love from the foul line.
MU went to the foul line just 3 times vs. Xavier, and made 1 of those attempts. According to a quick scan of the record books, that marked the first time that Mizzou had ever won a game when making so few free throws. The previous low coming in a win was a win at Old Dominion during the 1989-90 season when Mizzou went 3-of-3 from the line.
In case you're curious, Missouri has made zero free throws in a contest before. That came in a loss at Colorado during the 1983-84 season, when MU went 0-of-7 from the charity stripe.
The Quin Snyder File
In only his third season at Missouri, Head Coach Quin Snyder has his Tigers achieving heights not seen at MU in years.
At 5-0 on the season, Mizzou found itself ranked #3 in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll. That marks the highest an MU team has been ranked since the 1993-94 season. Additionally, when MU won the Guardians Classic last week with its miraculous comeback vs. Iowa, it gave the school its first in-season tournament championship since 1989.
The 15th head coach in Missouri basketball history, Snyder is 43-26 in his third season as a head coach.
Snyder guided Missouri to a 20-13 record in 2000-01, including the schools' first NCAA Tournament win since 1995, when MU defeated Georgia in the opening round.
He was named the national rookie coach-of-the-year by Basketball Times after leading the Tigers to an 18-13 record and an NCAA appearance in the 1999-2000 campaign.
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).
Snyder had served as Duke's associate head coach the previous 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 in 1998-99 and finished as NCAA runners-up.
A Comeback For The Ages
Missouri earned an improbable 78-77 comeback win over 9th-ranked Iowa last week in the championship game of the NABC Guardians Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
The Tigers trailed Iowa by 11 points (73-62) with just 2:15 remaining, but a frantic series of events took place quickly, and when the dust settled, the game was tied with :00.8 seconds left on the clock, and MU's Clarence Gilbert was standing at the foul line to shoot two free throws. He missed the first after a series of three Iowa timeouts, but got the second one home and MU knocked away a desperation full-court heave to get the dramatic win.
All told, Mizzou outscored Iowa 14-4 over the last 2:11, and forced three turnovers.
It's A Youth Movement
The lofty expectations thrust upon Missouri this pre-season are a welcome challenge to all those in the Tiger program.
Not that we're trying to temper expectations, but to be a top-10 team like many are predicting, will be indeed a tall challenge for a squad that is very young overall.
Eight of MU's top 11 players in the rotation are freshmen or sophomores, and a ninth - junior college transfer Uche Okafor - is in his first year in the program.
MU Signs Three Prospects During Early Period
Missouri signed three high school student-athletes to national letters of intent this past week. Here's a look at the information that was released on each:
Jimmy McKinney - St. Louis, Mo.
The University of Missouri men's basketball program added one of the nation's top prep players to its roster for next season, as Jimmy McKinney of Vashon High School in St. Louis, Mo., signed a national letter of intent to attend Mizzou.
McKinney, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard, has been a proven leader and an unquestioned winner on Coach Floyd Irons' Vashon squads that have won consecutive Missouri Class 4A state championships. McKinney averaged 23.4 points, four assists and four rebounds per game as a junior, and led Vashon to a 28-1 record last season, and a final ranking of No. 3 in the nation by USA Today. Widely regarded as one of the nation's top 30 players entering this season, McKinney is a pre-season candidate for the prestigious McDonald's All-American Game.
"We're very pleased that Jimmy will be a part of the Missouri family," said MU Head Coach Quin Snyder. "Jimmy comes from a very strong family and super parents. He's an outstanding young man with tremendous character. In terms of the game of basketball, Jimmy has tremendous scoring and passing ability, but of even greater significance is his feel for the total game. He should be an impact player in the Big XII."
McKinney's signing is viewed as important to Snyder in another realm, as well.
"I'm personally excited to have an opportunity to work with one of Coach Irons' young men," said Snyder. "I have great respect for Coach Irons. Vashon is one of the finest programs in the country, and it's important that the top kids in Missouri see our program as one where they can come and grow as players and as young men," he said.
McKinney selected Missouri over Illinois, North Carolina, Kentucky, Cincinnati and Oklahoma, among others. His parents are Jimmy Sr., and Ema McKinney of St. Louis.
Kevin Young - Kingston, Jamaica
The University of Missouri men's basketball team has plenty to be thankful for during Thanksgiving week, as Head Coach Quin Snyder announced the signing of top prep prospect Kevin Young to a national letter of intent.
Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, the 6-foot-9, 270-pound center is in his second year at Berkshire Academy in Homestead, Fla., where he plays for Coach Rolando DeLaBarrera. He is a consensus top-100 prospect by recruiting analysts, and has been ranked among the top-10 post players in the country by one service.
"Kevin is a very talented young man who has a tremendous passion for the game of basketball," said MU Head Coach Quin Snyder. "We're very pleased that he has chosen to come to Missouri to further develop his skills. He is a strong, agile and physically imposing inside player who can impact the game in a number of areas. He will be a good fit with our team," said Snyder.
Young played his junior season at Berkshire with current MU freshman guard Duane John. Together, they helped guide their squad to a 17-2 record and a national ranking by USA Today. He chose Missouri over Kentucky and Miami, Fla., among others.
Giedrius Rinkevicius - Kaunas, Lithuania
Missouri added the tallest player in MU history today, as they announced that 7-foot-2 center Giedrius Rinkevicius has signed a national letter of intent to attend Mizzou.
Rinkevicius, a native of Kaunas, Lithuania, was a member of the Lithuanian 19-and-under junior national team this past year. He is attending Bridgton Academy this season, a prep school located in North Bridgton, Maine, where he plays for Coach Whit Lesure.
"Giedrius is a quality young man with a tremendous upside to his game," said MU Head Coach Quin Snyder. "We see him as someone who can come to Missouri and develop into a complete player. He has good athleticism, and can run the floor well, and when he develops his strength, he can be quite a talent," said Snyder.
Tom Konchalski, a top east coast recruiting analyst, has seen Rinkevicius play, and has good things to say about the big man. "I was impressed when I saw him," he said. "Giedrius runs and catches extremely well, and he has nice hands and feet. He's a good passer, and has a solid feel for the game. His best basketball is ahead of him, and Missouri will be a great environment for him to learn the game. He's got to get stronger, but if he is patient and stays the course, I believe he's got the potential to play in the NBA one day," said Konchalsky.
At 7-foot-2, Rinkevicius will equal the tallest Tiger to ever wear the black and gold uniform, matching former player Tom Dore, a 7-foot-2 post who played for MU from 1979-80.