Jan. 4, 2002
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17TH-RANKED TIGERS HOST HUSKERS IN CONFERENCE OPENER
It's time for the second season, as the 2002 Big 12 Conference race gets underway Saturday in Columbia as the #17 Missouri Tigers (10-3) play host to the Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-4). Tipoff at the Hearnes Center is 12:45 p.m., and the game will serve not only as the opener for both teams, but for the entire conference, as well.
Missouri earned a solid 74-47 win Wednesday at the Hearnes Center over Coppin State. That broke a 3-game losing streak which followed the Tigers' 9-game winning streak to open the season.
Nebraska got a much-needed win Wednesday, as well, as the Huskers downed Savannah State in Lincoln, 66-47. That broke a 4-game losing skid for NU, after the Huskers won their first six games of the season.
TIGERS IN CONFERENCE PLAY
Saturday will mark the 3rd time in the last 4 years that Nebraska has opened its Big 12 Conference season in Columbia.
Last season saw the 2001 season get underway with Missouri holding on for a 68-66 win at Hearnes. Nebraska also visited Columbia to tip off Big 12 play in 1999, and the Tigers came away with a more convincing 80-57 win.
MU is looking to move to 3-3 in Big 12 openers since the formation of the league in 1996. Mizzou is 2-3 in Big 12 lid-lifters, with both wins coming against Nebraska.
Other Big 12 openers for Mizzou include: an Iowa State 68-65 win in Columbia in 1997, a Kansas State 111-56 squeaker in Manhattan to open the 1998 season, and an Iowa State 86-81 win in Ames in 2000.
PLAYER REUNION WEEKEND
Nearly 50 former Tiger players are scheduled to come back to their former stomping grounds for the annual players' reunion weekend.
An alumni game will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday prior to the MU-Nebraska game, and the entire group of players will be recognized at halftime of the game. Following the game, a private reception will be held for the group.
The alumni game is open to the public, but fans must have a ticket to the MU-Nebraska game to gain admittance. Doors open at 9:45 a.m.
BACK TO A REGULAR ROUTINE
After an irregular holiday routine, the Missouri Tigers hope that a more normal routine helps them get back to the winning ways that saw them reel off 9 straight wins to open the season..
Many factors can be brought forth as reasons why MU struggled in its recent 3-game losing streak, but one could argue the poor stretch was due to the Tigers' irregular schedule.
Mizzou won its first 9 games of the season, in a span of 24 days (from Nov. 13 to Dec. 6). The next 23 days (Dec. 7-Dec. 29) saw MU play just 3 games, and whether it was rust or not, the Tigers couldn't shake the cobwebs enough to avoid dropping all 3 games.
LAST GAME: #17 MU 74, COPPIN ST. 47
Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert ended slumps that coincided with No. 17 Missouri's three-game losing streak, combining for 40 points in a 74-47 victory over Coppin State.
Rush had 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting and Gilbert had 17 points on 6-for-14 shooting.
Rush was 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Gilbert hit his first three shots, all 3-pointers. The duo averaged a combined 39.9 points over the first nine games and 24 over the last three.
Wesley Stokes had 11 assists in the Tigers' final tuneup before the start of the Big 12 season.
Travon Bryant added 11 points and Arthur Johnson had eight rebounds and nine points, including three alley-oop dunks, for Missouri, which shot 52 percent.
Missouri outscored Coppin State 21-3 over the final 10 minutes of the first half, including two 3-pointers and a dunk by Rush, to take a 37-17 lead.
After Smith hit from the lane with 11:10 to go, Coppin State scored on only one of its last 15 possessions in the half, committing turnovers on five of the last seven. The Eagles also had three shot clock violations.
Missouri was shorthanded, with sixth man Rickey Paulding out due to the death of his grandmother. Backup forward Justin Gage was out with a strained right hip flexor and forward Jeffrey Ferguson was stuck in Canada with immigration problems.
The short bench didn't have an effect as Missouri committed only two fouls in the first half and four overall.
MU-NEBRASKA SERIES
Missouri and Nebraska will meet for the 195th time Saturday, and MU holds a 111-83 series lead. The Tigers hold a 23-6 advantage over the Huskers at the Hearnes Center, but seven of the nine games played here between the two rivals have been decided by five points or fewer (including 2 overtime games).
Six of the last 7 years have seen MU and Nebraska split their regular season matchups. The only exception came during Quin Snyder's first season, when MU won both in Columbia and Lincoln (2000).
Overall, MU has won 7 of the last 10 games in the series.
Individually, MU's Kareem Rush has averaged 23.5 points per game in 4 career outings vs. Nebraska, including a 30-point game last year in Columbia.
Clarence Gilbert has averaged 15.2 points per game in 6 games vs. Nebraska.
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.
After getting out to a 9-0 start to the season, Mizzou was perched #2 in the Associated Press top-25 poll. That marked the highest an MU team has been ranked since the 1989-90 season. Additionally, when MU won the Guardians Classic in November 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 48-29 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.
GAGE INJURY UPDATE
Junior forward Justin Gage suffered a strained right hip flexor in last Saturday's loss at DePaul, and is questionable for the Nebraska game, after missing Wednesday's win over Coppin State.
The 1st-team All-Big 12 wide receiver was playing in just his second game for MU since joining the team prior to the Illinois game, and he was providing some key minutes in the first half at DePaul.
Gage grabbed 3 rebounds and 2 steals in just 4 minutes of first half play, before suffering the injury. He did not return for the second half. He has not practiced since the DePaul game.
REBOUNDING REPORT CAN LOOK DOWNRIGHT OFFENSIVE FOR MU
In winning 10 of 13 non-conference games, Missouri showed that it looks to be an improved rebounding team.
A year after ranking 11th in the Big 12 Conference with a rebounding margin of -0.7 per game, the Tigers currently rank 6th in the league with a margin of +7.5 per outing. MU had ranked 1st in the league, and 3rd in the nation, with a margin of +12.1 prior to its recent 3-game losing streak.
Despite the recent losses, the Tigers have been especially dominant on the offensive rebounding, as MU still leads the Big 12 in that category, with an average of 16.23 per game.
In MU's 4 games prior to Iowa, the Tigers enjoyed a rebounding margin of +24.0 per game, including 82-31 on the offensive glass.
Mizzou outrebounded Southern on Dec. 6th by a 53-24 margin, which is the largest single-game rebounding margin under Quin Snyder.
MU has won the rebounding battle in 9 of 13 games this season, and is 8-1 on the year, and an impressive 25-4 under Quin Snyder when outrebounding its opponent.
Last season, Missouri outrebounded its opponent just 11 times in 33 games.
Dec. 3rd at Saint Louis, the Tigers trailed 35-31 at halftime, thanks in large part to SLU's 20-19 rebounding edge in the first half. The second half was a different story, though, as the Tigers controlled the boards by a 24-11 margin in the second half, and won the category 43-31 for the game.
On Nov. 14th, MU had a historic rebounding game in an 86-58 win over Air Force. Missouri held the Falcons to just 12 rebounds in the game. That's right, 12 rebounds total. MU outrebounded Air Force 31-12 on the night, and had more offensive boards (17) than the Falcons had overall (12).
Records show that the 12 rebounds by Air Force is a new record single-game low for an opponent against MU.
Missouri enjoyed a huge 104-49 rebounding advantage in wins over Grambling and Jackson State, outrebounding Grambling 50-23, preceded by a 54-26 edge over Jackson State.
Mizzou was dominant on the offensive glass in those games, holding an eye-popping 46-8 advantage in offensive rebounds.
FINDING WAYS TO WIN
In the first two years under Quin Snyder's direction, Missouri fell victim quite often to its dependance on the outside shot. While the 3-pt. shot is still a vital weapon in MU's arsenal, this year's Tigers are showing they have the ability to win games in varied ways - more often than not the trait of a good team.
*On Dec. 3rd, MU defeated SLU despite making just 1-of-10 three point field goals. Mizzou countered that by outrebounding (43-31) by outshooting SLU (46.5% to 43.1%) on the night, and by holding a 42-28 edge in points in the paint. That's the worst shooting night MU has had from long range in a win since the 1993-94 season.
*On Nov. 24th, the Tigers defeated a Xavier team that will challenge for the Atlantic-10 Conference title by making just 1-of-3 free throws. On that night, MU won because of good offensive play (shooting 49.2% including 50.0% from 3-pt. range), good defensive play (held XU to 38.6% FGs) and taking care of the ball (season-low 7 turnovers). The 1 free throw was the lowest number of makes in an MU win since the 1989-90 season.
*On Nov. 21st, MU staged an improbable comeback to claim the NABC Guardians Classic against Iowa. Mizzou trailed the Hawkeyes by 11 points with just 2:15 remaining in the game. The Tigers were on the short end of almost every statistical category that night, but they hung together to post the gutty comeback to give MU its first in-season tournament championship since the 1989-90 season.
*Mizzou defeated #22 Alabama on Nov. 20 in the Guardians Classic semifinals without the services of All-American Kareem Rush for the game's final 8 minutes. Rush was knocked out of the game after taking an elbow to the head by a Tide player. MU had held a 15-point lead with Rush in the game, but saw the Tide eventually take the lead with Rush on the sideline. The final stats were far from pretty, but when the dust settled, MU had a 75-68 win.
What's this all mean? That's open for interpretation, certainly, but it should show that Missouri is no longer a one-dimensional team that lives and dies by the long jumper. Of course, it never hurts to bury a few.
GETTING QUALITY WINS
In winning its first 9 games, Missouri claimed wins against teams from four of the top conferences in college basketball.
MU has downed Iowa of the Big Ten, Alabama of the SEC, Xavier of the Atlantic 10 and Saint Louis of Conference USA.
Mizzou will have a chance to add the ACC to its list when the Tigers host Virginia in its last non-league game of the regular season in February.
MU did stake its claim to the SWAC championship, as MU rolled to a perfect 3-0 in games vs. SWAC teams Jackson State, Grambling State and Southern.