Jan. 20, 2002
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#21 Missouri Tigers (14-4, 4-1) at
#5 Oklahoma Sooners (14-2, 3-1)
Game# 19 - Jan. 21, 2002 - Norman, Okla.
TIPOFF: 8:00 p.m. (central time).
ARENA: Lloyd Noble Center (12,000). Opened in 1975-76. OU is 335-59 there alltime, including 10-0 this season. OU owns a 20-4 record there against MU.
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. Brad Nessler, play-by-play/Dick Vitale, color/Michele Tafoya, sideline.
RANKINGS: MU is #21 (A.P.) & #19 (ESPN/USA Today), OU is #5 in both polls.
SERIES: OU leads, 106-88, and has won 7 straight dating back to 1998.
COACHES:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89), 52-30 at MU and overall (3rd season). Snyder is 0-4 vs. Oklahoma and Kelvin Sampson.
Oklahoma: Kelvin Sampson (Pembroke State '78), 170-71 at OU (8th season) and 346-219 overall (19th season). Sampson is 9-5 vs. Missouri and is 4-0 vs. Quin Snyder.
#21 TIGERS GUN FOR NORMAN CONQUEST MONDAY AT #5 OKLAHOMA
The Missouri Tigers (14-4 overall, 4-1 in Big 12 Conference play) head to unfriendly territory looking to keep alive one streak and break another. Mizzou will look to extend its current 3-game winning streak, and break a 7-game losing streak to Oklahoma that dates back to the first year of the Big 12 Conference.
Missouri is coming off one of its best performances of the year, a 92-77 win Saturday over a talented Colorado team. The Tigers have won 5-of-6 games since dropping 3 straight games at the end of December.
Oklahoma is coming off just its second loss of the season, a 75-67 decision at #4 Kansas, which broke a 13-game winning streak for the Sooners. OU is a perfect 10-0 at home this season, and throttled then-#2 Maryland in Norman, 72-56 in December.
Missouri will be looking to break a 7-game losing streak to Oklahoma that dates back to MU's last win, which came in 1997 (the inaugural year of the Big 12 Conference). Five of the 7 losses have been by 5 points or fewer, however, including a pair of 2-pt. OU wins last season that came in the final seconds.
Missouri is coming off an impressive 92-77 win Saturday vs. an improved and talented Colorado team. MU was scintillating in the first half, as they surged to a 49-26 halftime lead on the strength of 62.5% shooting, and a strong defensive effort that forced 13 first-half Buffalo turnovers and 33.3% shooting.
MU is 2-2 this season on the road. Three of the games have been nail-biters, as MU won by 2 at Saint Louis (on a Wesley Stokes buzzer-beater), and lost by 1 at DePaul and by 4 at Iowa State.
MU's 3-pronged attack of Kareem Rush (19.6 ppg), Clarence Gilbert (16.0 ppg) and Arthur Johnson (12.2 ppg & 8.7 rpg) provide one of the best inside-outside threats around. Rush and Gilbert rank 1-2 in the Big 12 in 3-pt. field goals, while Johnson leads the league in blocked shots, and ranks among the leaders in rebounding and FG%.
Center Arthur Johnson is averaging 16.8 points and an impressive 14.8 rebounds per game this season in MU's 4 road games. He's recorded double-doubles in all 4 games, including a stellar 23-pt., 15-reb. outing in MU's last road game, an 81-66 win at Kansas State on Jan. 12th.
MU scored 74 points last Wednesday vs. Texas A&M, and that included a 15-minute, 33-second stretch bridging the 1st and 2nd halves where the Tigers scored a total of 8 points. That means in the game's other 24 minutes and 27 seconds, Missouri scored 66 points.
Clarence Gilbert is the Big 12's active leading career scorer, with 1,362 career points. His total ranks him 13th alltime at MU, and he needs just 3 points to pass former Kansas star Paul Pierce for 10th place on the Big 12's alltime scoring chart.
Free throw attempts have been a telling statistic for MU this year. In MU's 14 wins, opponents have shot an average of 17.0 free throws per game. In MU's 4 losses, opponents have gone to the line an average of 26.5 times.
MU is 2-2 this year against ranked teams. MU's wins have come over #22 Alabama and #9 Iowa, with the losses coming to #15 Iowa and #9 Illinois.