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Feb. 24, 2002
No. 13 Oklahoma St. Cowboys (22-6, 9-5)
at Missouri Tigers (19-9, 8-6)
Game# 29 - Feb. 25, 2002 - Columbia, Mo.
TIPOFF: 8:00 p.m. (central time).
ARENA: Hearnes Center (13,545). Opened in 1972. MU is 380-66 (.852) there alltime, and has won 26 of its last 29 games in the building.
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 (Ron Franklin, play-by-play/Jon Sundvold, color/Jay Kutlow, producer).
RANKINGS: AP / ESPN-USA / RPI: Missouri (RV / NR / 57), Okla. St. (13 / 14 / 12).
SERIES: MU leads, 67-36, including 26-3 at the Hearnes Center. OSU has won 3 straight and 5 of the last 6 meetings, including 2 wins in Columbia.
FINAL HOMESTAND OF THE SEASON BEGINS MONDAY VS. #13 COWBOYS
The Missouri Tigers (19-9 overall, 8-6 in Big 12 Conference play) begin their final homestand of the season when they host the #13 Oklahoma State Cowboys (22-6, 9-5) Monday night in a nationally-televised ESPN Big Monday contest.
Missouri enters the game tied with Texas for 5th in the Big 12 standings, one game behind OSU and Texas Tech. A win Monday for Mizzou would tie them for no worse than 4th place heading into Sunday's finale against league champion Kansas. The Tigers are coming off an impressive 96-83 win at Colorado on Sunday, which closed a stretch that saw MU play 4 of 5 games on the road. The win broke a 2-game losing streak for the Tigers, who are 12-2 at home this season.
Oklahoma State carries a 4-game winning streak into Monday's contest, and are fresh off a 77-64 homecourt win over Baylor Saturday. Two of OSU's wins in their current streak include victories over upper-division teams Oklahoma (79-72 in OT) and at Texas (85-80).
OSU has won 2 straight over MU, and 5 of the last 6 overall. MU owns a huge 26-3 edge over OSU in games played at the Hearnes Center, but OSU has won 2 of its last 3 games there, including an 84-72 win at Hearnes in 2000.
MU's Clarence Gilbert set a Big 12 and MU school record with 12 3-pt. field goals Saturday at Colorado. His 12 treys are the most in a game this year in the NCAA, and rank 4th-most alltime in NCAA record books. He ended the game with 40 pts., which is the most scored in a game in the Big 12 this year.
MU's 3-pronged attack of Kareem Rush (20.0 ppg), Clarence Gilbert (16.7 ppg) and Arthur Johnson (11.8 ppg & 7.9 rpg) provide one of the best inside-outside threats around. Gilbert and Rush are ranked 1-2 in the Big 12 in 3-pt. field goals, while Johnson ranks 2nd in the league in blocked shots, and ranks among the leaders in rebounding and FG%.
Kareem Rush ranks 2nd in the Big 12 in scoring (20.0 ppg). He has lived up to his All-American billing of late by averaging 23.0 points per game in MU's last 6 games.
Big 12 Conference schools are 7-8 this season against non-conference ranked opponents. MU owns 3 of those 7 wins, as the Tigers have beaten then-#22 Alabama, then-#9 Iowa and then-#8 Virginia. MU also has one other quality win against Xavier. The Tigers had 3 "quality" wins last season - at Indiana, and at home vs. Iowa State and Kansas.
MU owns 19 wins thus far, marking a regular-season high-water mark under Quin Snyder. MU grabbed 18 regular-season wins last season, and had 17 in the 1999-2000 season - both years that saw MU earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
Arthur Johnson has connected on 60.9% of his field goal attempts (39-of-64) in his last 7 games, and is averaging 12.2 points and 3.0 blocks per game.
Clarence Gilbert is the Big 12's active leading career scorer with 1,541career points (he also ranks 7th alltime in the Big 12). He ranks 8th alltime at MU, as well.
Wesley Stokes has handled his new role as a backup point guard very well of late. He has a 10-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in his last 4 games (20-to-2), and is shooting better (52.9%) than when he started MU's first 15 games (38.8%).