Feb. 5, 2002
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Iowa St. Cyclones (9-14, 1-8)
at #22 Missouri Tigers (16-6, 5-3)
Game# 23 - Feb. 6, 2002 - Columbia, Mo.
Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. (central time).
Arena: Hearnes Center (13,545). Opened in 1972. MU is 379-65 (.854) there alltime, and has won 25 of its last 27 games in the building. MU is 26-5 there vs. ISU.
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: Mizzou Sports Network. Chris Gervino, play-by-play/Jon Sundvold, color.
Rankings: MU is #22 (A.P.) & RV (ESPN/USA Today), ISU is not ranked.
Series: MU leads, 135-76, but ISU has won 4 of the last 5 meetings, including a 71-67 win in Ames, Jan. 9. ISU has won 3 of its last 5 games played in Columbia.
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke `89), 54-32 at MU and overall (3rd season). Snyder is 1-4 vs. Iowa State and Larry Eustachy.
Iowa State: Larry Eustachy (Long Beach State `79), 81-40 at ISU (4th season) and 240-126 overall (12th season). Eustachy is 4-3 vs. MU and 4-1 vs. Quin Snyder.
MU BEGINS 2ND-HALF OF BIG 12 SEASON BY HOSTING IOWA STATE
With payback on its mind, the #22 Missouri Tigers (16-6 overall, 5-3 in Big 12 Conference play) get back into Big 12 action Wednesday as they host the Iowa State Cyclones (9-14, 1-8). Gametime is set for 7 p.m., and will be telecast statewide on Mizzou Sports Network.
Missouri is looking to atone for a disappointing 71-67 loss at Iowa State back on Jan. 9th. The Tigers are coming off arguably their best performance of the season, an 81-77 win Sunday over #8 Virginia. MU enters the game tied for 3rd in the league, 3 1/2 games behind leader Kansas, and 1 game behind 2nd-place Oklahoma.
Iowa State, the two-time defending league champion, has lost seven straight games since defeating Missouri. Five of those losses, however, have been by 7 points or fewer, with 4 of those coming by 3 points or less. ISU is currently last in the league standings.
Missouri is 4-4 this season against teams ranked in the top-50 of the RPI rankings. Only 11 schools in the nation have more than 4 wins against that group.
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 stands 47th in the RPI rankings, with a strength of schedule of 82nd-best. MU currently has 2 wins over teams ranked in the top-25 in the RPI (Alabama and Xavier), which is just one fewer than last season when the Tigers were the No. 9 seed in the NCAA East Region.
Missouri is 11-1 at home this season, and has won 25 of its last 27 games at the Hearnes Center, dating back to the tail end of the 1999-2000 season. Those 25 wins have come by an average of 16.7 points per game.
MU and Iowa State will meet for the 1st time in Columbia since MU's epic 112-109 4-overtime win last season. That 60-minute game saw 24 lead changes and 15 ties on the day, and the biggest lead either team had all day was just 8 points.
MU's 3-pronged attack of Kareem Rush (19.4 ppg), Clarence Gilbert (16.3 ppg) and Arthur Johnson (11.9 ppg & 8.1 rpg) provide one of the best inside-outside threats around. Gilbert and Rush are tied for the lead 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%.
Clarence Gilbert is the Big 12's active leading career scorer with 1,432 career points (he also ranks 9th alltime in the Big 12). He ranks 10th alltime at MU, and needs 17 points to move past Ricky Frazier into 9th place on the Tiger chart.
Kareem Rush ranks 2nd in the Big 12 in scoring (19.4 ppg). He is coming off an All-American-caliber performance against #8 Virginia, when he scored 26 points and had a career-best 4 steals.
Rickey Paulding had a solid 14-pt. outing Sunday vs. Virginia, and is averaging 14.4 points per game in his last 5 outings. Paulding leads MU (and ranks 6th in the Big 12) with a 3-pt. field goal percentage of 44.1% - more than twice his success rate of last season from downtown (21.4%).