Sept. 6, 2002
2002-2003 Schedule
Columbia, Mo.- For the first time in school history, the University of Missouri men's basketball team will have every regular season contest of its 2002-2003 schedule televised, the University of Missouri Athletic Department announced today. The Mizzou Sports Network will carry 14 games, ESPN will carry six contests, ESPN + will carry seven contests, ABC will host the Feb. 9 game with Texas Tech and CBS will showcase the regular season finale against Kansas.
The Tigers are coming off of the program's first Elite Eight appearance in eight years in 2002. Quin Snyder, who is entering his fourth year as the head coach of the Tiger Basketball program, leads Mizzou against a slate of opponents that features eight teams that qualified for the 2002 NCAA Tournament and four squads that finished in the ESPN/ USA Today Coaches Top 25.
Following two exhibition games on Nov. 2 (EA Sports) and Nov. 8 (Midwest All-Stars), Mizzou will embark on a gauntlet of contests that will definitely test their stamina in the early going. The Tigers will open their 2002 regular season schedule when they welcome defending Patriot League Champion American University to the Hearnes Center. Following home match ups with Austin Peay (Nov. 30) and Sacramento State (Dec. 2), Mizzou will head to Anaheim, Calif., on Dec.7 for the Wooden Classic where they will take on Southern California (USC) and will then host an ESPN match-up with Memphis in the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center.
Mizzou will then look to avenge last seasons' loss to Illinois in the Busch Braggin' Rights game as they take on the Illini in the annual rivalry in St. Louis at the Savvis center with the tip set for 4:30 p.m. After a nine-day Holiday break, the Tigers will lace em' up against Mid-Continent Conference Champion Valparaiso on the 30th of December in Columbia. Valpo qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season and returns eight letter winners to their squad.
The Tigers open 2003 with a trip to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on Big 10 nemesis Iowa on Sat., Jan. 4. The two squads split two contests last season as the Tigers took out the Hawkeyes in the championship game of the Guardians Classic and then dropped a tough contest in Columbia.
Mizzou then welcomes Centenary to campus for its second-to-last non-Big 12 contest of the regular season before taking on Baylor in Columbia to open the conference portion of its schedule. Less than 48 hours later MU will fly to the east coast to take on the Orangemen of Syracuse in the second of their three ESPN Big Monday matchups. The Orangemen advanced to the consolation game of the National Invitation Tournament last season before losing to the Temple Owls at Madison Square Garden.
Three of the Tiger's next four Big 12 conference contests will be on the road as they travel to Gallagher-Iba Arena for their first road conference game taking on the Cowboys of Oklahoma State. MU and OSU have split the last two seasons, with each one winning in their respective buildings. Mizzou then welcomes Iowa State to Hearnes before wrapping up January with at tough trip to Texas, who made a run to the Sweet 16 in last season's NCAA Tournament, and a trip to the Cornhusker State to take on Nebraska on the 29th.
The first of February brings the Buffaloes of Colorado to Hearnes. The following Monday, the Tigers make their annual trip to Lawrence, Kan., to take on vaunted rival and 2002 Final Four qualifier Kansas in Mizzou's final Big Monday contest. Four of Mizzou's next six games will then be in the hallowed halls of Hearnes as the Red Raiders of Texas Tech come to Columbia for the first time under the tutelage of Bobby Knight on Feb. 9 on ABC. After a trip to College Station to take on the Aggies of Texas A & M, Mizzou welcomes Kansas State and Nebraska and then travels to Colorado, Big 12 North schools that MU carried a 6-0 record against in 2001-02. The month wraps up with a huge contest as the Tigers look to break a nine-game losing streak at the hands of Oklahoma. The Sooners took out the Tigers in Norman during the regular season last year and then ended their campaign in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Indiana in the Final Four.
Trips to Kansas State and Iowa State open the month of March for Mizzou. MU and KU will then wrap up the regular season on the 9th of March in Columbia in front of a national audience on CBS.
For ticket information, call 1 (800) CAT-PAWS or 884-PAWS in Columbia or log onto www.mutigers.com.