Dec. 17, 2002
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Who Will Earn the Right to Brag in '03?
The University of Missouri men's basketball team (6-0, #11 in the Associated Press Poll, #10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll) travels east to St. Louis on Saturday for the 22nd Annual Busch Braggin' Rights game against the University of Illinois (7-0, #12 in the Associated Press Poll, #12 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll). Mizzou is coming off of a dominating win over Memphis on Saturday (93-78) and finds itself without a loss heading into the Illinois game for the first time since 1991.
Mizzou will make its first appearance on ESPN on Saturday with tip set for 4:35 p.m. Terry Gannon and former Duke Blue Devil Jay Bilas (who was a teammate of Missouri head coach Quin Snyder at Duke in 1989) will team for the broadcast.
About the Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illini enter Saturday's contest with a 7-0 record and a #12 ranking in both major polls. U of I has won two of the last three Braggin' Rights games and four of the last seven contests, including last years 72-61 win over Mizzou.
Senior forward Brian Cook leads the Illini into the 22nd Annual Busch Braggin' Rights game averaging 20.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. Cook has paced U of I in points in four of its first seven games including a game-high 25 points in its latest win over Temple, 70-54.
Besides a four point win over Arkansas, the Illini have made short work of their opponents so far this season. Their average margin of victory has been an astounding 25.0 points per game so far this season and they are shooting an impressive 52% from the field while holding their opponents to 37%. In comparison, Mizzou has won its games by an average of 21.7 points per game and is shooting 48% from the field while holding its opponents to 35% shooting. Bottom line, this is probably going to be a really good ball game.
Head coach Bill Self is in his third year as head coach of the Illini. In those three short years, Self has accrued a 60-17 mark at Illinois and has led Illinois to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
Always a Classic
Mizzou and Illinois meet for the 33rd time on Saturday at the Savvis Center, and every time they get together, expect something crazy to happen. The two squads and their fans have participated in some classic battles throughout the years and three of the last nine games between the two squads have went to overtime. The most recent thriller was in 2000 when Illinois took an 86-81 overtime win over the Tigers.
Rank When We Are Ranked
Both squads enter Saturday's contest ranked in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll Top 15. The Tigers currently hold the No. 11 and 10 rankings while Illinois boasts the No. 12 ranking in both polls.
That being said, the Tigers are 4-9 all-time vs. the Illini when they are ranked. Even worse is the fact that Mizzou is 0-4 when both teams enter the contest ranked. Below is a quick look at those games:
Year Rank MU Result MU Ill. 2001 #8 #9 L, 72-61 1995 #15 #14 L, 96-85 1989 #4 #5 L, 101-93 1988 #10 #6 L, 87-84
Welcome Back Jimmy Mac
Amongst the dozens of already obvious story lines that exist in this game, is the return of Jimmy McKinney to the land of Nelly, the Arch and the Cardinals.While this is his first trip back to the Lou to play basketball, McKinney grew up watching the Braggin' Rights games and will have the chance to put his skills on display on Saturday. The Vashon High School graduate averaged 22 points and 6 rebounds his senior year and led the Vashon to three straight Missouri State Championships.
Can't Stop the Bum Rush
Mizzou came out on fire against Memphis last Saturday. Before the game reached the 16:00 media time-out, the Tigers had bolted out to a 15-0 lead, which ultimately was the final margin of victory for the Tigers. MU hit six of its first eight shots in the contest and held Memphis scoreless in each of its first seven possessions.
The Trident Factor
In the classic basketball movie "Hoosiers," head coach Norman Dale (as played by Gene Hackman) tells one of his players that he wanted him to play such tight defense on the player that he was guarding that he wanted to know what kind of chewing gum he was sporting.
Chances are, Mizzou players could probably answer that question when asked about their opponents' flavor preference this season. After allowing the opposition to shoot 45% from the field last season (which ranked 11th in the Big 12), Mizzou has locked down on opponents this year allowing only 35% success rate so far.
In a related note, one of the goals of the Tiger defense is to hold its opponents to under 40% from the field in each contest, which they have done in five of their six games.
USC is the only team to screw up what would be a perfectly good note, as they shot exactly 40% against Mizzou in the Tigers 78-72 come-from-behind win in the John R. Wooden Classic.
More On Memphis
Besides good defense, Mizzou has also relied on an extremely balanced scoring attack. MU has had at least four players score in double figures in every contest this season except against Austin Peay.
The Tigers put that balance on display against Memphis as five players scored in double figures including junior Arthur Johnson, who scored a game-high 23 points in the win while also pulling down 11 boards.
Rickey Paulding scored 13 of his 22 points in the second half while fellow juniors Ricky Clemons, who scored 16, and Travon Bryant, who equaled a career-high with 14, made major contributions.
Freshman Jimmy McKinney was the final Tiger to reach double figures with a career- best 13 points while also pulling down five rebounds in a season-high 32 minutes of action.
If The Thunder Doesn't Get You, the Lightning Will
We have all heard that expression before, and in a roundabout way, it applies to the Tigers so far this season. Junior big man Arthur Johnson (or the thunder in this case) has been the leading scorer for the Tigers in four of their six contests so far this season. He averaged 21.3 points per contest vs. Austin Peay (16), Sacramento State (24) and USC (24) leading the Tigers to three straight wins from Nov. 30-Dec. 7. He was also strong against Memphis registering his fourth double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior guards Ricky Clemons and Rickey Paulding (or the lightning) have also taken their turn pacing the Tigers in the scoring column. RC quenched the Tigers' scoring thirst in the season opener with a game-high 25 points against American.
Paulding, who is a candidate for the John R. Wooden Award, grabbed the limelight going for a career-high 25 points against Wisconsin-Green Bay. He also had two highlight-reel dunks in the second half while going 4-of-10 from 3-pt. land. He continued to be rock solid going for 22 points against Memphis on Saturday while also recording a career-best five steals in the win.
For Those About to Block, We Salute You
The Tigers set out the potato salad, turned up the Temptations and had a huge block party this past week. All totaled, they recorded 14 team blocks in their two contests. In the Wisconsin-Green Bay game, Mizzou recorded 10 blocks which is just one short of the team record of 11.
Junior Travon Bryant recorded a career-high four of those rejections, including three in the first half against UWGB. He also registered his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Bryant followed up the performance with a career-high 14 points and six rebounds in just 16 minutes off of the bench for MU.
Fellow junior Big Man Arthur Johnson continued his trek up the MU all-time blocks charts with four swats of his own.
He now needs just three blocks to become Mizzou's all-time blocked shots leader after a three-block effort against Memphis. Here is a look at the Top 10 shot blockers in Mizzou history.
Blocked Shots 1. Steve Stipanovich, 80-83 149 2. Arthur Johnson, 00-Pres. 147 3. Doug Smith, 88-91 129 4. Jevon Crudup, 91-94 116 5. Gary Leonard, 86-89 96 6. Chris Heller, 90-91, 93-94 89 7. Monte Harge, 95-99 72 8. Greg Cavener, 82-85 69 Sammie Haley, 95-96 69 10. Dan Bingenheimer, 85-86 66