Jan. 23, 2003
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Tigers Lock Up with Longhorns on Saturday
The University of Missouri basketball team takes its first of two regular season trips to the state of Texas on Saturday as they take on the Texas Longhorns in Austin. The game will be carried on ESPN+ and can be seen on KMIZ here in Columbia. Mizzou is coming off of a hard-fought win over Iowa State on Tuesday night, 64-59. The win ended a two-game losing streak for Mizzou and was its ninth straight win at home.
Junior Arthur Johnson was outstanding in the win putting in a game-high 21 points while pulling down 11 boards. Junior Ricky Clemons rejoined the Tigers after serving a one-game suspension and registered 15 points in the win.
The Texas contest marks the beginning of a stretch in which the Tigers will play three of their next four away from the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center. Texas will also be the third ranked team the Tigers will have faced in the past four games.
About the Texas Longhorns
The Longhorns bring a 12-2 overall record and a perfect 3-0 mark in Big 12 play into Saturday's contest. Since falling to Notre Dame on Dec. 8 and to Arizona on Dec. 15, Texas has won seven straight contests and has ascended back into the Top 5 in both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Poll, garnering a No. 4 ranking in the latest update.
Sophomore T.J. Ford, and juniors Brandon Mouton and James Thomas lead an extremely balanced and explosive Texas squad that has defeated its opponents by an average of 14.5 points per contest.
Ford, who was a freshman All-American last season, leads the squad averaging 13.9 points per contest. He has also been unbelievable distributing the ball, handing out a Big 12-leading 7.3 assists per contest. He has been especially special in Big 12 play, averaging 18.0 ppg while hitting 51.2% of his field goal attempts.
The Horns have been strong on the boards as well as they have posted a +9.0 rebound margin while outrebounding 12 of their first 14 opponents. Thomas has played a major role in keeping that margin where it is as he is averaging 11.3 boards per contest while also pitching in with 10.4 ppg.
Rick Barnes is in his fifth year as head coach of the Longhorns. He has reached two significant coaching milestones this year as he earned his 300th career win against Louisiana Tech on Dec. 30 and his 100th win at Texas when they defeated Iowa State on Jan. 11.
Just Bring It
Rickey Paulding has undoubtedly been one of the Tigers' most valuable and crucial offensive performers this year. He is averaging 16.9 points per contest and has led Mizzou in scoring in four games this season.
As valuable as he has been on the offensive end, he has been even more impressive on the defensive end, especially in the last three games. Paulding has been assigned to guard Syracuse, Oklahoma State and Iowa State's leading scorers, and has done a great job.
He held fantastic freshman Carmello Anthony of Syracuse to 16 points (he was averaging 24.2), limited OSU's Tony Allen to just seven points (was averaging 16.6 ppg) and contained Iowa State's Jake Sullivan as he scored just 10 points (was averaging 18.2) while forcing him into eight turnovers.
The Hair vs. Not Much Hair
The top two double-double guys with the most and least distinctive hair styles in the Big 12 will face off on Saturday in the Erwin Center. Missouri's Arthur Johnson (10 double-doubles this season) will most likely match up with Texas forward James Thomas (seven doubles this season).
The two forces also rank one and two in the league rebounding race as Thomas is averaging 11.3 boards to Johnson's 10.0 boards per contest. Thomas also leads the league in defensive rebounds (6.93), but AJ has the upper hand on the offensive boards pulling down an average of 4.50 offensive rebounds per game. Oh yeah, the hair thing. Thomas sports a full set of dreadlocks while AJ has recently drifted toward the sleek no-hair look.
Big 12...Big Man...Big Numbers
While junior center Arthur Johnson (6-9, 259 lbs.) has been great all year for Mizzou (17.4 ppg., 10.0 rpg.), the early stages of Big 12 play have shown AJ is ready to move his play to a whole new level.
The flamboyant big fella is averaging 23.7 points and 13.3 boards in three Big 12 contests against Baylor, Oklahoma State and Iowa State.
In the BU game, he was phenomenal, registering a career-best 30 points and 15 boards. He was equally as impressive against Oklahoma State, going for 20 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
AJ continued to dominate in the paint in the Tigers' win over Iowa State as he scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. He was perfect from the free throw line for the first time this season against ISU, going 5of-5 from the charity stripe. He has now recorded double-doubles in each of the last six contests.
A Look at the Old Record Books
Junior Arthur Johnson, continues to make major progress in the Missouri books. He has already jumped into the top spot on the MU All-time blocked shots list with 162 career swats.
After his 21-point, 11-rebound outing against Iowa State on Tuesday, Arthur now has 979 career points and 683 career rebounds. When he reaches the 1000 point and 700 rebound mark, which might happen on Saturday with the tear he is on right now, AJ will become only the 11th player in Missouri history to record 1,000 points and 700 boards in a career.
He will become the 33rd Mizzou player to reach the 1,000 point club and needs just 65 boards to make his way into the MU career rebounding Top 10.
Valuing the Rock
Mizzou has been up and down this season when it comes to turnovers and utilizing each possession. The last two contests are prime examples of the this trend. After committing 20 turnovers at Syracuse and 15 at Oklahoma State, the Tigers clamped down against Iowa State, committing only nine turnovers while forcing Iowa State into 19 miscues. Mizzou converted those turnovers into 24 points
One of the major factors in the Tigers improved efficiency on Tuesday night was the return of point guard Ricky Clemons.
He committed only two turnovers against Iowa State and scored 15 points. ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said that Clemons is "a solid all-around performer who can make 3s and pass the rock" and "has come through big-time. He had 27 points (6-of-11 on trifectas) and seven assists in a win at Iowa. He has given Missouri quality time right away," on ESPN.com on Thursday.
Noting Iowa State
* From 8:48 to 3:51 in the 1st half the Tigers forced five Iowa State turnovers on seven possessions
? Junior Rickey Paulding has scored 10 or more points in all of Missouri's games
? Junior Arthur Johnson scored in double-digits for the 13th time out of Missouri's 14 games and for the seventh game in a row, the only single-digit performance came against Illinois, when the Illini held Johnson to 8 points ... Johnson now has 979 career points, which places him 34th on the all-time list (only 33 have eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau), tonight he passed Brian Grawer (965 pts.) ... AJ is now averaging just under 12 points per game in his career ... Johnson also scored his 6th straight double-double and his 10th on the season.
? Missouri went on a 13-0 run in the 2nd half from 6:41 to 2:46, over that time MU shot 5-of-9 from the field and forced the Cyclones to turn the ball over three times and miss five shots ? MU continued the following streaks: Home wins (9), wins over non-ranked teams (12), wins when entering the game with a record of 10-3 (7).
The Man Without the Mask
There is a good chance this weekend that we could see Missouri freshman Jimmy McKinney in a Tiger uniform minus his mask for the first time since the Tigers' first exhibition game on Nov. 2. The amazing freshman has been unphased by the mask during the healing process and will continue to be a major factor in the Tigers offensive game plan.
With 11:49 left to play in the first half of the Tigers' matchup with Austin Peay, Mizzou's own version of a masked avenger, freshman McKinney, made his much awaited comeback and regular season debut for the Tigers.
Sporting a plastic mask to protect the area over his right eye where he suffered a fractured frontal sinus, the talent freshman came into the game to quite the ovation. He did not disappoint the fans that gave the ovations either. He scored eight points on 2-of-3 3-pt. shooting while handing out three assists in 16 minutes of playing time.
He was equally impressive in his second game as a Tiger putting in 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field in 22 minutes of playing time against Sacramento State.
McKinney saved his best for the second half in the Tigers' come-from-behind win over USC on Dec. 7. He registered a career-best 12 points in the contest, 10 of which came during Mizzou's second half flurry in which it went from down 11 at the 15:41 mark to tied with 9:00 minutes left in the game.
Jimmy continued to showcase his well-rounded game against Wisconsin-Green Bay . While he finished the night with only five points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field, he handed out a career and game-high nine assists in the Tigers' 88-67 win.
The McKinney adventure continued against Memphis as the silky-smooth freshman recorded a then career-best 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
The Braggin Rights game against Illinois in St. Louis offered McKinney his biggest stage so far, and he did not disappoint the hometown faithful as he scored a career-best 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and a 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line.
McKinney started the first game of his career against Valpo. He was solid going for eight points while handing out four assists in the contest. He started the second game of his career against Iowa and scored eight points in only 16 minutes due to early foul trouble.
McKinney started the first game of his career at point guard against Oklahoma State and was solid, scoring 15 points and handing out four assists while playing a career-high 40 minutes against the Cowboys.
He scored six points, pulled down six boards and handed out six assists against the Baylor Bears in his first Big 12 contest and then put in seven points against the Orangemen on Jan. 13.
And the saga continues...
Tickets Go on Sale for Big 12 Tournament
Tiger fans can now purchase tickets for the 2002-03 Big 12 Men's and Women's basketball tournaments. The three-day event, which will take place on Mar. 13-16, will be played for the first time in league history, in Dallas, Texas at American Airlines Arena.
For ticket information, call 1-800-CAT PAWS or 884-PAWS or log on to www.mutigers.com.
Up Next for the Tigers
Mizzou travels to Nebraska to take on the Huskers on Wednesday. Mizzou has won five of the last six games in the series holds a 113-83 advantage in the series with NU.