Jan. 31, 2003
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No. 25 Mizzou Returns Home to Battle the Buffaloes
After playing four of their last five contests on the road, the Tigers have finally come back to the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center. Mizzou welcomes the Buffaloes of Colorado on Saturday for the sixth game of their conference schedule. The Tigers enter the contest with a 12-4 overall mark and a 3-2 record in the Big 12 while CU comes in with a 12-6 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the league. The game can been seen on ESPN + (KMIZ in Columbia) with Fred White and Tiger legend Jon Sundvold calling the action.
The Tigers are 9-0 this season in Columbia (3-4 on the road) and have defeated opponents by an average of 20.6 points per contest on their home floor. The Tigers are 2-0 in league play in the Hearnes Center picking up wins over Baylor and Iowa State.
Mizzou is coming off of a much needed win at Nebraska on Wednesday, 63-56, which broke a two-game road league losing streak.
About the Colorado Buffaloes
The Buffs enter Saturday's contest on a bit of a roller coaster ride so far in Big 12 play. After going 10-3 in its non-league schedule, CU dropped its Big 12 opener against Oklahoma, 69-54. After a win against Kansas State, the Buffs fell at Nebraska in overtime, but would then defeat No. 12 Kansas in Boulder. In their most recent contest, CU dropped a hard-fought contest to a tough Texas Tech team in Lubbock on Wednesday night, 66-56.
The Buffs' attack definitely originates on the interior. Their starting bigs (Michel Morandis, David Harrison and Stephane Pelle) make up 55% of their offense (779-of-1351 points) and 56% of their rebounding (427-of-759 boards).
Four of Colorado's starting five players are averaging double figures in points and Harrison and Morandis are both averaging 9.1 boards a contest. Morandis leads the offensive attack averaging 16.9 points per contest while Harrison, who checks in at 7'0" tall, weighs in with 13.6 points per game and is shooting almost 56% from the field.
Harrison is also one of the premier shot blockers in the league, averaging just shy of three blocks per contest.
Ricardo Patton is in his eighth season at CU and has a 117-97 overall mark there.
Johnson Joins the 1,000-700 Club
With his basket just :33 seconds into the second half at Nebraska, junior big man Arthur Johnson became the 34th player to record 1,000 career points at Mizzou. He now has 1,007 points after his 18-point outing against the Huskers.
He also became only the 11th player to reach both the 1,000 career-point plateau and the 700-career rebound mark with his 10th of 11 boards against the Huskers. The 18-point, 11-rebound effort was the 11th double-double of the season for AJ, equaling his total from all of last season.
He was 9-of-13 from the field and also had an assist and a blocked shot, the 163rd of his career, which is a school record.
Feeling Right At Home
While Detroit is home for juniors Arthur Johnson and Rickey Paulding, the dynamic duo has claimed the Hearnes Center as their home away from Motown. Both have been electrifying at home this year.
Paulding is averaging 18.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest at home this year. AJ has been equally as impressive, just missing a double-double average with 17.6 points and 9.7 boards per contest. He had the best game of his career against Baylor to kick off the Tigers' Big 12 schedule at Hearnes with a career-best 30 points while pulling down 15 boards.
A Tale of Two Halves
In Charles Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities," he begins the classic with the line "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That in a nutshell can accurately describe the Tigers' offensive efforts in the first half (the worst of times) and the second half (the best of times) against Nebraska.
Mizzou opened the contest ice cold, missing its first seven shots, before Arthur Johnson got the Tigers on the board 4:28 into the contest. While Mizzou was able to hang with the Huskers throughout the half, they could manage only 22 points and shot only 34.5% (16.7% from three) and found themselves down by nine at the half.
However, thanks to great offensive patience and good defense, Mizzou clawed back into the game in the second stanza. The Tigers were ... not on fire ... but very warm in the second half, connecting on 55.2% of their shots while holding NU to only 30.9% from the field.
The Tigers opened the second half with a 19-9 run the first 8:20 of the second half, taking their first lead of the night at 41-40 and would not look back, taking the game and avoiding the Huskers guillotine, 63-56.
Breaking Down the Buffs
Here's how all active Tigers have fared against the Buffaloes during their career:
Arthur Johnson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 5 11.6 7.8 Rickey Paulding Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 5 6.6 2.2 Travon Bryant Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 8.3 8.0 Josh Kroenke Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 0.8 0.0 Jeffrey Ferguson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 1.0 0.5
Noting Nebraska
A couple of notes of note from the Nebraska game:
* Junior Arthur Johnson recorded his 1,000-career point and 700th rebound (he now has 1,007 points and 701 boards) against the Huskers. He is the 11th player in school history to accomplish both feats.
* After shooting just 34.5% from the field in the first half (10-of-29: 22 points), the Tigers picked it up in a major way in the second stanza shooting 55.2% (16-of-29: 41 points).
* The Tigers went on a 19-9 run the first 8:20 of the second half to take their first lead of the game at 41-40.
* Mizzou was balanced in the scoring column as four of five starters reached double figures in points.
* The Tigers got a major contribution from freshman Jimmy McKinney, who handed out five assists and committed no turnovers while running the point for only the second time in his career. Junior Josh Kroenke also stepped up large in the game hitting a huge 3-point bucket with just 1:30 left in the game to give the Tigers a virtually insurmountable nine-point lead.
* The Tigers dominated the interior as they outscored the Huskers in the paint, 34-16 in the paint.
* The win breaks a two-game conference road-losing streak.
Orange Crush
Like Superman has his kryptonite, rendering him helpless to the powers of the world's evil, the Tigers have been hapless against squads wearing the color orange. All four losses this season have come to teams that sport the color on their uniforms including an 85-70 loss to No. 13 Illinois, back-to-back losses to No. 24 Syracuse (76-69) and No. 9 Oklahoma State (76-56), and their latest setback, a 76-55 loss at No. 3 Texas.
But have faith, people of the Tiger nation. The Tigers do not face another squad that wears the color orange the rest of the season, so naturally the Tigers should finish the season on a 12-game winning streak heading into the Big 12 tournament.
Big 12...Big Man...Big Numbers
While junior center Arthur Johnson (6-9, 259 lbs.) has been great all year for Mizzou (16.9 ppg., 9.9 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 19.8 points and 11.6 boards in five Big 12 contests against Baylor, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Texas and Nebraska.
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 5 of-5 from the charity stripe. He has now recorded double-doubles in seven of the Tigers' last eight contests after scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 boards against Nebraska on Wednesday.
The Man Without the Mask
Remember the old Scooby Doo cartoon when Scoob and the gang took the mask off of the character that had been haunting everyone the entire episode?
Freshman Jimmy McKinney pulled off an unmasking of his own at Texas when he played without a protective mask for the first time during the regular season. After scoring just two points in the opening half, McKinney had a great second stanza pouring in 11 points going 6-for-11 from the field for 13 points on the day.
The amazing freshman was unfazed 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 talented 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...
On the Block with Doc
Junior Arthur "Doc" Johnson continues to be the straw that stirs the Tigers' Powerade this season in the post. After recording a career-best 11 double-doubles last season, AJ leads the Big 12 with 11 double-doubles in just 16 contests played so far this season. He is averaging 16.9 points per game (7th in the Big 12) and 9.9 boards per game (2nd in the Big 12).
Johnson, who is the Mizzou all-time blocked shots leader (163 blocks) has been especially impressive the past four games registering 17.3 points and 10.8 rebounds a tilt, good for a double-double in four of the last five contests.