Feb. 7, 2003
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Mizzou Faces Red Raiders on Sunday
The University of Missouri basketball team welcomes Texas Tech to the Hearnes Center on Sunday for its eighth Big 12 Conference contest of the season. The Tigers (who are ranked #21 in the Associated Press Poll and #22 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll) enter the contest with a 13-5 mark overall and a 4-3 record in the league, putting them in fifth place.
Mizzou is coming off of a 76-70 loss to Kansas on Monday night in Lawrence while the Red Raiders (who are also 13-5) defeated the Cornhuskers of Nebraska in their latest contest on Wednesday. The win was TTU head coach Bob Knight's 800th career victory.
After playing four of their last six contests on the road, the Tigers will be at home for three of their next four contests. Mizzou has been dominant at home, going 10-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big 12. The Tigers have a chance to make a bit of a run in the Big 12 standings coming up as their next five opponents have a combined conference mark of 12-24 so far.
About the Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech is coming off of what was a very historical win over Nebraska, 74-49, on Wednesday night. Besides improving his team to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12, Head Coach Bob Knight recorded his 800th win as a head coach in 37 years of coaching. Knight joins Dean Smith (879 wins), Adolph Rupp (876 wins) and Jim Phelan (824 wins) as the only coaches in NCAA Division I to reach the 800-win plateau.
After dropping two of their first three Big 12 Conference games, the Red Raiders have won two of their last three contests. Junior All-American candidate Andre Emmett (21.0 ppg., 6.1 rpg.) and senior Kasib Powell (16.0 ppg., 5.5 rbg.) lead the TTU offensive push and make up nearly 50.0% of its offense (666 of 1375 total points).
While they are averaging 76.4 points per game overall, the Red Raider offense numbers have dipped considerably in Big 12 play as they have averaged only 63.8 ppg in seven contests.
The Tigers hold a 6-4 advantage in the all-time series, but dropped the last contest between the two in Lubbock last year, 91-68 on Feb. 20. The Tigers have won three of four contests played between the two schools at home and three of the last four games played overall.
Guarded Enthusiasm
While the Tigers dropped their fifth game of the season on Monday to the #12 Kansas Jayhawks, Mizzou did get solid offensive production from all three of their starting guards. Juniors Ricky Clemons and Rickey Paulding and fabulous freshman Jimmy McKinney combined for 50 of the Tigers' 70 points on a combined 17-of-38 shooting night (45%)
Clemons endured his baptism into the MU-KU series with mixed results, leading the squad with 19 points (5-of-15 from three), but had eight of the Tigers' 20 turnovers on the night. Paulding was solid for the third straight contest going for 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting while also pulling down four boards.
However, McKinney had probably the best night of the lot. He was 5-of-7 from the field (14 points) including 3-of-4 from 3-point land while also pulling down seven boards. He dazzled the Mizzou faithful with 7:58 left in the contest when he went baseline on the right side and put down a thunderous dunk to pull Mizzou within one point at 56-55.
"See the Three ... Be the Three"
It appears as if the Tigers have taken up that mantra made popular by ESPN's SportsCenter personality Rece Davis this season as Mizzou continues to be active from beyond the arc.
Mizzou has hit the second most three-point shots in the Big 12 (141)* and is also second in three point field goal attempts (277). Junior Ricky Clemons is second in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals per game (3.41) while Rickey Paulding is eighth in the category with just under two tri-fectas per game.
Clemons is on pace to jump in to the Tiger record books for most 3-point field goals made in a season very soon. He needs just 10 more threes to move into the top 10. If he can maintain his 3.41 three-point FG's per contest pace, he will finish the regular season with 90 threes, the fourth most in a single season in school history. Here is a look at the top five single season three-point producers in MU history.
# Name 3-pt. FGs 1 Clarence Gilbert (01-02) 118 2 Kareem Rush (01-02) 111 3 Clarence Gilbert (00-01) 102 4 Clarence Gilbert (99-00) 88 5 Mark Atkins (92-93) 81 10 Kareem Rush (00-01) 69 Jason Sutherland (96-96) 69 Ricky Clemons (02-03) 59
*Mizzou has made 141 three-point baskets while Texas Tech has attempted only 190 shots from behind the arc.
Red Raider Round Up
Mizzou has only faced the Red Raiders 10 times in school history, which equals the least amount of times the Tigers have faced a Big 12 opponent (Texas A&M has also squared off with Mizzou 10 times). The elder (junior) class of Tigers has faced Texas Tech only two times and has went 1-1 against them.
Here's how all active Tigers have fared against the Red Raiders during their careers:
Arthur Johnson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 7.0 5.0 Rickey Paulding Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 2.0 4.0 Travon Bryant Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 6.0 7.0 Josh Kroenke Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 3 1.0 0.0 Jeffrey Ferguson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 1 1.0 4.0
News and Random Thoughts
Mizzou is the only team in the Big 12 to have three players ranked in the Top 10 in points per game (8th, Ricky Clemons, 17.1, 9th, Rickey Paulding, 16.6 and 10th Arthur Johnson, 16.4) ... the Tigers are also the only team to have two players ranked in the top 10 in 3's per contest (2nd, Clemons, 3.41, 8th, Paulding, 1.89) ... junior Arthur Johnson now ranks 31st on the MU all-time scoring list with 1,031 career points ... he needs just 50 rebounds to jump into the all-time top 10 in boards ... fellow junior Rickey Paulding needs just 55 more points to become the 35th Tiger to reach 1,000 career points ...yada-yada-yada.
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 19.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest at home this year. AJ has been equally as impressive, just missing a double-double average with 16.8 points and 9.2 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.
The M?tley Cr?e Factor
1980's glam-rock icon's M?tley Cr?e had a hit single from their '85 album "Theater of Pain" called "Home Sweet Home." While the writer of these notes was only eight years old at that time, he can still recall dancing at junior high dances to this classic, heartfelt ballad.
Anyway, the Tigers have really embraced the idea of home sweet home this season, opening up the 2002-03 campaign with a 10-0 mark at the Hearnes Center.
This marks the first time Mizzou has been undefeated at home through 10 games since 2000-01 when that team opened the year with a 11-0 mark before losing to Oklahoma on a last second shot.
Mizzou has been amazing at the Hearnes shooting 47% from the field and 41% from 3-point land. The Tigers are outscoring their opponents by an average of almost 19 points per game and are out-rebounding opponents by eight boards per game.
Noting Kansas
Here are some notes of note from the Kansas game:
* Four of the Tigers' five starters reached double figures in scoring.
* Despite having four fouls for a majority of the second half, junior Arthur Johnson recorded his 12th double-double (14 points, 11 boards) of the season, eclipsing his old career-mark of 11 double-doubles from last season.
* After trailing by as many as 13 points with 14:56 left in the second half (49-36), the Tigers outscored the Jayhawks the rest of the way, 34-27 and climbed to within one point of KU three times in the last 9:38.
* Freshman Jimmy McKinney had his best shooting night of his career going 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three.
* Despite reaching the team-foul bonus with 9:40 left in the second half, Mizzou attempted only six free throws the rest of the game.
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 1,031 points after his 14-point outing against Kansas.
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.