Feb. 14, 2003
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Tigers Welcome Wildcats to Hearnes on Saturday
The University of Missouri basketball team welcomes one of its oldest rivals to the Hearnes Center on Saturday as the Kansas State Wildcats come to town for a 3 p.m. tip. The Tigers are coming off of a tough loss to Texas A&M on Wednesday and bring a 14-6 overall record and a 5-4 conference mark while K-State picked up a much-needed win at home over Colorado on Tuesday and has a 12-10 record and 3-6 Big 12 tally.
The Tigers, who are currently the No. 21 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, are in fifth place in the Big 12 heading into Saturday's action. They trail Texas and Oklahoma by two full games and conference leaders Oklahoma State and Kansas by three games with seven regular season games left on the docket.
While Mizzou did pick up its fifth road loss this week, it has been strong at home so far this season sporting an 11-0 mark and a 4-0 conference home mark.
About the Kansas State Wildcats
K-State enters Saturday's contest with a 12-10 overall mark and a 3-6 record in the conference. After winning eight straight games including their Big 12 opener against Texas Tech, the Wildcats have dropped six of their last eight. However, they did pick up a huge win over Colorado on Tuesday in Manhattan.
They have been the epitome of balanced scoring as four of their five starters are averaging double-figures in scoring and between 10.5-11.8 points per contest. Senior DeJesus Gilson leads the Wildcats' offense charge averaging 11.8 points per contest. He is by far K-State's best three-point shooter with a team-best 66 threes and is hitting on 48% of his three-point attempts.
Fellow senior Pervis Pasco leads the squad in board work with 8.1 rebounds per game while also pacing the Wildcats in blocks and steals with 34 rejections and 21 swipes. He is also very capable of getting to the line, as he has shot a team-best 123 free throws, but has connected on only 52.0% of them. As a team, KSU ranks at the bottom of the Big 12 shooting 62.0% from the charity stripe.
Jim Wooldridge is in his third season at K-State and has posted a record of 36-44 so far. KSU starts a very experienced squad made of three seniors and two juniors.
* The Tigers fall to 2-5 on the road and 0-2 when playing in the Lone Star State of Texas.
* Four Tigers reached double-figures in scoring with Arthur Johnson leading the way with 18 points.
* Mizzou out-rebounded the Aggies, 38-30, marking the third straight game it has out-boarded its opponent.
* Freshman Kevin Young was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line on the night. The rest of the squad was 0-of-5 from the line.
* The loss was the Tigers' first setback this season when playing on the Mizzou Sports Network.
* Junior Rickey Paulding had 15 points and needs just 20 more points to reach the 1,000 career point plateau. He will be the 35th player in Mizzou history to accomplish the feat.
Agile, Mobile and Versatile
Jimmy McKinney has proved to be one of the most multi-faceted players on the Tigers squad and has effectively taken up the point guard duties as of late.
Since being shut out from the scoring column against Nebraska on Jan. 29, he has warmed in the month of February averaging 9.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists over the past four games. McKinney had a great line against Texas A&M scoring 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting while handing out seven assists and pulling down seven rebounds. He is averaging 9.2 points and 3.2 boards and leads the team with a 1.5 assist to turnover ratio.
The Not-so-Charitable Stripe
The Tigers have had their struggles at the free throw line so far this season. Mizzou is shooting 65.0% from the charity stripe, which ranks above only Kansas State in the league, who is shooting only 62%.
Along with the Tigers' low percentage has been a very low number of free-throw opportunities. Mizzou has attempted the second least free-throws and has made the least free throws in the Big 12 this season.
A prime example of that troubling trend could be seen on Wednesday night as the Tigers got to the line only nine times, making only four of them. (All four free throws were made by freshman Kevin Young, who is normally a 57% free throw shooter.)
On the Rebound
Its a true and simple fact that if the Tigers hope to be successful this season, they need to dominate the rebounding charts, (once again the obvious rears its ugly head). Mizzou has been out-rebounded in four of its six losses this season and has only been out-rebounded seven times all year.
After being out-boarded in the Oklahoma State, Texas and Colorado games (two of which were losses), the Tigers have out-rebounded their last three opponents by a combined 34 boards and are out-rebounding opponents by 5.3 rebounds per contest on the year.
The M?tley Cr?e Factor Revisited
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, claiming an 11-0 mark at the Hearnes Center so far in 02-03.
This marks the first time Mizzou has been undefeated at home through 11 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 48% from the field and 41% from 3-point land. The Tigers are outscoring their opponents by an average of almost 18 points per game and are out-rebounding opponents by nine boards per game.
The Tigers are playing their first back-to-back games in the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center since early January when they faced Centenary on Jan. 7 and Baylor on Jan. 11.
Kroenke's Distribution Contribution is Part of MU's Offensive Solution
While junior Josh Kroenke isn't going to force the Hearnes Center crew to change the light bulbs in the scoring column of the board high above the Tigers' home court, he has provided an amazing spark and steadying influence on the Tigers' offense this season.
Kroenke played a huge role in the Tigers' win over Texas Tech handing out a career-best seven assists. He also hit a big three-point shot and pulled down four boards in 19 minutes of action. The elder statesman of the Tiger lineup, Kroenke is averaging 3.4 points, 2.0 assists and 3.0 boards per game for Mizzou.
Right on Schedule
Rickey Paulding is off to a great start for Mizzou averaging 16.9 point per contest while being a defensive rock.
However, after averaging 18.6 points per contest through the Tigers' first 10 games, Paulding cooled a little, logging a little under 12 points per contest over the Tigers' next six outings. The Rick of old appears to be back though as he has reached the 20-point plateau in two of the Tigers' last four contests.
If last season is any indication of what is to come from Paulding, Tiger fans are in for a treat as we head down the home stretch of the Big 12 season. Last season, in the Tigers' 20th game, Paulding had 15 points against Kansas State. That game began a string of contests in which he reach double figures in scoring in 12 of the Tigers' final 16 games and in which he upped his average from 9.1 points per game in the first 20 contests to 14.8 in his last 16 games. Stay tuned ...
Cats Gone Wild
After facing a team that they have played only 11 times in the history of Missouri Basketball (Texas A&M), Mizzou takes on one of their oldest rivals on Saturday. The Tigers have faced KSU 215 times over the past 97 years and holds a 108-107.
Here's how all active Tigers have fared against the Wildcats during their careers:
Arthur Johnson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 13.8 8.3 Rickey Paulding Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 10.3 3.8 Travon Bryant Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 4.0 6.0 Josh Kroenke Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 1.5 0.8 Jeffrey Ferguson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 0.0 0.0