Feb. 2, 2003
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Tigers and Jayhawks Take Center Stage on Monday
The No. 25/25 University of Missouri basketball team (13-4 overall, 4-2 in the Big 12) takes the three-hour trip west to Lawrence, Kan., on Monday to take on Jayhawks of Kansas (15-5, 5-1 in the Big 12) in what is one of the greatest rivalries in all of college basketball. The game is set for 8 p.m. CST and can be seen on ESPN with Ron Franklin and Jon Sundvold calling the action.
Mizzou enters Monday's contest on a two-game winning streak and has won three of its last four. The Tigers' latest conquest was a 73-70 win over the Buffaloes of Colorado (who handed Kansas its only Big 12 loss earlier this month) on Saturday at the Hearnes Center.
In front of a sell-out crowd of 13,611, the Tigers rebounded from an eight-point deficit in the first half to overcome Colorado, picking up their fourth conference win of the season to improve to 10-0 at home on the season.
About the Kansas Jayhawks
The Kansas Jayhawks enter Monday's contest with a 15-5 mark over and a 5-1 record in the Big 12. Since opening the season at 3-3, KU has won 12 of its last 13, including wins over No. 4 Texas in Lawrence last Monday and at Nebraska on Saturday.
Seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich lead the Big 12's top scoring attack (85.9 points per game) averaging 19.1 and 17.2 points per game respectively. Collison has also been a load on the boards, averaging 9.0 rebounds per contest while also weighing in with 35 blocked shots, which ranks fifth in the Big 12. He had a huge game last Monday with the ESPN crew in attendance as he score 24 points and pulled down an astounding 23 boards in the Jayhawk's 90-87 win over the Longhorns.
Similar to the Tigers, Kansas is extremely reliant on its starting five as they are averaging 66%* of KU's total scoring and 64% of their rebounding. Four of their starters average more than 8.8 points per game and three of them are averaging 15.9 points or better.
Roy Williams is in his 15th season at KU and sports a career mark of 403-98. He is 18-13 all-time against Missouri.
The Jayhawks hold a 155-90 advantage in the all-time series between the two squads including a 79-31 lead in games played in Lawrence.
* Figure includes Jeff Graves in the starting lineup and minus Wayne Simeon, who has been out the last eight games with a dislocated shoulder suffered against UMKC.
Keyed Up For KU
Junior guard Rickey Paulding knows what the Kansas-Missouri rivalry is all about. It's about stepping up and making plays, which is exactly what the athletic guard has done. He has played in the matchup four times during his time at Mizzou and has played some of the best games of his career.
In the Tigers' two contests against the Jayhawks last season, Rick averaged 21.0 points per contest, including a then-career-best 23 points against KU in the Tigers' regular season finale, a tough 95-92 loss in Columbia.
In that contest, Paulding was unbelievable, shooting 67% (8-of-12) from the field and 71% from three (5-of-7) while also blocking three shots.
Tigers vs. Jayhawks
Here's how all active Tigers have fared against the Jayhawks during their career:
Arthur Johnson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 7.8 5.8 Rickey Paulding Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 15.8 2.8 Travon Bryant Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 4 3.0 4.8 Josh Kroenke Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 1.0 1.0
Back in the ESPNZone
With Mizzou's game against Kansas being carried on ESPN Monday, we thought a look at how some of the Tigers have fared thus far this season on the worldwide leader in sports (ESPN) and its family of networks would be appropriate.
As a team, the Tigers have played seven contests on ESPN family of networks (ESPN. ESPN2 and ESPN+) and have registered a 3-4 mark in those games
Junior Ricky Clemons has embraced the limelight of ESPN, averaging 20.7 points and 4.5 assists per contest. Clemons was especially entertaining against Iowa and Syracuse, averaging 26.5 points (a career-best 27 points against Iowa and 26 against Syracuse) and 7.0 assists per contest.
Juniors Arthur Johnson and Rickey Paulding have also been solid, averaging 15.3 and 14.9 points per game.
Noting Colorado
Here are some notes of note from the Colorado game: Thank you. * Mizzou improves to 10-0 at home overall and 3-0 in the Hearnes vs. Big 12 opposition. Mizzou's last home loss was to Kansas last year on March 3, 92-95.
* MU has won two of its last three games and three of its last five.
* he Tigers improve to 8-0 against Colorado in the Quin Snyder Era at Mizzou.
* hree Tigers reached double figures in points, and juniors Ricky Clemons and Rickey Paulding both eclipsed the 20-point mark with 23 and 21 points respectively.
* Mizzou launched 26 3-point shots against Colorado and connected on 11 of them, both of which equal season team highs. Colorado managed only 11 3-point attempts in the contest, making four of them.
* Clemons eclipsed the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season, going 7-for-20 from the field, including 5-of-11 from behind the 3-point arc.
* Paulding also reached the 20-point mark for the fourth time and for the first time in seven games. He was a solid 9-of-17 from the field including 3-of-5 from 3-point land.
* Neither team shot many free throws as the Tigers went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe while Colorado was 8-of-9.
* Junior Travon Bryant reached double figures in rebounds for the second time this season against CU, equaling a season-best 10 boards while chipping in with eight points.
The Battle for Post Position
Two of the premier big men in the Big 12, if not the country, will face off on Monday in Lawrence. MU's Arthur Johnson and KU's Nick Collison enter the contest ranked No. 2 and No. 4 in rebounds per game respectively in the Big 12.
Collison holds a slight advantage in blocks per game, as he is averaging 1.75 per contest (which ranks fourth in the league) while AJ averages 1.71 rejections per contest, ranking fifth.
Collison and Johnson have also put up very similar numbers in Big 12 play. Through six games, Arthur has been outstanding, going for 18.2 points and 10.5 boards while Collison weighs in with 18.5 points and 10.2 boards per game in Big 12 play.
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 1,017 points after his 10-point outing against the Colorado.
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.
Ferguson Sits Out Final Game of Two-game Suspension
Missouri sophomore Jeffrey Ferguson will not play on Monday against Kansas as part of his two-game suspension for violating team rules.
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.
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.
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 (16.5 ppg, 9.6 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 18.2 points and 11.6 boards in six Big 12 contests. 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.
Arthur had a quiet 10 points and five boards while blocking two shots in the Tigers' win over Colorado.