Feb. 20, 2003
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Tigers Look To Buffalo the Buffaloes in Boulder on Saturday
The University of Missouri basketball team travels to Boulder, Colo., on Saturday to take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Tip is set for 8 p.m. CST and the game can be seen on ESPN with Ron Franklin and Jon Sundvold calling the action.
This is the second time the Tigers will have faced off with CU. Mizzou hung on for a 73-70 win over the Buffs on Feb. 1 in Columbia and have had a 3-2 record since that game.
Mizzou fell out of the Associated Press poll for the first time this season earlier this week, but dropped only one spot in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll to No. 22. The Tigers enter Saturday's contest having won three of their last four games and two in a row after they defeated Nebraska on Tuesday night, 67-50 in Columbia. With the win, the Tigers extended their home unbeaten streak to 13 games this season. Following Wednesday's Big 12 games, Mizzou is currently in fifth place in the league at 7-4, just one game behind Oklahoma State at 8-3 and two games ahead of Colorado at 5-6.
About the Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado enters the contest with a 15-9 mark and a 5-6 record in the conference. Their comeback try came up just short at Kansas on Wednesday night as they fell to the Jayhawks, 94-87 in Lawrence and they are now tied for sixth place in the league with Texas A&M.
The Buffs have been similar to the Tigers this year in that they have been dominant at home and struggled on the road. The Buffs are 11-1 at the Coors Event Center in Boulder and have taken out the likes of Texas and Kansas at home. That being said, Mizzou has not lost to CU in eight games, three of which were in Boulder.
Michel Morandis leads the Colorado offensive charge averaging 17.8 points (5th in the Big 12) and 5.5 rebounds per contest. He led CU in its last meeting with the Tigers pouring in a game-high 28 points while also pulling down eight boards and handing out nine assists.
Juniors David Harrison and Blair Thomas have been outstanding pitching in with just over 13 points per ball game. Harrison also averages 8.5 rebounds per game and leads the conference in blocks with 73 rejections.
Head coach Ricardo Patton is in his eighth year as head coach of the Buffaloes. He has posted a 120-100 record at CU and a 5-8 mark against Missouri.
Johnson and Paulding Earn NABC All-District 12 Honors
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced the NABC Division I All-District Teams recognizing the country's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, these student-athletes represent the finest basketball players across the country. The 150 student-athletes, from 15 districts, are now eligible for the NABC Division I All-American Team to be announced at the conclusion of the 2002-2003 NCAA men's basketball season. Below are the District 12 selections:
District 12 First Team Nick Collison Kansas Kyle Korver Creighton Hollis Price Oklahoma Kirk Hinrich Kansas Arthur Johnson MissouriDistrict 12 Second Team Victor Williams Oklahoma State Rickey Paulding Missouri Tony Allen Oklahoma State Jake Sullivan Iowa State Michael Watson UMKC
Last Time Against CU...
No. 25 Missouri Hangs On To Beat Colorado, 73- 70
Ricky Clemons has 23 points to lead the Tigers.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Ricky Clemons had 23 points, four assists and five steals and the 25th-ranked Tigers avoided a late collapse for a 73-70 victory over Colorado. Missouri (13-4, 4-2 Big 12) has won eight in a row against the Buffaloes (12-7, 2-4), seven of them under Quin Snyder.
Michel Morandais hit a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left to cut the Missouri lead to 71-70. Missouri went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final half-minute, with Clemons and Jimmy McKinney hitting two apiece. Morandais' long 3-pointer banged off the back of the rim with 1 second left.
Noting Nebraska
* Junior Travon Bryant was back in the starting lineup ... The Tigers are now 9-4 when the starting lineup includes: Clemons, McKinney, Bryant, Paulding, and Johnson.
* Clemons scored Missouri's first eight points including hitting on 2-of-2 three pointers ... Clemons opened the night with 11 points in the first 6:15 of the game (3-4) ... In the first nine minutes Clemons had 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from behind the arc ... Clemons ended the game with six three's, tying a career high.
* Junior Rickey Paulding became the 35th player to eclipse the 1,000 point mark at Mizzou ... he scored his 1,000th point on a three-pointer at the 13:08 mark in the first half ... he came into the game with 999 career points.
* Missouri had 36 three-point attempts ... the most since the Tigers put up 40 at Colorado on Feb. 23, 2002.
* Freshman Jimmy McKinney had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, very close to a triple-double ... the Tigers' last triple-double was by Greg Cavener on January 4, 1984 ... he had 16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists against Wisc.-Green Bay.
* Missouri's offensive rebounds exceeded that of Nebraska 17-6.
* Missouri now goes to 16-6 overall in the 2002-03 season and 7-4 in the Big 12 ... The Tigers have won all 13 home games this season ... and are now 502-104 at home against non-ranked teams.
Join the Club
One point. That is all junior Rickey Paulding needed heading into the Tigers' outing against Nebraska to become the 35th Missouri player to reach the 1,000 career-point mark. Paulding reached the plateau with a three-point shot with 13:08 left in the first half.
He scored seven more points the rest of the night and now has 1,010 career points.
Earlier this season, Paulding's fellow Detroit native and roommate Arthur Johnson reached that landmark at Nebraska. He now has 1,096 career points tying him for the 29th spot with Byron Irvin on the all-time MU charts. He needs just 16 points to move past former Tiger All-American and coaching legend Norm Stewart at the #26 spot.
On the Road Again
Country Willie Nelson would not be a fan of either the Tigers so far this season. The bearded hippy sang in his classic hit "One the Road Again" that he couldn't "wait to get on the road again." The Tigers have not echoed that sentiment so far this season as they have posted a 2-5 mark away from Hearnes and a 0-4 record against ranked teams on the road.
They are shooting 43% from the field away from Columbia, where they have been successful on 47% of their attempts. Mizzou is hitting on only 34% of its threes on the road compared to just under 40% at the Hearnes Center.
Tackling the Tatanka
Here's how all active Tigers that have played at least two games against CU have fared against the Buffs during their careers:
Arthur Johnson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 5 13.2 9.8 Rickey Paulding Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 5 12.0 3.8 Travon Bryant Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 5 8.2 6.8 Josh Kroenke Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 6 0.6 4.0 Jeffrey Ferguson Gms. Ppg. Rpg. 2 1.0 0.5
Agile, Mobile and Versatile
Jimmy McKinney has proved to be one of the most multifaceted 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 8.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.8 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 showcased that versality in a major way against Nebraska on Tuesday, just missing a triple-double with nine points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He is averaging 9.0 points and 4.2 boards and 3.3 assists per contest.
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 five opponents by 11.6 boards per game and are out-rebounding opponents by 5.9 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 13-0 mark at the Hearnes Center so far in 02-03.
This marks the first time Mizzou has been undefeated at home through 13 games since the 1995-96 when that team went undefeated (15-0) at home.
Mizzou has been amazing at the Hearnes shooting 47% from the field and 40% from 3-point land. The Tigers are outscoring their opponents by an average 17.1 points per game and are out-rebounding opponents by 9.2 boards per game.
"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 (178) and is also second in three-point field goal attempts (473). Junior Ricky Clemons is second in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals per game (3.33) while Rickey Paulding is ninth in the category with exactly 2.0 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 five more threes to move into the top 10. If he can maintain his 3.20 three-point FG's per contest pace, he will finish the regular season with 83 threes, the fifth 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 Ricky Clemons (02-03) 70
News and Random Thoughts
Mizzou is the only team in the Big 12 to have three players ranked in the Top 11 in points per game (8th-Rickey Paulding, 16.5, 9th-Arthur Johnson, 16.4 and Ricky Clemons, 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, 3.33, 9th, Paulding, 2.05) ... junior Arthur Johnson now ranks 30th on the MU all-time scoring list with 1,096 career points ... he needs just 12 rebounds to jump into the all-time top 10 in boards ... fellow junior Rickey Paulding became only the 35th player in school history to reach the 1,000-career points mark at MU on Tuesday; he now has 1,010 career points ...yada-yada-yada.