Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Columbia, Mo.- It could be argued that the Mizzou Basketball team has saved its best for last. In their final year of calling the Hearnes Center home, the Tigers will face one of the best and toughest schedules in the country during the 2003-04 season. Mizzou welcomes some of the top teams in the nation into the friendly confines including defending national champion Syracuse, Iowa, Texas, UNLV and Kansas for what should be an entertaining year at the Hearnes. Add to the mix an extremely tough road non-conference schedule (at Indiana, vs. Illinois, vs. Gonzaga and at Memphis) and the Tigers have all the makings of an amazing year.
"This is a terrific opportunity for us to play against some of the top competition in the country," Head Coach Quin Snyder said. "We have a great group of young men assembled here at Mizzou and we are looking forward to the challenges that are ahead of us this year."
Mizzou opens its campaign in the hometown of seniors Arthur Johnson and Rickey Paulding, taking on Oakland at 6:00 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 29th in Detroit. The Tigers begin a busy month of December on the 2nd, when they take on Coppin State at the Hearnes Center, where they went 14-1 last year. A trip to Bloomington, Ind., to take on the Hoosiers will be up next for MU on Sat., Dec. 6. The Tigers have not faced Indiana since 2000, when they defeated IU, 68-63, in Bloomington.
Mizzou then plays its third road contest in its first four games when it faces Gonzaga in the "Battle in Seattle" at Key Arena in Seattle, Wash. That will also serve as a homecoming of sorts for Coach Snyder, who is a native of Mercer Island, Wash. After welcoming UNC-Greensboro to Columbia on the Dec. 21, the Tigers tackle Illinois in St. Louis, Mo., at the Savvis Center in the annual Busch Braggin' Rights Game. The 2003 calendar year wraps up with a trip to national powerhouse Memphis on Dec. 27, and a home game with Belmont the day before New Years Eve.
The Tigers will get their fill of the state of Iowa to open 2004. Mizzou welcomes the Iowa Hawkeyes to Hearnes on Jan. 3 and then travels to Iowa State the following Wednesday to open the Big 12 portion of its schedule. The Tigers will then look to avenge a two-point loss at the hands of Texas A&M in 2003 when they face the Aggies on Jan. 10, in Columbia.
The next eight days in January are definitely not for the faint of heart. Following their tip with A&M on the 10th, the Tigers will face off with defending national champion Syracuse in Mizzou's first of two Big Monday appearances in Columbia. The Tigers will then square off with three-time defending Big 12 Tournament champion Oklahoma on January 17th, in Norman, a place where MU has not won since 1994. Following their excursion to the Sooner state, Mizzou continues the brutal stretch, welcoming the Texas Longhorns to Hearnes on Tues., Jan. 20, which will be shown on ESPN.
After home games with Nebraska and Kansas State and a trip to Colorado, Mizzou will make its annual trip down I-70 to take on Kansas on Groundhog Day (Mon., Feb. 2). The Tigers were able to take out the Jayhawks in their last meeting, a 68-63 win in the semi-finals of last year's Big 12 Tournament. A rare out-of-conference home contest with UNLV, which will be broadcast on ABC, and Oklahoma State highlight the remainder of the Tiger's February slate. As they prepare for the Big 12 Tournament, which will be played in Dallas for the second straight year from March. 11-14, Mizzou will wrap up its regular season with a trip to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech and a home game against Kansas. The KU match up will be the Tigers' final game in the Hearnes Center, which has been their home since the 1972-73 campaign.
Of the Tigers' 27 regular season contests, 26 will be broadcast on television with the Mizzou Sports Network airing nine games, ESPN+, ESPN2 or ESPN carrying 13 games, CBS carrying two games and ABC carrying one. For a complete listing of times and television carriers, please refer to the attached schedule. For more information on Mizzou Basketball or to buy tickets for the upcoming home season, log on to www.mutigers.com.