Tigers Trek to the Northwest to Face Gonzaga in the Battle in Seattle
12/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2003
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Tip-off: 1 p.m. CST (11 a.m. PST)
Arena: Key Arena (17,072)
TV: CBS. Craig Bolerjack, play-by-play: Clark Kellogg, analyst
Radio: Tiger Radio Network. Mike Kelly, play-by-play: Gary Link, analyst
Rankings: Mizzou was ranked 3rd in the latest AP Poll and 4th in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Gonzaga was ranked 17th in the latest AP Poll and 18th in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
Series: MU leads, 1-0: Last Meeting: 12/16/41 MU, 55-46 in Spokane, Wash.
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 87-49 at MU and overall (5th season).
Gonzaga: Mark Few (Oregon '87) 111-30 at GU and overall (5th season).
Tigers Trek to the Northwest to Face Gonzaga in the Battle in Seattle
The No. 3/4 Missouri Tigers travel to the home of Grunge Rock, the Space Needle, Starbucks Coffee, Ichiro Suzuki and yep ... you guessed it ... head coach Quin Snyder on Saturday to take on the No. 17/18 Gonzaga Bulldogs. The contest will be played at Key Arena and will be the Tigers first of two neutral court games this season.
The Tigers (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) are coming off of a strong, come-from-behind win last Saturday against Indiana in Bloomington, 63-58. Mizzou was down 14 with 7:15 left in the contest, but used a 21-2 run to get the W. Gonzaga is coming off of an impressive win itself as it took out George Washington, 96-91, on Sunday in the championship game of the BB&T Classic in Washington D.C.
The game will be broadcast live on the Tiger Radio Network with Mike Kelly, the Voice of the Tigers, and former Tiger great Gary Link calling the action. The network reaches over 50 stations across the state and fans can also listen to the game via the world wide web at www.mutigers.com. CBS will also be airing the 1 p.m. CST (11 a.m. PST) contest with Craig Bolerjack and Clark Kellogg calling the action.
Quick Hits
* Freshman forward Linas Kleiza was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week on Monday.
* Mizzou's No. 3 ranking is its highest mark since the 2001-02 season when it was ranked No. 2 by the Associated Press for two weeks.
* The Tigers have opened each of the last five seasons at 3-0.
* This is the first of two Tiger contests that will be played on CBS this season. The other will be their season-ending contest with Kansas on Mar. 7.
* Coach Quin Snyder is looking for win number 88 at Mizzou.
* Guard Randy Pulley was certified for competition by the University of Missouri Certifying Officer last week. He will join the squad at the end of the first semester along with shooting guard Jason Conley.
* The Tigers are 45-20 under Coach Snyder against non-conference opponents.
* This will be the Tigers' first ranked opponent of the year. Mizzou is 13-30 under coach Quin Snyder vs. teams ranked in the AP Top 25.
A Look at the Bulldogs
The No. 17/18 Bulldogs enter Saturday's contest winners of five of their first six, with their only loss coming in their opener against St. Joseph's. Under head coach Mark Few (111-30 in his fifth year at GU), Gonzaga has become the powerhouse of the West Coast Conference and is certainly one of the top up-and-coming programs in the country.
Gonzaga is very similar to the Tigers in the fact that it has achieved great balance in scoring on the offensive end. Four players are averaging double figures in scoring through seven contests played.
This year's squad has been led to this point by junior Ronnie Turiaf, who is averaging a team-best 15.9 points per contest. He ranks second on the team in rebounding at 5.9 boards per contest and leads them in blocks with 14. He scored a game-high and equaled a career high with 29 points in the Bulldogs' latest win, a 96-91 victory over George Washington. Senior guard Blake Stepp, who played with Arthur Johnson and Rickey Paulding in the Pan Am games this summer, has also had a solid campaign thus far, averaging 13.1 points per contest. He is the Bulldogs major three-point threat, as he has canned 16 of his 38 attempts.
Facts, Figures and Other Points of Interest Following the IU Contest
? Head coach Quin Snyder improves to 2-0 vs. Indiana in Bloomington and 2-1 vs. IU overall.
? The Tigers improve to 87-49 under fifth year head coach Quin Snyder.
? Mizzou overcame a 14 point deficit with 7:14 left in the second half with a 21-2 run the rest of the contest.
? After allowing Indiana to shoot a blazing 54% in the first half, Mizzou put the clamps on the IU offense, holding them to only 22% shooting (5-of-23) in the second half. Indiana's 58 points is the lowest point-total it has posted this year.
? The Tigers are 2-0 in true road games (on an opponent's home court) for the first time since 1994-95.
? Mizzou dominated the glass on the night, 46-28. It has out-rebounded its opponent in every game this season by a total of 129-80 (+16.3 advantage per contest).
? Senior Travon Bryant recorded his first double-double of the year with a team-high 16 points and 10 boards. He also registered three assists, two blocks and three steals.
? Freshman Linas Kleiza also had a huge night with his second double-double of the season with a career-best 15 points and 13 boards (nine of his points and seven of his rebounds came in the second half.) Kleiza's conventional three-point play off of his fifth offensive rebound of the afternoon gave the Tigers' their first lead of the game with just 1:20 left in the second half.
? Senior Arthur Johnson continues to dominate, scoring 15 points and pulling down nine boards before fouling out with 4:23 left in the game. Johnson has reached double digits in scoring in each of the last 10 games dating back to last season.
Kleiza Earns Big 12 Rookie of the Week Honors
Talented freshman scored a career-high 15 points Saturday for No. 3 Tigers. Columbia, Mo. - Freshman Linas Kleiza has made an immediate impact for the Tigers so far this season averaging 10.3 points and a Big 12-best 11.3 rebounds per game after this weekend's action. He was rewarded for his outstanding work last week earning Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors for the first time in his young career, it was announced by conference officials on Monday.
Kleiza had a huge week for Mizzou averaging 10.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game in two Mizzou wins. The Kaunas, Lithuania native recorded his second career double-double (in only three career games played) against Indiana with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Ten of his points and seven of his rebounds were registered in the second half as the Tigers came back from 14 points down to win 63-58.
The 6-9, 245 lb. forward sparked a Tiger comeback on Tuesday against Coppin State. With Missouri down seven points in the second half, Kleiza went to the basket and made a huge dunk sparking a 35-19 run as Mizzou grabbed a 70-61 win over the Eagles.
Big Fellas Putting Up Big Numbers
I don't think I am telling any of the Tigers upcoming opponents anything they don't already know, (not that they or anyone else reads these things anyway!) but the key to the Tigers' success in the early stages this season has been the play of senior big men Arthur Johnson (16.0 ppg.), Travon Bryant (13.0, 8.0) and freshman spark plug Linas Kleiza (10.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg). While it is very early for this sort of note, Kleiza led the Big 12 in rebounding at press time and the Tigers are the only school in the conference to have three players rank in the top 10 in the league in board work.
AJ, Tra and Lenny (thats what his teammates call him) rank one, two and five respectively in scoring for Mizzou and make up over two thirds of the Tigers rebounding. They scored 46 of the Tigers' 63 points in their win over Indiana last Saturday and pulled down 32 of their total of 46 rebounds. Johnson and Bryant have each recorded a double-double this year while the new kid in class (Kleiza) has two double-doubles to his credit.
32 Minutes and 45 seconds of Trepidation; 7 Minutes 15 Seconds of Triumph
After struggling mightily through the first 33 minutes of play on Saturday at Indiana, the Tigers were able to put together a tremendous comeback in the final 7:15 of play. When Indiana sophomore guard Bracey Wright nailed a three with 7:14 left in the contest, the Tigers found themselves down by 14 at 56-42.
The next seven minutes was a crazy ride as Mizzou would go on a 21-2 run from that point on, getting seven points from Linas Kleiza, all six of Jimmy McKinney's points in the contest, six points from Travon Bryant and a layup from Rickey Paulding to give Mizzou a 63-58 win. After allowing IU to shoot 53.8% in the first half, the Tigers allowed the Hoosiers to score only 19 points on 21.7% shooting in the second stanza while holding IU's leading scorer (Wright) to only three points in the second half.
Which Brings Me to My Next Point
The Tigers are still looking for a remedy for their slow starts to games. They have been outscored 105-96 in the opening halves of games this year and are allowing opponents to shoot better than 42 percent from the field.
But heck, if they continue to play the way they have defensively in the second half of games, they may not need a remedy. Mizzou has picked up the pace in a major way averaging 42.3 points per second half while limiting opponents to only 33 points per second stanza.
Turnovers in the opening half have also been a concern as Mizzou has averaged 11.3 turnovers per game in the opening half. However, the Tigers has decreased that number dramatically in every game in the second half averaging only 5.0 giveaways in the second stanza.
The Motley Crue Factor: Revisited Once Again
While we here in the Mizzou media relations office are not positive that coach Quin Snyder is a fan of Motley Crue, we know he is a fan of heading back to his "Home Sweet Home", which was a hit for the Crue right about the time our beloved coach graduated from high school at Mercer Island High, a suburb of Seattle.
Snyder was an McDonalds All-American at Mercer Island under legendary head coach Ed Pepple. Also making the return trip back to their home state of Washington are director of player development Omar Parker (who also played for Pepple at Mercer Island and is rumored to be a Whataburger All-American in staff pickup games) and junior guard Brian Dailey, who is a native of Samammish, Wash.
In Order to Be the Best ...
... you have to beat the best. The Tigers are definitely putting that adage to the test this year with one of the toughest schedules in the country. As of Monday's Associated Press Poll, seven of the Tigers 2003-04 opponents are ranked in the Top 25 and two are receiving votes. Over the course of the next two weeks, two of the Tigers next three opponents are ranked in the top 20 in the country in the latest poll (#17 Gonzaga, NR Belmont and #14 Illinois).
You don't have to look to far down the Tigers schedule to see the toughest stretch (if the entire thing isn't tough enough) begins with the new year when the Tigers face #24 Iowa at home on Jan. 3, go to Iowa State where they are 0-4 under coach Quin Snyder, welcome defending national champion #19 Syracuse to Hearnes, travel to #11 Oklahoma and face #6 Texas ... all in a 20-day span.
A Quick Check of the Polls
While the only poll that truly matters doesn't come out until the second week in April, its never to early to track how the Tigers are doing in the rankings.
Date USA Today Coaches Associated Press Poll Preseason #6 #5 Nov. 23-30 #6 #5 Dec. 1-7 #5 #4 Dec. 8-14 #4 #3
Not Your Normal Newcomers
Freshmen Thomas Gardner (Portland, Ore.), Spencer Laurie (Springfield, Mo.) and Linas Kleiza (Kaunas, Lithuania) entered the season as the foundation of one of the top recruiting classes in America. So far, each of the three amigos have made different, significant impacts for Mizzou in their first two games.
Kleiza has been a man-child in his first two outings dawning the black and gold. He registered the first double-double of his career against Oakland with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds in 16 minutes of action. He then proceeded to put in six points and nine critical boards in the Mizzou's win over Coppin State. With Mizzou trailing by seven with 16:28 left in the contest, Kleiza grabbed a loose ball and nearly ripped the rim down with a momentum-charged dunk, which the Tigers used to finish the game on a 35-19 run and get the win. Kleiza was unbelievable once again against Indiana, when he dumped in a young career-best 15 points while pulling down 13 rebounds in the Tigers' win over IU.
Gardner had a fine night against Coppin State as well. He canned a huge three and went 3-of-3 from the free throw line giving him eight points in 14 quality minutes for Mizzou. Laurie has also made quality contributions when called upon to spell Jimmy McKinney or Josh Kroenke. He scored the first hoop of his career against CSU, took a charge and played quality defense in nine minutes of playing time. He also proved extremely valuable in the Mizzou's win at Indiana, playing 20 minutes of hard-nosed defense in place of McKinney, who went to the bench with early foul trouble.
Lean, Mean and on the Scene
Since coming to Mizzou at over 300 lbs. his freshman year, senior Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Arthur Johnson's weight (which was a svelte 255 at the beginning of this season) has gone down while his numbers have gone up. The explosive big man with feather-soft touch around the basket already owns Mizzou's all-time shot blocking mark with 202 career swats. With his two block effort against Coppin State, he became only the fifth player to record 200 or more career blocks in Big 12 conference history. Here's a quick look at where he needs to go to grab that mark
Big 12 All-Time Blocked Shots Leaders
1. 264 Chris Mihm, UT-1998-00
2. 243 Nick Collison, KU, 1999-03
3. 242 Eric Chenowith, KU, 1997-01
4. 202 Venson Hamilton, NU, 1997-99
202 Arthur Johnson, MU, 2000-present
If all goes according to plan, he will also become the Tigers all-time leading rebounder right around Feb. 2, which just happens to be the Tigers yearly trip to Kansas to face the Jayhawks. Johnson is averaging 9.7 boards per contest following his nine rebound performance against Indiana. He needs just 164 more boards to pass former Tiger great Doug Smith on the chart.
He also currently ranks 18th on the all-time scoring charts with 1,316 points after his 15 point outing against the Hoosiers and has a good shot at moving into the top five on the chart. He will now be chasing No. 17 Curtis Berry (1,328 points) and No. 16 Charles Henke (1,338 points).
Last season, Johnson became only the fourth Tiger since the 1949-50 season to lead the team in rebounding in three straight campaigns and can become the first Mizzou player to lead the squad in boards for four straight years if he can be the leader of the pack once again this year. Stay tuned.
More On AJ
And if you just can't get enough info on the big fella they call "Doc," he is also creeping up on the Big 12 career double-doubles mark. With his season-opening 19-point, 11-rebound effort against Oakland, he recorded his 37th career double-doubles, putting him in a three-way tie for fifth place on the conference charts. A look at that chart follows:
Big 12 All-Time Double-Double Leaders
1. 47 Chris Mihm, UT, 1998-00
2. 46 Venson Hamilton, NU, 1997-99
3. 44 Drew Gooden, KU, 1999-02
4. 40 Raef LaFrentz, KU, 1994-98
5. 37 Arthur Johnson, MU, 2001-Present
37 Stephane Pelle, CU, 1999-03
37 Nick Collison, KU, 1999-03
The Rick is Ready to Rock
Senior Preseason All-American Rickey Paulding is coming off of his finest year as a Tiger in which he averaged a team-high 17.4 points per contest in 2002-03. If the numbers don't lie, and they usually don't, Paulding has a good shot to go down as one of the finest players to ever put on the Missouri uniform if he can continue his unbelievable improvement from year to year. Here's a quick look at how he as progressed over the past three years at Mizzou:
Year FGM/FGA FG% 3ptFG/3pt FGA 3pt FG% Pts/Gm RPG 2000-01 90-214 .421 12-56 .214 7.0 2.4 2001-02 147-288 .510 50-113 .442 11.9 3.9 2002-03 199-442 .450 75-193 .389 17.4 5.5
Paulding earned All-Big 12 second-team honors last season and was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament team. He was named to both the Wooden and Naismith Awards this season and also earned a preseason All-American nod from the Associated Press. He ranks 23rd on the all-time Mizzou scoring charts with 1,256 points following his eight point effort against Indiana. Paulding was awesome in his hometown going 6-for-12 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line sharing team-high honors with Jimmy McKinney with 21 points on the night against Oakland in Detroit on Nov. 29.
Rick is now alone in eighth on the Mizzou all-time three point field goals made list with 141 career treys. He needs six more threes to pass former Tiger Lee Coward (89-90, 146 threes) on the list.
What Does it Take to Be #1?
St. Louis rapper Nelly, who is a close friend of Tiger sophomore Jimmy McKinney, posed that question in his pop hit a couple of years ago. After taking over the point guard spot midway through the season last year for Mizzou, sophomore Jimmy McKinney (#1 in your program) has made it quite clear that he will do what ever it takes for the Tigers to be #1 come spring time. The multi-tooled guard, whose natural position is more of a shooting guard, is capable of impacting a game in any of several ways.
After leaving the contest with early foul trouble, McKinney was rock solid in the second half against Indiana scoring six points while committing no turnovers. McKinney had a solid outing against Coppin State with 10 points including 4-of-5 shooting from the free throw line. He made his desire to win quite evident against Oakland, sharing team-high honors with senior Rickey Paulding with 21 points (15 of which came in the second half). McKinney was 6-for-12 from the field including 1-of-2 from three, while going a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. After struggling through five turnovers in the first half, he was outstanding in the second stanza, committing only one turnover. McKinney finished the night with five assists and three rebounds in a team-best 38 minutes of playing time.
Road Warriors
As already stated earlier in this unbelievably random gathering of text, the Tigers were on the road for their season opener for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Mizzou better get used to living out of its suitcases for the first month or so of the season. Five of the Tigers first seven contests have been or are on the road or at neutral sites including a trip to Seattle for a might-as-well-be home game for Gonzaga at the Battle of Seattle, the Busch Braggin' Rights game against Illinois in St. Louis and a trip to the Pyramid to face Memphis. With powerhouses like that lined up and waiting for Mizzou, this truly could be a December to remember.
Happy to Be at Home in the Hearnes
Mizzou began its 31st and final season at the Hearnes Center when it faced Coppin State. The Tigers have experienced great success at the Hearnes registering a 396-68 (.853) record since the 1972-73 season. Five Tiger squads have gone undefeated in the Hearnes Center and 14 teams have lost one game or fewer including last year's squad, which went 14-1 at home. From 1988-90, the Tigers went 31-0 at the Hearnes Center.
Next year, Mizzou will move into a new state-of-the art arena, which will be located just southwest of the Hearnes. The new 15,000-seat building is on schedule for completion on Oct. 1, 2004.
The Conley Countdown/Pullin' For Pulley
In case Mizzou fans are wondering, and we are guessing that you are, when the Tigers tip off on Saturday afternoon, (1 p.m. CST on CBS) it will be eight days (or 193 hours or 1,580 minutes or 694,800 seconds) until offensive dynamo Jason Conley, a 6-5 swingman who transferred to Mizzou from VMI, will be eligible to compete for the Tigers. As has already been well documented, Conley led the country in scoring as a freshmen averaging 29.3 points per contest. He has worked extremely hard since coming to Mizzou to gain weight (up nearly 15 pounds) while also working to become a better defender. The time for Conley will come on December 21st when the Tigers welcome UNC-Greensboro to Mizzou for a 2 p.m. CST contest in Columbia.
This will also be the first game that junior Randy Pulley will suit up for Mizzou. The point guard averaged over 12 points and five assists per game in 2002-03 for Barton County Community College.
I Did Not Know That. Did You Know That Ed?
Pardon the tribute to Johnny Carson, but did you know that there have been 16 schools that have participated in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments? Five of the 16 are Big 12 schools - Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas. The other schools are Duke, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Arizona, Stanford, Kentucky, Cincinnati and Gonzaga.
In a related note, this year's senior class of Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding, Josh Kroenke and Travon Bryant have played in the most NCAA Tournament games of any Tigers in school history with eight post-season tilts under their belts.
Head Coach Quin Snyder
With a 2003-2004 team poised to be among the nation's elite, Quin Snyder has proven that success can come quickly with hard work and determination. On the brink of his fifth season as head coach of the Missouri Tigers, Snyder is leading a team that has been ranked as high as number three in the nation in preseason polls. Missouri's 15th head coach, Snyder has enjoyed impressive runs in the NCAA Tournament for four straight years. In fact, the 2002-2003 season was witness to a 22-win campaign that ended with an overtime loss in the NCAA Tournament to eventual Final Four contender, Marquette. This season, Snyder's squad promises to offer even more excitement, with a powerful returning group, highlighted by the electrifying duo of Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson, along with a host of new recruits. Given the excitement Snyder has generated in such a short span of time at the helm, it is not surprising that many people are waiting with anticipation for this season to begin and predicting great things for the Tigers. It is easy to see why expectations are high when you consider all of the following ...
* Missouri returns four starters from last year's team, and in all, returns over 80 percent of its scoring, 98 percent of its blocked shots, and over 90 percent of its rebounding from last season.
* All of last season's impressive junior class, featuring Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding, Travon Bryant and Josh Kroenke will be returning for their senior campaign and will join a number of exciting newcomers.
* A fifth straight top-25 recruiting class has been added to the roster this fall.
* Mizzou continues to be a fixture on national and regional television broadcasts. With every game but one on television, Snyder's Tigers continue to create unprecedented exposure for the program.
* The program will be the direct benefactor of a new, state-of-the-art $75 million arena which athletic officials plan to have open in time for the 2004-05 season.
* Snyder signed a contract extension, which will keep him a fixture on the Tiger sidelines through at least the 2005-06 season.
* And while Mizzou's on-court achievements constantly grab the headlines, what takes place in the classroom remains at the top of Snyder's priority list. An academic All-American himself during his playing days at Duke, Snyder is quite proud of the fact that in his four years at MU, seven scholarship players have exhausted their eligibility and all seven have graduated. In addition, this past season saw the men's basketball team achieve the highest GPA in 15 years.
