Feb. 6, 2004
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Tip-off: 12:30 p.m. CST
Arena: Bob Devaney Sports Center (13,500)
TV: ESPN+. Bill Doleman, play-by-play; Quinn Buckner, analyst
Radio: Tiger Radio Network. Mike Kelly, play-by-play: Gary Link, analyst
Rankings: Missouri was not ranked or receiving votes in either poll.Nebraska was not ranked or receiving votes in either poll.
Series: Tigers lead, 117-83
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 93-58 at MU and overall (5th season).
Nebraska: Barry Collier (Butler '76) 49-56 at NU (4th season) and 245-188 overall (15th season)
Tigers Look for Season Sweep of Huskers
The University of Missouri basketball squad wraps up a two-game road swing on Saturday when it travels to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the Huskers (11-7, 1-6 in the Big 12) in a Big 12 matchup. The Tigers are coming off of a hard-fought loss at Kansas while Nebraska has dropped six of its last seven contests overall.
In the loss to KU, Tiger senior big men Arthur Johnson and Travon Bryant led the Tiger charge. AJ just missed the 42nd double-double of his career with a team-high 15 points and nine rebounds. Bryant recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds while also blocking a career-high six shots against the Jayhawks.
Mizzou (9-9, 4-4 in the Big 12) has won six straight contests over the Huskers including its Jan. 24 win over NU in Columbia, 72-51. Head coach Quin Snyder is 9-1 against the Huskers in his five years at Mizzou and the Tigers have not lost to NU in Columbia since Feb. 22, 1995.
The contest, which will be aired on ESPN+ (KMIZ in Columbia, Mo.) with tip set for 12:30 p.m. CST, will be broadcast by Bill Doleman and Quinn Buckner. The game will also be carried on the Tiger Radio Network with "The Voice of the Tigers" Mike Kelly and former Tiger great Gary Link on the call. Mizzou is 3-1 on ESPN+ this season.
Quick Hits
* The Tigers are looking for their second win over the Huskers this season. They have swept the season series from the Huskers in three of the past four campaigns.
* The Tigers 21-point win over NU on Jan. 24th was MU's largest margin of victory so far this season and Nebraska's largest margin of defeat this season.
* With his career-best six-block effort against Kansas, senior Travon Bryant has recorded 31 blocked shots so far this season (1.7 blocks per game). If he can continue that pace, he will eclipse his career season high for blocks (40 in 02-03) by more than six blocks. He will also finish the regular season fourth on the Mizzou all-time blocks list.
* With his 14-point performance against Kansas, senior Rickey Paulding moved into 11th on the Mizzou all-time scoring charts with 1,498 career points exactly.
* If senior Arthur Johnson can pull down six rebounds against Nebraska, he will become only the second Tiger in school history to record at least 1,500 points (he has 1,515) and 1,000 rebounds (he has 995) in his career.
* Freshman Linas Kleiza will not be available off of the bench on Saturday. He suffered a separated shoulder against Colorado and will be out for the next two weeks. He is averaging 11.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
* The Tigers carry a 19-14 mark during the month of February under Head Coach Quin Snyder.
* Senior Arthur Johnson has went a combined 20-of-35 (.571) from the field over the course of the last three games.
* Mizzou has played in front of capacity crowds at the Hearnes Center in each of their last five home games with five home games remaining on their schedule.
* The Tigers have already recorded as many road wins this season (3) as they did all of last season, when they went 3-7 away from Hearnes.
* Freshman Thomas Gardner is averaging 16.5 ppg., during the Tigers last two home games.
* AJ currently ranks 10th on the Mizzou all-time scoring list with 1,515 points and is second on the Mizzou rebounding charts with 995 career boards. He needs just 59 boards to eclipse the Mizzou mark and also to move into second on the Big 12 career boards list.
* Seven different Tigers have led the team in scoring through 18 games this season and four different Tigers have led in rebounding.
* Coach Snyder is looking for win number 94 at Mizzou on Monday.
* The Tigers are 41-31 under Coach Snyder against Big 12 opponents.
A Look at the Huskers
The Huskers enter Saturday's contest at 11-7 overall and 1-6 in the Big 12. After winning 10 of their first 11 games, they have dropped six of their last seven contests with the lone win in that stretch coming over Baylor, 76-47 in Lincoln. In fact, the Huskers have been extremely tough at home this season, registering a 10-2 mark in the Bob Devaney Sports Center. They are led by seniors Nate Johnson and Andrew Drevo, who are averaging 11.9 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game respectively.
The Huskers lead the league in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score only 58.5 points per contest and are second in field goal percentage defense, with opponents shooting just over 38 percent from the field. They also lead the league in three-point field goal percentage as they are knocking down threes at a 39.0 percent clip (123-of-315).
Last Time Out Against the Huskers
The 21-point margin was the largest margin of victory for the Tigers this season ... The previous amount was their 20 point win over Iowa ... MU has now won six straight games over Nebraska and nine of the last ten against the Huskers ... Mizzou took great care of the ball on the day, committing only nine turnovers ... That equals their second lowest turnover total of season ... After falling behind by one point at 44-43 with 9:33 left in the second half, Mizzou used a 29-2 run the next 7:58 to take the game over ... In that stretch, the Tigers went 10-of-16 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line ... Senior Rickey Paulding led the Tigers in scoring for the fourth straight game with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field ... Johnson had 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting ... Freshman Thomas Gardner equaled a career high with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field including 3-of-5 shooting from three ... After going only 19-of-31 from the free throw line against Texas, the Tigers were awesome from the free throw line going 16-of-18 from the stripe.
Facts, Figures and Other Points of Interest Following the Kansas Game
+ The Tigers fall to 9-9 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12. They also fall to 0-2 this season on ESPN's Big Monday and 1-4 on ESPN.
+ Head coach Quin Snyder is now 93-58 through 151 games.
+ The game was hotly contested the whole way with eight ties and 17 lead changes.
+ Senior Arthur Johnson led Mizzou with 15 points and nine boards. He now needs 70 points to move into 9th on the Mizzou all-time scoring list (he has 1,514) and only 59 more rebounds (he has 995) to become Mizzou's all-time leading rebounder.
+ Johnson has led the Tigers in scoring in five games this season.
+ Johnson also had three blocks on the night giving him 231 career blocks, which continues to be an MU record.
+ Senior Travon Bryant recorded his fourth double-double of the season with his 10-point, 10-rebound effort. He also blocked a career-best six shots, giving him 105 career blocks. He currently ranks fifth on the MU career blocks charts and need 12 blocks to move into fourth. The Tigers now have 13 double-doubles as a team in 2003-04.
+ Senior Rickey Paulding scored nine of his 14 points in the second half. He also grabbed six boards and was 3-of-3 from three.
+ The Tigers blocked a season-high 10 shots on the night (6 from Bryant, 3 from Johnson and one from Jason Conley.
+ Mizzou committed only 11 turnovers compared to KU's 12. The Tigers are now 6-2 on the year when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent.
+ KU outrebounded the Tigers, 40-39. This marks only the sixth time the Mizzou has been outboarded this season and they are 1-5 when that happens.
+ The Tigers get back at it on Saturday when they travel to Nebraska to take on the Huskers.
Reading Up on the Rick
Senior Preseason All-American Rickey Paulding continues to be one of the fiercest competitors in the Big 12 Conference.
Paulding leads the squad in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per contest while breaking the 20-point barrier in five of the Tigers' 18 contests. He 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 watch lists this season and also earned a preseason All-American nod from the Associated Press. He is tied for 11th on the all-time Mizzou scoring charts with 1,498 points following his 14-point effort against Kansas. He will now be chasing No. 11 Jevon Crudup, who scored 1,498 career points.
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 sixth on the Mizzou all-time three point field goals made list with 168 career treys.
In Order to Be the Best ...
... you have to beat the best. The Tigers have definitely put that adage to the test this year with one of the toughest schedules in the country. As of Monday's (Jan. 26) Associated Press Poll, seven (Oklahoma, Kansas, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State) of the Tigers 2003-04 opponents are ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes.
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) began with the new year when the Tigers faced (RV) Iowa on Jan. 3 (W, 76-56), lost a tough one at (RV) Iowa State (L, 70-65) where they are 0-5 under coach Quin Snyder, lost to defending national champion #17 Syracuse (L, 82-68), travel to #13 Oklahoma (W, 79-75 in OT) and faced #16 Texas (L, 75-69 in OT) ... all in a 20-day span.
Like the TNT Network, We Know Drama
Sorry ESPN, but that one was just to good to let slip by. The Tigers have made some breathtaking comebacks and have experienced some heartbreaking losses so far this season. Eight of the Tigers' 17 games have been decided by five points or less and three of them have went to overtime. The Tigers are 4-4 in games decided by five points or less this season. The average margin of loss for Mizzou has been 6.5 points per contest.
Prior to their 20-point blowout win against Iowa on Jan. 3, the Tigers lost three games in seven days by a total of seven points to wrap up 2003, a year the Tigers would be just as soon forget. They faced a 21-point deficit to Illinois in the first half, only to storm back and lose by one and were down by as many as 15 to Memphis, only to have their comeback come up just short, losing by two to the Tigers.
King Arthur's Court
Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Arthur Johnson is on a mission. The objective: to leave the Hearnes Center in April as one of the best big men in school history. He has certainly had a remarkable career here at MU and continues to work his way up several career charts. The explosive big man with feather-soft touch around the basket already owns Mizzou's all-time shot blocking mark with 231 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.
Big 12 All-Time Blocked Shots Leaders1. 264 Chris Mihm, UT-1998-00
2. 243 Nick Collison, KU, 1999-03
3. 242 Eric Chenowith, KU, 1997-01
4. 231 Arthur Johnson, MU, 2000-present
5. 202 Venson Hamilton, NU, 1997-99
If all goes according to plan, he will also become the Tigers all-time leading rebounder right around the middle of February. Johnson is averaging 7.6 boards per contest following his nine rebound effort against Kansas. He needs just 59 more boards to pass former Tiger great Doug Smith on the chart.
He also currently ranks 10th on the all-time scoring charts with 1,515 points after his 15-point effort against Kansas. He will now be chasing No. 9 Kareem Rush (00-02, 1,584 points).
Last season, Johnson became only the fourth Tiger since the 1949-50 season to lead the team in rebounding in three straight campaigns.
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 16-point, 11-rebound effort against Oklahoma, he recorded his 41st career double-double, putting him alone in 4th on the Big 12 All-Time Double-Double leaders list. A look at that chart follows:
Big 12 All-Time Double-Double Leaders1. 47 Chris Mihm, UT, 1998-00
2. 46 Venson Hamilton, NU, 1997-99
3. 44 Drew Gooden, KU, 1999-02
4. 41 Arthur Johnson, MU, 2001-Present
5. 40 Raef LaFrentz, KU, 1994-98
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 has played in the most NCAA Tournament games of any Tigers in school history with eight post-season tilts under their belts. Also of note, in each of Coach Quin Snyder's first four years, the Tigers have been knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by an eventual Final Four Team (2000-North Carolina, 2001-Duke, 2002-Oklahoma and 2003-Marquette).
Thanks for the Memories ... Here's to Many More
The Tigers are playing their final year in the Hearnes Center and will be moving into a state-of-the art arena starting in October of 2004. Mizzou has called Hearnes home for 31 years now and has registered a mark of 401-70 there as of its 62-53 win over Kanas State. The 15,000 seat, $75 million new building will feature unbelievable player development facilities (weight room, practice gym, players lounge, film room) and will be the finest on-campus basketball facility in the country.