Feb. 13, 2004
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Tip-off: 2:30 p.m. CST
Arena: Hearnes Center (13,611)
TV: ABC. Ron Franklin, play-by-play; Jon Sundvold, analyst
Radio: Tiger Radio Network. Mike Kelly, play-by-play: Gary Link, analyst
Rankings: Missouri was not ranked or receiving votes in either poll. UNLV was not ranked or receiving votes in either poll.
Series: MU leads, 2-1: Last Meeting - UNLV, 101-84 on Jan. 11, 1994 in Las Vegas
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 94-59 at MU and overall (5th season).
UNLV: Charlie Spoonhour (Univ. of the Ozarks '61) 54-30 at UNLV (3rd season) and 373-201 overall (19 years).
Tigers Run With Runnin' Rebels on Sunday
The University of Missouri men's basketball team wraps up its regular season non-conference schedule on Sunday when it welcomes the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) Runnin' Rebels to Hearnes. The Tigers are 5-5 so far this season against non-conference opponents and are 3-2 at home against non-Big 12 foes.
Mizzou is coming off of a huge 77-65 win over Colorado on Tuesday. Five Tigers scored in double figures against CU as Mizzou used a 20-8 run during the final 8:49 of the game to put the game out of reach. Senior big men Travon Bryant (17 pts., 9 reb., 6 asst.) and Arthur Johnson (16 pts., 4 reb.) combined to shoot 13-of-19 from the field on the night as the Tigers outscored the Buffaloes in the paint, 34-20 despite the presence of 7'0" shot-blocking machine David Harrison.
Sunday's contest, which is set to tip at 2:30 p.m. CST, will air nationally on ABC. Play-by-play stalwart Ron Franklin and former Tiger great Jon Sundvold will call the action from the Hearnes Center, where the Tigers are 7-3 so far this season and 21-4 over the past two seasons. The "Voice of the Tigers" Mike Kelly and former Tiger great Gary Link will handle the duties on the Tiger Radio Network, which reaches over 60 stations around the state of Missouri. The Tigers are 1-0 this season on Sundays and 1-0 on ABC.
Quick Hits
* Mizzou has played in front of capacity crowds at the Hearnes Center in five of its last six home games.
*Sunday's game with UNLV is a sellout. This is the sixth sellout of the season.
* Four of the Tigers seven remaining contests are at home.
* Mizzou leads the all-time series with UNLV, 2-1. The Rebels won the last meeting between the two, 101-84 on Jan. 11, 1994 in Las Vegas.
* The Tigers check in at No. 53 on the RPI charts and have played the seventh toughest schedule in the country as of Friday's CollegeRPI.com report.
* The Tigers are 7-3 at home this season and 20-4 over the past two years in the Hearnes Center.
* Mizzou was 6-of-7 from the free throw strip in the final five minutes of the contest against Colorado.
* Senior Travon Bryant has gone 14-of-22 from the field in the Tigers last two games and has averaged 14.0 points and 7.7 rebounds in the last two contests.
* Senior Arthur Johnson has gone a combined 25-of-42 (.595) from the field over the course of the last four games.
* AJ currently ranks 10th on the Mizzou all-time scoring list with 1,541 points (which also puts him in 14th on the career Big 12 list.) He is second on the Mizzou rebounding charts with 1,001 career boards and ranks third on the Big 12 career list.
* Arthur needs just 53 boards to eclipse the Mizzou mark and also to move into second on the Big 12 career boards list. He is the only player in school history to record at least 1,500 career points, 1000 career rebounds and 200 career blocks.
* Seven different Tigers have led the team in scoring through 20 games this season and five different Tigers have led in rebounding.
* Coach Snyder is looking for win number 95 at Mizzou on Tuesday.
Kleiza Out for the Season
Tiger freshman will have surgery on injured right shoulder.
Columbia, Mo. - University of Missouri freshman forward Linas Kleiza will miss the remainder of the season due to a dislocated right shoulder, MU coach Quin Snyder announced on Thursday.
"We have met with Linas' family and our medical staff here at Mizzou and we believe that the severity of the injury would have reduced his effectiveness on the court, making immediate surgery necessary. We feel that this is the best option for Linas' career and his eventual contribution to our program. We will miss his intensity, but I know we will continue to battle and stay together."
Kleiza, a 6-8 post presence from Kaunas, Lithuania, played in 16 games this season ranking fourth on the squad in scoring averaging 11.1 points per game and first on the squad in rebounds per game averaging 8.4 boards per contest. He recorded three double-doubles this season and reached double figures in scoring in nine of his 16 games played. He averaged 23.1 minutes per game off of the bench and shot 44 percent from the field and earned Phillips 66 Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors two times.
He dislocated his shoulder on Jan. 28 in the closing minutes of the Tigers' game at Colorado and has sat out Mizzou's last four contests rehabbing the shoulder. The Tigers have gone 2-2 in his absence. Snyder indicated that the surgery will take place sometime in the next two weeks and that the recovery process takes approximately three to four months.
A Look at the Runnin' Rebels
The Runnin' Rebels (12-8 overall, 3-5 in the Mountain West) enter Sunday's contest on a two game road losing streak and have lost three of their last five overall. Odartey Blankson leads the Runnin' Rebels averaging a double-double (16.8 points, 10.4 rebounds) per game. He is one of five UNLV players to average better than 8.2 points per contest and also leads the squad in steals with 30 on the year. Blankson is also their leading free throw shooter, connecting on 80 percent of his attempts (99-of-124).
Charlie Spoonhour is in his third year as head coach of UNLV. He has registered a 54-20 mark there after he coached a combined 16 seasons at Southwest Missouri State and Saint Louis University.
Who's Line is it Anyway?
5-of-7 from the field, 17 points, nine rebounds and a career-best six assists. Not a bad nights work. That stat line belonged to Tiger senior forward Travon Bryant in the Tigers' much needed win over Colorado on Feb. 10 in Columbia. It also encapsulated what has been Bryant's most consistent season as a Tiger so far.
He is scoring 11.2 points per game (up from 9.8 points per game last year) and pulling down 6.3 rebounds per contest (up from 5.8 last season). Travon is shooting a team-best 56.8 percent from the field and 46.2 from three so far this season. In fact, after he missed his final shot of the game against Kansas on Feb. 2, Bryant went 9-of-11 from the field over the course of the Tigers' next two games with Nebraska and Colorado including making nine shots in a row.
Facts, Figures and Other Points of Interest Following the Colorado Game
+ The Tigers held the Buffaloes to just one field goal in the first 6:50 of the first half. Colorado went 5:45 without a field goal during that span.
+ MU led at half 37-32. The Tigers are 7-3 this season when leading at half and 69-15 under Snyder.
+ Senior Arthur Johnson recorded his 1,000th rebound in the second half of tonight's game. He had four rebounds on the night making his career total 1,001. Johnson is only the second player in school history with more than 1,000 rebounds and only the third player in Big 12 history to accomplish that feat.
+ Senior Rickey Paulding had a career high seven steals. His previous season best was against Gonzaga (12/13/03) with 4, and his previous career best was against Memphis (12/14/02) with five.
+ Senior Travon Bryant had a career-high six assists. His previous season and career bests came during the last meeting of these teams (1/28/04) with five.
+ On another note, Bryant's field goal miss with 6:23 left to play in the second half was his first missed field goal attempt since a missed 3 point attempt with 2:18 left to play against Kansas (2/02/04). Bryant went 4-4 against Nebraska and made his first five attempts tonight against Colorado.
+ The Tigers led the entire first half with the first lead change not occurring until the 16:19 mark of the second half.
+ Missouri's 23 attempted 3-point field goals is its highest since Missouri's last meeting with the Buffaloes (1/28/04) when the Tigers attempted 32. Missouri is now 4-6 when attempting more than 20 3-pointers in a game.
+ Mizzou recorded a season-high 14 steals (seven by Paulding) and scored 77 points against CU, the most it has scored since the Oklahoma game, in which it scored 79 points.
+ Five players scored in double figures against the Buffs. The last time that happened for Mizzou was also against Oklahoma on Jan. 18.
+ MU is now 2-0 under Quin Snyder when under .500. The Tigers are now 8-2 under Snyder against CU and 11-6 on Tuesdays under Coach Snyder.
+ The attendance at the game was 9,370. It is the second smallest crowd in attendance at home this season. The smallest crowd on the year was 12/02/03 with 9,091 against Coppin State. This breaks a streak of five straight sellouts.
+ Mizzou plays four of their final seven games at home.
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 15.2 points per contest while breaking the 20-point barrier in five of the Tigers' 20 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 in 11th on the all-time Mizzou scoring charts with 1,524 points following his 10-point effort against Colorado. He will now be chasing No. 10 Arthur Johnson, who scored 1,541 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 170 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 last Monday's (Feb. 9) Associated Press Poll, nine (Oklahoma, Kansas, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State, Memphis and Illinois) of the Tigers 2003-04 opponents are ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes.
Like the TNT Network, We Know Drama
Sorry ABC, 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' 20 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.
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 232 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. 233 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 first part of March. Johnson is averaging 7.1 boards per contest. He needs just 53 more boards to pass former Tiger great Doug Smith on the chart.
He also currently ranks 10th on the all-time scoring charts with 1,541 points after his 16 point effort against Colorado. 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 402-70 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.