Nov. 14, 2004
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Tip-off: 8:00 p.m.
Arena: Paige Sports Arena (15,061)
TV: Mizzou Sports Network. (Dan McLaughlin, play-by-play: Jon Sundvold, analyst)
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly, play-by-play: Gary Link, analyst)
Rankings: Neither squad was ranked in the AP or ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Poll
Series: Tigers lead, 1-0 Last Meeting: MU, 83-61 on 12-22-80 in Columbia, MO
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 100-63 at MU and overall (6th season).
Brown: Glen Miller (Connecticut '86) 71-66 at BU (6th season) and 166-124 overall (12th season)
Tigers Open Regular Season against Brown in First Round of Guardians
The University of Missouri men's basketball squad tips off its 98th season of basketball on Monday when it welcomes the Brown Bears to the Paige Sports Arena in the opening round of the Guardians Classic which is presented by the NABC and the Gazelle Group. The Tigers are coming off of two exhibition wins over in-state foes Northwest Missouri State (W, 90-60) and Central Missouri State (W, 100-73).
Mizzou is participating in the Guardians Classic for the second time in the last four years and hopes to duplicate the success they had last time they played in the tourney in 2001-02. After winning two games rather convincingly in Columbia, the Tigers would win two tough games in Kansas City over Alabama and Iowa to take home the tournament championship. Mizzou was led in the championship game by Clarence Gilbert who scored 27 points in the contest including the game-winning free throw with .8 seconds left on the clock to seal Mizzou's improvable late-game comeback.
On Monday, Mike Kelly and Gary Link will be calling all of the action on the Tiger Radio Network. The contest can also be heard on the web at www.mutigers.com. Dan McLaughlin and Jon Sundvold will team on the television broadcast, which can be seen on the Mizzou Sports Network.
Quick Hits
Head coach Quin Snyder is looking for win number 101 at Mizzou ... He has reached the 100-win total faster than any coach in school history ... The Tigers are looking for their fifth straight win in season openers and their 31st straight win in home openers ... the last time the Tigers dropped a home opener was in 1973, a 77-73 loss at the hands of SMU ... The Tigers could play five games over the course of a nine day stretch from Nov. 15-Nov. 24 ... This is only the second time Mizzou has ever faced Brown ... if Mizzou can get past the Bears, they will face the winner of the Houston - Sam Houston State contest, which is being played on Monday at 5:30 p.m. CST at the Paige Sports Arena.
About the Bears
Brown will also be playing their first contest of the season on Monday. After finishing last season at 14-13, the Bears were picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League by the conference's coaches. When head coach Glenn Miller (71-66 at BU) took over at Brown six years ago, the Bears' program had posted winning seasons only 18 times in 93 years. In five years under Miller's tutelage, the Bears have posted four consecutive winning season for the first time ever. Armed with the return of two starters, including last year's Ivy League Player of the Year Jason Forte and junior Luke Ruscoe, who averaged 8.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest last year, the Bears are hoping to make another run at the top of the Ivy League standings Series - MU leads, 1-0 : MU, 83-61 - Dec. 22, 1980
A Look Back ... MU vs. NWMSU
The Tigers used 11 threes and 14 steals on the night to take out the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats last Wednesday night, 90-60. Sophomores Linas Kleiza and Thomas Gardner paced the balanced Mizzou offensive attack with 23 and 19 points respectively. A couple of notes of note about the contest follow ...
Missouri Team Notes from the NWMSU Game
* Beginning at the 9:11 mark of the first half, the Tigers sank four straight three-point field goals. Sophomore guard Thomas Gardner nailed one, junior guard Jimmy McKinney sank a pair and freshman guard Jason Horton contributed a trey of his own. The streak ended at 5:39 of the first half when McKinney missed from the top of the key.
* Mizzou ended the half on a 10-6 run, extending their lead to 13 points, 52-39, at the half.
* The Tigers outscored NWMSU 20-6 in the paint, 15-3 off turnovers and 8-0 on the fast break in the first half.
* After having four players tally double-figures in points against Central Missouri State, five Tigers accomplished the feat against the Bearcats: sophomore forward Linas Kleiza, sophomore guard Thomas Gardner, junior guard Jimmy McKinney, senior guard Jason Conley and freshman guard Jason Horton.
* After shooting only 42.1% (8-19) from the free throw line in the first half, the Tigers were a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe after halftime.
* Missouri's 56.1 field goal percentage on the evening would have ranked as the second-highest mark by the Tigers in a game last season. The only time they eclipsed that number was during their victory over Texas A&M, when they shot an even 60%.
Player Notes from the NWMSU Game
* Sophomore forward Linas Kleiza's two offensive rebounds in the first 1:30 of play in the game eclipsed the number of offensive boards he hauled in over the course of the Tigers' game against Central Missouri State.
* Sophomore guard Thomas Gardner's 10 first-half points are the most he's had in any Tigers game since the career-high 20 he dropped in the team's victory over UNLV on February 15, 2004. He finished the game with 19 points.
* Sophomore forward Linas Kleiza's 23 points would be a new career high, eclipsing the mark of 19 he set in the Tigers' last outing, if tonight's game was a regular-season contest. His three steals would also constitute a career best if the game wasn't exhibition.
* Sophomore forward Linas Kleiza averaged 21.0 points per game during Mizzou's 2004-05 exhibition season.
* On a night when the team shot only 57.7% (15-26) from the free throw line, freshman forward Kalen Grimes paced the Tigers with a 4-for-4 effort on foul shots.
Sizzling Sophomores
Thomas Gardner and Linas Kleiza were in the zone ... unconscious ... feelin' it ... on fire ... living lusciously in that special place ... OK, go ahead and insert any catch phrase to express that they played really good against Northwest Missouri State last Wednesday. This duo shot a combined 18-of-24 (.750) with Kleiza knocking down 11-of-14 shots on his way to 23 points while pulling down nine boards. Gardner was equally impressive, hitting 7-of-10 field goal attempts including 4-of-7 three point attempts.
Paint It Black and Gold
Mizzou was dominant in its two preseason contests, gabbing wins by 27 and 30 points over Central and Northwest Missouri State. Two major factors in the wins were the Tigers' ability to dominate paint and convert turnovers into points. Mizzou outscored its two opponents, 78-26 in the paint and forced 40 turnovers, converting them into 56 points in the two contests.
Living Large With Lenny
Linas Kleiza (otherwise known as Lenny to his teammates) has recovered fully from a shoulder separation he experience half way through last season and it looks as though he will be shouldering a major part of the Tiger offense this season. The All-Big 12 Honorable mention recipient was outstanding in Mizzou's two exhibition wins.
He averaged a team-best 21.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in the two contests while knocking down 18-of-26 field goal attempts, good for a 69.2 percent field goal percentage. He also blocked three shots and nabbed five steals in the contests and did all this damage while playing only 24.5 minutes per contest.
If it Feels Like Leather ... and Looks Like Leather ... and Smells Like Leather ... Pass It!
Coach Quin Snyder and his staff has preached throughout preseason practices that besides playing lockdown defense (the Tigers held their two exhibition opponents to only 37.3 percent from the field by the way), the key for Mizzou to be successful lies in the Tigers being unselfish with the basketball and getting their teammates shots.
While we know it is still unbelievably early in the year, it appears as though that the message has been received loud and clear. The Tigers recorded 44 assists on 70 field goals in the two exhibition contests, good for an average of 22.0 assists per contest (last year's squad handed out 14.4 assists per contest).
Five Tigers recorded six or more total assists in the two contests including senior Jason Conley and freshman Jason Horton, who both handed out eight assists a piece. Junior Jimmy McKinney was also in a generous mood, handing out seven assists in the two games.
Where Were You When ...
While we are not sure who ordered the first batch of nachos from the concession stand or who was the first to christen the men's room ... we do have a list of "firsts" that took place against Central Missouri State on Nov. 4.
* The first point and first free throw in Paige Sports Arena history came at 19:27 of the first half when sophomore forward Linas Kleiza knocked down his first shot from the charity stripe.
* The first field goal, a two-point shot, in Paige Sports Arena history came at 18:25 of the first half, courtesy of senior guard Jason Conley.
* The first dunk in Paige Sports Arena history came at 17:24 in the first half, when sophomore forward Linas Kleiza slashed through the lane and raised for a two-handed flush.
* The first points of freshman forward Marshall Brown's career came at 15:36 of the first half when he converted a layup after being fouled. The first free throw of his career came moments later as he completed the three-point play.
* The first opponent point in Paige Sports Arena history came at 16:40 of the first half, when senior forward Mike Suggs sank the second of two free throws. It was also the first points of Suggs' Mules career.
* The first opponent field goal in Paige Sports Arena history came 13:23 of the first half, by junior forward Dwight Williams.
* Thursday's game was the first 100-point effort in the history of the Paige Sports Arena.
A Peek at the Paige Sports Arena
On September 21, 2002, a new and exciting phase for Missouri Basketball began with the groundbreaking for a brand new, $75 million state-of-the-art facility. The new arena is an imposing place to play for opposing teams and provides unbelievable options for the Tigers when it comes to player development. In addition to more seating, with a capacity of 15,061, there are a host of other exciting additions:
Ø 26 Luxury Suites
Ø State of the art training room
Ø Expanded locker room facilities complete with film room and player lounge
Ø Practice gym
Ø Basketball office complex
Ø Box office and team store
Ø Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame
Paige Sports Arena houses all the up-to-date technologies desired in a modern sports facility. Both men's and women's basketball programs have video game film viewing theaters; all coaches offices and meeting rooms have cable TV hook-ups and both private (suites, clubs) and public (concession stands, retail store) areas throughout the arena have direct-game and cable televisions in place. Adjacent to the west side truck dock are dedicated and secured television production and satellite truck parking areas with permanent patch-in panels. The audio-video room within the arena is also linked to Missouri's two major sports venues - the Hearnes Center and Memorial Football Stadium. The arena contains a center-hung scoreboard-video board as well as 30" high video ribbon board located above the luxury suites where the lower and upper seating bowl transition occurs.
New Editions
No, I am not going to break into a rendition of "Cool it Now" or "Candy Girl" (as much as you all would enjoy that) but Mizzou has two members of its staff that are beginning new editions of their careers. And like the group "New Edition," you might say that the newest members of the Tiger coaching family are old school.
Associate Head Coach Melvin Watkins joined the Tigers in July after six years as head coach at Texas A&M and a two year stint as head coach at UNC-Greensboro. Watkins has brought a wealth of experience and energy to the Tiger bench. The other new face on the Tiger bench is assistant coach Jeff Meyer, who most recently was an assistant at Butler University for three years. Meyer brings 25 years of coaching experience to Mizzou including 16 years as a head coach at Liberty University. He also joined the Tiger bench in July.
Coach Quin Snyder
6th Year at MU
100-63
Entering his sixth year at the helm of the Mizzou basketball program is Quin Snyder. Missouri's 15th head coach, Snyder has built a program that has joined the upper echelon of college basketball. With a focus on developing players academically, physically, skillfully and socially, Snyder's squads have enjoyed trips to the post season in each of the last five seasons including four trips to the NCAA Tournament. Mizzou has averaged exactly 20.0 wins per contest during Snyder's five-year tenure at Mizzou. The intense competitor the Tiger players call "Coach Q" won his 100th career game last season when Mizzou defeated Texas A&M in the Big 12 Tournament. He became the fourth coach in Mizzou school history to reach the 100-win plateau and Snyder will have a great opportunity to add to that total with a contract that will keep him as a fixture on the Tiger bench through 2007-08.
Heading into 2004-05, Mizzou returns several of its top players from a year ago including senior Jason Conley, junior Jimmy McKinney and sophomores Thomas Gardner and Linas Kleiza. Snyder and his staff have also gathered a sixth straight Top 25 recruiting class to augment the already talented roster. Mizzou has moved to a new state-of-the-art home this season, the Paige Sports Arena, which holds around 15,000 rowdy Missouri fans and gives the Tigers an unbelievable opportunity to build on the foundation of success that has been established.
Given the success and excitement Snyder's squads have generated in his five years at the helm, it is not surprising that Tiger fans are looking for big things from Mizzou in 2004-05. In 2003-04, Snyder led the Tigers to wins over Top 20 teams such as Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. He also saw his second recruiting class of Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding, Travon Bryant and Josh Kroenke complete outstanding careers at Mizzou. Johnson and Paulding both jumped into the Top 10 on the Tiger scoring charts and Johnson finished his career as the Tigers' all-time leader in blocked shots and rebounds. That outstanding class also finished their career having played in the most NCAA Tournament contests of any class in school history with eight.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Snyder, 37, attended Mercer Island High School in the state of Washington. A two-time state player of the year, Snyder led the team to the 1985 state championship. During this time, Mercer Island achieved a No. 1 ranking in USA Today's high school polls. Snyder was named a McDonald's All-America player, being the first ever chosen from the state of Washington.
Snyder and his wife, the former Helen Redwine, a native of Charlotte, N.C, have one son, Owen Redwine Snyder, born on December 25, 2002.