Nov. 18, 2004
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Tip-off: 7:00 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: First meeting
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 102-63 at MU and overall (6th season).
Houston: Bob McKillop (Hofstra '72) 293-193 at Davidson and overall (16th season)
Mizzou Takes on Davidson on Friday at Paige
The University of Missouri men's basketball squad welcomes the Davidson Wildcats to the Paige Sports Arena on Friday with tip set for 7 p.m. The Tigers have opened the season at 2-0 for the fifth time in the last six years following wins in the opening two rounds of the Guardians Classic over Brown (Mon., 68-60) and Houston (Tues., 77-61).
Mizzou has received several excellent efforts from different player in their first two games. Sophomore Thomas Gardner, who earned Guardians Classic Regional MVP honors, came off of the bench to turn in two outstanding efforts in the two wins. He recorded the first double-double of his career on Monday night scoring 19 points and pulling down 12 boards against Brown. He then scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half against Houston and was 4-of-7 from three point land.
Sophomore Linas Kleiza put together the most impressive effort of his young career as well on Tuesday night. Kleiza scored a career-best 19 points and pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds in the route of Houston. The 14 rebound-effort was the most boards any Tiger has registered since former Tiger Arthur Johnson ripped down 18 rebounds against Marquette in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, IN.
Friday's game will be broadcast on the Tiger Radio Network with Mike Kelly handling the play-by-play duties and former Tiger great Gary Link providing the analysis. Tiger fans can also catch the action on television on the Mizzou Sports Network with Dan McLaughlin and former Mizzou All-American selection Jon Sundvold calling all of the action.
Quick Hits
Head coach Quin Snyder is looking for win number 103 at Mizzou ... He has reached the 100-win total faster than any coach in school history ... The Tigers are facing off with Davidson for the first time in school history ... Mizzou will play three games over the course of the next five days ... The Tigers are looking to start the season 3-0 for the fifth consecutive season.
About the Wildcats
The Davidson Wildcats will be making their 2004-05 season debut on Friday at the Paige.
Chosen as the top team in the South division of the Southern Conference by the coaches and the media, Davidson heads into the season returning the bulk of its scoring and rebounding. The Wildcats are coming of a 17-12 season that featured a perfect 13-0 record at home.
Junior Brendan Winters, who averaged a team-best 17.8 points per game last season, has knocked 122 three point field goals over the course of the last two seasons, putting him in ninth on the Davidson all-time list. Coach Bob McKillop enters his 16th season at Davidson and has accumulated a 293-193 record and four post season berths during his time there. Series - First Meeting
A Look Back ... Mizzou vs. Houston
Mizzou held Houston to 36.7 percent shooting from the field in the second half and picked up 15 second half points from Guardians Classic Regional MVP Thomas Gardner on their way to a 77-61 win on Tuesday. Below are a couple other notes from the contest ...
Mizzou Team Notes following the Houston Game
* With the win, the Tigers even the series with UH at 3-3.
* The Tigers have started the season at 2-0 in five of the six season Coach Quin Snyder has been at the helm.
* After leading by only six at halftime, the Tigers outscored the Cougars, 42-32 in the second half on their way to the win. Mizzou has outscored its opponents 77-60 in the second half in its first two games this season.
* The Tigers nailed 12 threes on the night, the most since Mizzou knocked down 13 threes against UNLV last February. Before that, the last time a Tiger squad had knocked down that many threes was in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2003 against Marquette when they splashed 15 threes (a record-setting nine of which came from Rickey Paulding) in Indianapolis, IN.
* Mizzou outrebounded the Cougars, 39-28.
* After shooting 35 percent from the field against Brown, the Tigers picked up their shooting efforts in a major way, hitting at an even 50 percent (24-of-48 overall, 12-of-23 from three) from the field.
Mizzou Player Notes following the Houston Game
* Sophomore Thomas Garnder earned the Missouri Regional MVP award after scoring 19 and 18 points in the Tigers' two wins in the opening rounds of the tournament.
* Gardner scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half of the UH contest including three of his four threes on the night.
* Sophomore Linas Kleiza registered a game-high 19 points and pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds on his way to the fourth double-double of his young career.
* Even more impressive is the fact that Kleiza also handed out a career-best five assists to lead Mizzou on the night.
* Senior Jason Conley had a solid night scoring 14 points, handing out four assists and pulling down six rebounds.
* Junior Kevin Young started the eighth contest of his career on Tuesday and registered a career-high eight points (4-of-7 from the field) and seven rebounds in the win.
Houston ... They Had A Problem
After shooting only 34.8 percent from the field on Monday night against Brown, the Tigers' sharpshooters came out in full force on Tuesday against Houston. Mizzou shot a rather warm 50.0 percent from the field in the contest including 12-of-23 from three. The 12 three point field goals was the Tigers best three-point field goal production since last season when they knocked down 13 bombs in the route of UNLV in February.
Tigers Deliver in Second Half Against Brown
In UPS' latest advertising campaign, they pose the question "What can brown do for you?" I will tell you exactly what Brown did for the Tigers on Monday night ... and no postage is necessary. What the Bears did for the Tigers on Monday was give them their first look at an extended zone while also mounting a discipline, poised attack to climb within one point at 33-32 at halftime.
However, after allowing Brown to shoot over 50 percent in the first half, the Tigers held BU to only 30 percent field goal shooting in the second stanza. The Tigers were extremely active in the passing lanes, forcing the Bears into 22 turnovers (14 of which came in the first half) and scored 23 points off of those turnovers.
The Tiger offense also kicked into gear in the second half with Thomas Gardner scoring 13 of his 19 points in the contest. Gardner was 5-of-8 in the stanza and also pulled down eight boards on his way to recording a career-high 12 rebounds on the night.
Sizzling Sophomores
Thomas Gardner and Linas Kleiza are 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 have played really well in each of the Tigers last two contests. 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 against Northwest Missouri State. Gardner was equally impressive, hitting 7-of-10 field goal attempts including 4-of-7 three point attempts versus the Bearcats.
Lenny and T continued to hit on all cylinders in the Tigers' regular season opener against Brown. Gardner recorded the first double-double of his career with 19 points and 12 rebounds, both of which were game highs. Kleiza scored 17 points and pulled down nine boards in a team-high 32 minutes.
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.
Kleiza has averaged 18.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per contest in the first two contests of the season. He is shooting 45.2 percent from the field so far and has handed out five assists. Kleiza recorded the fourth double-double of his career against Houston, scoring a career-best 19 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. He just missed another double-double in the season opener with 17 points and nine rebounds against Brown.
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 have handed out 31 total assists in the first two contests of the year (15.5 per contest) including 19 assists on 24 field goals against Houston
Sophomore Spencer Laurie and freshman Jason Horton lead the Tigers in assists through two contests with seven and six dimes respectively.
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.
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
102-63
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.