Nov. 21, 2004

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Tip-off: 8:00 p.m.

Arena: Municipal Auditorium. (Kansas City, MO)

TV: None

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: Tiger lead, 9-6 Last Meeting: MU, 73-71 OT at the San Juan Shootout on Dec. 1, 1996

Coaches:

Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 102-63 at MU and overall (6th season).

Creighton: Dana Altman (Eastern New Mexico '80) 197-109 at CU (11th season) and 280-176 overall (16th season).

Mizzou Takes on Creighton in Semifinals of Guardians Classic

The University of Missouri basketball team (2-1 overall, 0-0 Big 12) looks to bounce back from its first loss of the season on Tuesday when they face the Creighton Bluejays in a semifinal of the Guardians Classic. If Mizzou can get by CU, they will face the winner of the other semifinal between Ohio State and Houston. Mizzou dropped a heartbreaker in its latest contest, an 84-81 setback at the hands of Davidson in Columbia, MO.

Sophomores Linas Kleiza (20.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg) and Thomas Gardner (17.0 ppg, 10 threes) have led the Tigers offensive attack. Gardner earned Missouri Regional MVP honors last week for his outstanding first and second round efforts in the Guardians Classic.

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 Tuesday, 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. No television will be available for the contest.

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 lead the all-time series between the two squads, 9-6 ... Mizzou will play three games over the course of the next six days ... Mizzou has outscored their opponents 131-109 in the second half of games this season ... junior Jimmy McKinney scored his 600th career point against Davidson ...McKinney has now started 59 straight regular season games for Mizzou, dating back to Dec. 30, 2002 against Valparaiso.

About the Blue Jays

Creighton is off to a 3-0 start under head coach Dana Altman, who is in his 11th season at CU. Led by junior Nate Funk (17.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg.) and senior Kellen Miliner (14.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg), the Blue Jays defeated Alcorn State (74-40) and Iona (68-62) in Omaha to reach the Championship round of the Guardians. They also picked up an easy 83-58 win over Arkansas Pine Bluff on Saturday to improve to 3-0.

Creighton is the second squad in the field to have won a championship in the Guardians (besides Mizzou), picking up the tournament championship in 2002. Altman is 197-109 in his time at CU and is 280-176 overall in his 16 years as a head coach.

Series - Tigers lead, 9-6 Last Meeting: MU, 73-71 OT at the San Juan Shootout on Dec. 1, 1996

A Look Back ... Mizzou vs. Davidson

Mizzou doubled its point total from the first half in the second half of last Friday's loss to Davidson, but it wasn't quite enough as the Wildcats dropped Mizzou, 84-81. The Tigers scored 27 points in the first frame and 54 points in the second half on the strength of eight three pointers while shooting 45.9 percent from the field for the half. Below are some other notes of interest on the contest ...

Missouri Team Notes after the Davidson Game

* With a Davidson win of 84-81, Missouri falls to 2-1 on the season - Davidson goes to 1-0. The Tigers' loss is their first in the new Paige Sports Arena.

* The contest was the first between the two schools all-time.

* The game began with a shoot-out, as both teams combined for 16 shots from the field in the first five minutes of the game.

* At halftime Davidson led 35-27 despite committing 10 turnovers. However, they outrebounded Mizzou 22-11 and shot 52% from the field (13-25).

* Davidson came out strong in the second half widening their lead to 17 after a 7-0 lead ending at the 14:05 mark. Davidson hit five of their first seven shots in the second.

* Missouri started on the comeback trail with 11:40 remaining in the game. Jason Conley hit a three-pointer to spur on a 20-4 run over four minutes, 17 seconds, cutting the Tigers' deficit from 17 to 1. Over the run, the Tigers' hit four threes and were led by Kleiza with eight points and Conley with six. Davidson's Logan Kosmalski, the teams' lead rebounder at the time, committed his fourth foul at the 9:03 mark, spurring a bit of foul trouble for the Wildcats.

* The Wildcats went on a 12-0 run of their own in the next two minutes to give them a 13-point lead with 4:24 to go in the game.

* Again, here came the Tigers. Adding to the Wildcat foul trouble, Brendan Winters added his fourth foul and during that time the Tigers went on 9-2 run, cutting the lead once again to six.

* Thomas Gardner cut the Davidson lead to two with a three-pointer with 23.1 seconds remaining.

* The Tigers took three shots from behind the arc within the final 15 seconds, but couldn't overcome Davidson's three-point lead.

Missouri Player Notes after the Davidson Game

* Sophomore Linas Kleiza played 19 minutes of the first half and led the Tigers with 11 points and four rebounds at the break. Kleiza scored a personal best 25 points in the game while shooting 7-13 from the field including a career-best four threes - his previous best was 19, which he had recorded twice before.

* Propelled by two huge dunks in the first half, senior Jason Conley scored a season-high 18 points.

* Sophomore Spencer Laurie led the team in steals with three, a career-best.

Going Back for Seconds

So far this young season, the Tigers have definitely played their best basketball in the second half of games. In fact, Mizzou has been outscored 96-95 in the first stanza of contests by its opponents, but has then flipped the script on them in the second half, scoring 131 points while holding the opposition to 109 points.

We don't have to look far to see why the Tiger scoring attack has kicked into high gear following halftime. Mizzou's two leading scorers (Linas Kleiza and Thomas Gardner) have scored 64 percent (72-of-112) of their points in the second half of the Tigers's three contests. Particularly fond of post-halftime activities, Garnder has scored 40 of his 51 points in the second half of games.

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 has been amazing offensively so far this season.

Kleiza has averaged 20.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per contest in the first three contests of the season. He is shooting 47.7 percent from the field so far and has handed out seven assists. The Kaunas, Lithuania native had his best night as a Tiger in the scoring column against Davidson when he scored 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting including four three pointers.

Kleiza recorded the fourth double-double of his career against Houston, scoring 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.

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?" We will tell you exactly what Brown did for the Tigers ... and no postage is necessary. What the Bears did for the Tigers 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.

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 one of the keys 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 46 total assists in the first three contests of the year (15.3 per contest) including 15 assists on 27 field goals against Davidson

Sophomore Spencer Laurie and freshman Jason Horton lead the Tigers in assists through three contests with 10 and nine 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 at the Paige Sports Arena.

* 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

102-64

In 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.