MU-KU Notes
3/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 7, 2004
+ The Tigers finish the regular season at 15-12 overall and 9-7 in the Big 12. They will be the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, which starts Thursday in Dallas, Texas. Mizzou will face the No. 11-seeded Texas A&M Aggies at 8:30 p.m. CST in the first round.
+ The game was a sell out with a called attendance of 13,611. It was the seventh sold out game of the season.
+ Chancellor Richard Wallace announced at halftime that former Tiger coach Norm Stewart will continue to be commemorated for several years to come. The court in the new arena, which is set for completion in November of 2004, will carry the same name as the one in the Hearnes Center and will be named Norm Stewart Court as well.
+ In the eight-year history of the Big 12 Tournament, the Tigers have been the #6 seed five times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004).
+ Mizzou finishes the regular season at 10-4 at home, 5-6 on the road and 0-2 in neutral court battles.
+ Mizzou has now dropped seven of its last eight games against the Jayhawks. Their last win over KU was in the Big 12 Tournament semi-finals last season. If the Tigers can get by Texas A&M on Thursday, they will get their third crack at the Jayhawks, who are the No. 3 seed, in the 8:20 p.m. CST, game on Friday.
+ The Tigers have now lost two straight games after winning six straight between Feb. 10 and Feb. 28.
+ Sunday's contest was the final Mizzou basketball game at the Hearnes Center. Mizzou wraps up its 32nd year of calling the building home with a total record of 405-72.
+ The game was also the 250th meeting between the schools.
+ Tiger seniors Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding, Josh Kroenke and Travon Bryant played in their final home game at Mizzou. One of the most heralded classes in school history, the four standouts finished their career with a 60-9 record over the last four years at Hearnes.
+ The hotly contest game featured seven ties and 17 lead changes. The Tigers were down by as many as 10 in the second half with 4:07 left, but battled back to take the lead with 47 seconds left before falling victim to the KU heroics at the end of the contest.
+ Mizzou falls to 0-2 this season on CBS. The Tigers have lost the two contests by a total of nine points and one of those games went to overtime (87-80 vs. Gonzaga on Dec. 13, 2003)
+ Senior Arthur Johnson scored a career-best 37 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field. He also grabbed eight rebounds and swiped a game-high four steals.
+ His 13 field goals is a career high and he also took a career best 17 free throws, making 11 of them.
+ His 37-point outburst is the most points scored by a Mizzou player since Clarence Gilbert scored 40 points at Colorado on Feb. 23, 2002.
+ Johnson has averaged 21.0 points and 8.1 rebound per game over the past eight games. He currently ranks sixth on the Mizzou scoring charts and now has 1,693. Here are the people in his immediate scope on the chart:
5. Melvin Booker (91-94) 1,697
6. Arthur Johnson (01-04) 1,693
7. Kelly Thames (94-98) 1,689
8. Clarence Gilbert (99-02) 1,685
9. Rickey Paulding (01-04) 1,645
+ AJ also extended his lead on the Mizzou All-Time Rebounding charts with his eight-rebound effort. He now has 1,062 career boards. He now trails only former Jayhawk Nick Collison for the Big 12 lead by 81 rebounds. Johnson has recorded eight or more rebounds in a game 14 times this season and has seven double-doubles on the year.
+ Fellow Detroit native Rickey Paulding also continued to advance on a couple of career charts. He is still in ninth on the all-time Mizzou scoring charts with 1,645 points. He also fifth on Mizzou three-point field goals made chart with 187 career treys and needs just four more to move into fourth.
+ The Tigers will leave for Dallas on Wednesday at around 1 p.m. CST and will face the Aggies (7-20, 0-16 Big 12) on Thursday.
