Jan. 28, 2005
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Tip-off: 8:00 p.m. CST
Arena: Mizzou Arena (15,061) 1st Season
TV: Mizzou Sports Network (Chris Gervino, play-by-play; Jon Sundvold, analyst)
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly, play-by-play: Gary Link, analyst)
Rankings: Neither team was ranked or receiving votes in the last poll
Series: MU leads 112-108 : Last Meeting: KSU, 74-54 on Jan. 15, 2005 in Manhattan
Coaches:
Missouri: Quin Snyder (Duke '89) 110-72 at MU and overall (6th season).
KSU: Jim Woolridge (Louisiana Tech '77) 63-69 at KSU (5th season) and 292-216 overall (18th season)
Tigers Welcome Wildcats this Weekend
The University of Missouri men's basketball squad (10-9 overall, 2-4 Big 12) welcomes the Kansas State Wildcats (12-4 overall, 2-3 Big 12) to Columbia on Saturday night for a Big 12 matchup. Mizzou is 10-3 at home this season and 1-1 so far at Mizzou Arena in Big 12 Conference games with a win over Iowa State and a loss to Texas Tech. Mizzou has not lost to Kansas State in Columbia since Mar. 2, 1985, a streak of 20 games and KSU is 0-2 in road contests so far this season.
Senior Jason Conley (16 points) and sophomore Linas Kleiza (14) teamed to score 30 points in the Tigers' latest outing against Colorado, but it wasn't quite enough as the Tigers dropped their sixth game of the season away from Mizzou Arena on Wednesday night. Conley also pulled down seven boards and freshman Marshall Brown added eight boards to the cause, but 30 percent shooting in the second half doomed the Tigers.
Following Saturday nights' game, Mizzou will play their next three on the road including a trip to Kansas on Monday, a trip to Texas A&M on Saturday and a matchup in Las Vegas with UNLV on Feb. 9.
Saturday's contest will be aired on the Tiger Radio Network with the `Voice of the Tigers' Mike Kelly handling the play-by-play duties and former Tiger great Gary Link offering his expert analysis. The game can also be seen on the Mizzou Sports Network with Chris Gervino and former Tiger All-American Jon Sundvold on the call. The Tigers are 7-4 in games broadcast on MSN this season and 3-1 when Gervino is in the play-by-play chair.
Quick Hits
The Tigers have won 12 of the their last 15 contests against KSU, but dropped their first matchup this season in Manhattan on Jan. 15 ... Mizzou is 10-3 at home, 0-3 in neutral court contests and 0-3 on the road ... Mizzou is 9-0 when leading at halftime and 1-9 when trailing at the break ... The Tigers are allowing their opponents to score only 65.2 points per game ... If they can maintain that average, it would be the lowest average a Tiger squad has allowed since 1998-99 (63.2 points per game) ... Mizzou is 9-2 against Kansas State under Head Coach Quin Snyder ... Sophomore Linas Kleiza has connected on 37 of his last 43 free throw attempts (86.0 percent) over the course of the last five games ... His 31-point rampage against Nebraska marked the first time a Tiger player had eclipsed the 30-point mark since Arthur Johnson scored 37 on Mar. 7, 2004 against Kansas on Senior Day in Columbia ... Kleiza led Mizzou in points and rebounds in the Tigers last meeting with the Wildcats, scoring 14 points and pulling down eight rebounds ... After playing 13 of their first 19 games at home, the Tigers will play their next three contests on the road after the Kansas State game ... Head Coach Quin Snyder is looking for win number 111 at Mizzou ... Junior Jimmy McKinney has now started 75 straight regular season games for Mizzou, dating back to Dec. 30, 2002 against Valparaiso ... McKinney and fellow junior Kevin Young are the only Tigers to start all 19 games this season ... Young ranks 5th in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds averaging 3.05 offensive boards per contest while Kleiza ranks second in the league in defensive boards with a 5.47 average.
About the Wildcats
Winners of two of their last three (including a win over Mizzou on Jan. 15), Kansas State enters Saturday's contest at 12-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12 Conference. KSU is coming off of a win over Iowa State in Manhattan, KS, on Wednesday, 63-51. Senior Jeremiah Massey was amazing in the contest, scoring a game-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field while also pulling down 10 rebounds in the win. Cartier Martin (17 pts.) and Fred Peete (15 pts.) also checked into double figures in the contest as the Wildcats shot 44.7 percent from the field.
Massey has been the straw that stirs the Kansas State drink so far this season, averaging 16.9 points and 6.2 boards per contest. He and Martin combined to score 35 points the last time the two squads faced off in Manhattan. Head Coach Jim Woolridge is in his fifth year at KSU and has a 63-69 mark during his tenure.
Series - Mizzou leads, 112-108- Last Meeting: KSU 74-54 in Manhattan, KS, on Jan. 15, 2005.
A Look Back ... Mizzou vs. Colorado
Jason Conley scored 16 points and pulled down seven boards but CU's Richard Roby's three with 21 seconds left in the game proved to be the difference as the Tigers dropped their third straight contest in Boulder. Below are a couple other notes of not from the contest ...
Missouri Team Notes after the Colorado Game
* Missouri is now 10-9 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12. They are 10-3 at home, 0-3 on the road and 0-3 in neutral court contests.
* The Tigers have now dropped three straight contests at Colorado.
* Tiger head coach Quin Snyder is now 110-72 overall and 8-3 against Colorado in his six years at Mizzou.
* The hotly contested contest featured 14 ties and 14 lead changes.
* The Tigers fall to 4-2 on the year in games decided by five points or less.
* Mizzou connected on 13-of-15 free throws. They have knocked down 78 of their last 99 attempts (78.8 percent) over the course of the last five games.
* Mizzou had four players in double figures (Conley - 16, Kleiza - 14, Brown - 11, Gardner - 10) in scoring for the first time since their Big 12 opener against Iowa State.
* Colorado will return the visit on Feb. 22 with tip set for 6 pm.
Missouri Player Notes after the Colorado Game
* Senior Jason Conley reached double-figures in scoring for the 10th time this season with a game-high 16 points. He also pulled down seven boards on the night.
* Freshman Marshall Brown scored 11 points (one point shy of his career-high) and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds.
* Brown also knocked down a career-best three 3-point field goals on three attempts. He is shooting a team-best 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from 3-point range on the season.
* Freshman Jason Horton handed out a career-best eight assists while equaling a career-best with four rebounds.
* Sophomore Linas Kleiza had 14 points while going 5-of-7 from the free throw line. He reached double figures for the 16th time this season and has connected on 37 of his last 41 free throw attempts.
* Junior Jimmy McKinney started his 75th straight contest at for the Tigers dating back to Dec. 30, 2002 against Valparaiso.
* Sophomore Thomas Gardner's 10-point outing marked the third straight contest he has broken into double figures in scoring.
Horton's Got the Handles
Freshman Jason Horton has shown steady improvement throughout the season. Over the course of the last four games, he has handed out 25 assists compared to only 11 turnovers. He ranks 10th in the league in assists per game (3.79) and 11th in assist/turnover ratio. Horton statistically had one the best games of his 19-game career at Mizzou on Wednesday when he handed out eight assists and committed only one turnover against Colorado
What Can Brown Do for You? (The Remix)
I guess we could have gone with `there's a new Marshall in town,' or something Clarence Gilbert-esque like that, but we will stick with what has worked so far in the notes this season. Much like UPS, who uses the slogan of `What can brown do for you?,' freshman Marshall Brown continues to deliver for Mizzou.
Brown was amazing against Colorado, knocking down 3-of-3 shots from the three point line. He also pulled down a career-best eight rebounds in only 16 minutes of playing time due to foul trouble
The super-athletic forward scored a career-best 12 points in 22 minutes of action to lead Mizzou in scoring for the first time in his career against Texas Tech. Brown has scored seven or more points in seven of the Tigers' last 12 games and has connected on a team-best 48.4 percent (15-of-31) three-point attempts on the season.
On the Offensive?
After averaging just 62.0 points per game since the beginning of 2005, the Tigers exploded for 80 points against Nebraska (as you can tell, I am pretty excited about that). It marked only the third time Mizzou has reached the 80-point plateau this season and was the first time they had done so since Dec. 11 when they beat Montana, 87-62.
In the five games prior to the NU contest, the Tigers had connected on just 40.1 percent of their shots and were 2-3 in 2005 before the 54.3 percent (25-of-46) effort against Nebraska. Stay tuned ...
Bench Marks
The Tigers who have come off of the bench for Mizzou have played a key role this season. When the Tigers' bench has outscored the opponent's bench, they are 8-4. Mizzou's bench has averaged 21.0 points per contest compared its opponent's mark of 16.3 points per game. In the loss to Texas Tech, Mizzou's bench scored 31 of the Tigers' 62 points.
Thomas Gardner has come off of the bench in 14 of the Tigers' games and leads the way averaging 9.7 points per game. TG had one of the best outings of the season against Nebraska when he connected on 6-of-9 attempts from the field on his way to 17 points in the Tigers' win. He broke into double figures for the first time in four games against Texas Tech, scoring 11 points while hitting 7-of-8 free throw attempts.
Tigers Set School Record for Team GPA in Fall Semester
The University of Missouri men's basketball team continues to achieve both on and off the court this season
With final grades now set for the 2004 fall semester at Mizzou, the reports show that the men's basketball team has established a record for its team grade point average. Bryan Maggard, MU's Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services, says that the Tiger men's team came in with a cumulative team GPA of 2.91 this past fall - which was the highest single semester mark in recorded history for an MU men's basketball squad.
According to Maggard, four Tiger cagers had GPAs of over 3.0 on the standard 4.0 scale, and two will earn a place on the coveted Dean's List.
The achievement comes on the heels of the 2004 NCAA Graduation Report, which shows that the Missouri men's basketball team led the Big 12 Conference in graduation rates, at 67%. The next-best rate in the league belonged to Colorado (40%), followed by Texas Tech and Kansas (33%) and Nebraska (20%). The rates represent students who enrolled in 1997-98 and graduated within six years.
At the Line with Linas
At the risk of totally jinxing the progress the Tigers made from the free throw line of late, we offer this intriguing analysis of the Tigers' free throw shooting, in particular in regard to sophomore Linas Kleiza. The Tigers knocked down a season-high 90.0 percent (18-of-20) from the free throw line against OSU after entering the contest shooting just 64.1 percent on the season.
They were spurred by Kleiza's remarkable 13-for-13 shooting from the stripe, setting a then career best for free throws made in a game. Linas has made a living at the free throw line this season, getting to the charity stripe 129 times already. Kleiza has hit 95 of those attempts, good for 73.6 percent accuracy. He has been particularly impressive the past ten games, knocking down 69-of-85 attempts (81.2 percent) and has averaged just under nine trips to the line per game during that stretch.
Shouldering the Load
Linas Kleiza has recovered fully from a shoulder separation he experienced 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 Preseason Honorable Mention recipient has been amazing offensively so far this season and continues to improve on defense.
Kleiza put together an amazing effort against Nebraska in Columbia, scoring a career-best 31 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field. He also knocked down 15-of-17 free throws against the Huskers on his way to his fourth double-double of the season.
Despite four turnovers against Texas Tech, Kleiza was able to record his third double-double of the season against the Red Raiders, scoring 10 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
After struggling to just four points in the first half against Kansas State, Kleiza scored 10 of his team-high 14 points while also pulling down eight rebounds against KSU. The offensive juggernaut reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time this season against Oklahoma State when he dumped in 24 points while going a perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line. Kleiza scored 25 (of Mizzou's 64) points, pulled down seven rebounds and handed out three assists against Illinois.
After scoring just three points in the opening half against Indiana, Kleiza poured in 15 of his game-high 18 points in the second half including 12 free throws in the win.
He had the best offensive game of his career against Montana, scoring a career-best 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field. Kleiza recorded the fifth double-double of his career against Arkansas with a team-high 14 points and 11 rebounds. He broke out of mini-scoring funk with 13 points, nine boards and nine assists against Oakland while turning the ball over just one time, something he has been focusing on improving all season. He is definitely Mizzou's most versatile player as he leads the team in scoring (16.2 ppg.), rebounds (7.3 rpg.) and is third on the squad in assists (38).
The Youth of the Tiger Nation
The freshmen on the Tiger roster have started to really assert themselves on the court for Mizzou. Over the course of the last 12 games, Marshall Brown, Kalen Grimes, Jason Horton and Glen Dandridge have combined to score 27.4 percent of the Tigers points (247-of-903) and all four of them have set or equaled career highs in points during that stretch.
Brown was outstanding against Colorado, knocking down 3-of-3 three point attempts and pulling down eight rebounds against the Buffs. He scored a career-best 12 points in the Tigers loss to Texas Tech. He knocked down two threes and was also 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Horton equaled a career high with 12 points for the second straight game against Iowa State. He and Brown had great outings against American. Horton scored a career-best 12 points while Brown chipped in with nine as the Tigers took out the Eagles. The foursome was great against Gonzaga, combining for 16 points and 10 rebounds. Horton scored six points and handed out three assists and recorded no turnovers in 37 minutes while running the Tiger offense. Dandridge and Grimes also had solid nights. Dandridge scored five points on 2-of-3 shooting while also recording a steal, a block and an assist in seven minutes of playing time while Grimes set a career-best with six rebounds.
A Peek at the Mizzou 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
Mizzou 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-Charlotte. 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
110-71
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.
In 2004-05, Mizzou returns several of its top players including senior Jason Conley, junior Jimmy McKinney and sophomores Thomas Gardner and Linas Kleiza. Snyder and his staff 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 Mizzou 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.