Dec. 25, 2005

Columbia, Mo. -

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For Openers
Mizzou looks for its fifth consecutive win at home when it welcomes Eastern Illinois to Mizzou Arena on Dec. 28 for a 7:05 p.m. tip ... The five-game home-court winning streak would be the longest in the brief history of Mizzou Arena ... The Tigers won four consecutive home games on two occasions last season, but losses to Texas Tech (Jan. 19) and DePaul (March 15) halted those runs ... The Tigers are coming off a difficult 82-50 defeat to No. 6 Illinois in the 25th Annual Busch Braggin' Rights Game in St. Louis, but will look to build momentum with the first of three consecutive non-conference home tilts before beginning Big 12 Conference competition on Jan. 7 vs. Oklahoma State ... As its 4-1 record at home would indicate, Missouri has been a much improved team within its friendly confines, especially on the glass ... Missouri is outrebounding its foes by 5.6 boards per game at home with 4.3 of those 5.6 boards coming on the offensive end ... When the Tigers play away from Mizzou Arena, however, they are being outrebounded by 7.3 rebounds per game (40-to-32.7) ... This will be the third all-time meeting between Mizzou and Eastern Illinois ... Mizzou has won each of the previous two tilts, with the last meeting coming on Dec. 30, 1991, and Mizzou claiming an 83-56 win at the Hearnes Center ... Despite the defeat against Illinois on Dec. 21, there were some positive signs for the Tigers, most notably the play of Marshall Brown, Kevin Young and Kalen Grimes on the interior ... Brown grabbed a career high nine rebounds, while Young scored six points, grabbed six boards and blocked two shots ... Grimes may have provided the most encouraging signs, setting a career high with seven rebounds, while scoring a season-best five points on 2-of-3 shooting.

Tiger Trends (Team Quick-Hitters)
l Wednesday's game vs. Eastern Illinois will be the 205th of Quin Snyder's career ... Only three coaches, George Edwards (353), Wilbur Stalcup (374) and Norm Stewart (967) have coached more games on the Mizzou sideline than Snyder.
l Mizzou has made at least one three-point field goal in every game under Quin Snyder (204 games) ... The Tigers have made multiple treys in 201 of those 203 games, including double-figure triples (10+) 56 times.
l After ranking 11th in the Big 12 in three-point shooting percentage last season (30.6), the Tigers are sixth in the league this year (37.3), thanks to 39.0 shooting (36-of-93) over the last five games.
l Mizzou continues to be an improved second-half club, outscoring its opposition by an average of 41.9-to-37.6 (335-to-301) over the final 20 minutes ... The Tigers have shot better than 50 percent from the floor in the second half of four of those games, including 56.0 percent (14-of-25) in the 72-63 home win over Furman.
l The Tigers are one of the Big 12's top offensive rebounding clubs ... Mizzou ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 14.8 offensive caroms and have out-rebounded its foes on the offensive glass in three consecutive games.
l The Tigers continue to excel at getting to the free throw line ... Mizzou has shot 175 free throws compared to the 140 by its opponents, but have scored just three more points at the charity stripe due to its 60.0 percent shooting as a club.
l Mizzou's defensive effort against UMKC had numerous record book implications ... The 42 points scored by the Kangaroos were the fewest by an MU opponent since a 45-42 win over DePaul on Nov. 24, 1997, in the opening round of the Maui Invitational ... UMKC's 15 first-half points were the fewest in the two-year history of Mizzou Arena ... The 15 total field goals by the Kangaroos were also the fewest in the history of the building and was the lowest total by Tiger opposition since Arkansas-Pine Bluff netted just 11 buckets on Dec. 9, 1998.

Tigers Tidbits (Player Quick-Hitters)
l Kevin Young continues to be one of the Big 12's top rebounders ... Young is producing career numbers with 8.6 points and 8.1 boards and ranks third in the league with his 8.1 caroms per game ... The Kingston, Jamaica, native also leads the Big 12 with 4.3 offensive rebounds per game.
l Young has provided a consistent scoring presence as well and has topped double figures in points twice in eight games... Entering the year, Young had just one career double figure scoring effort and narrowly missed his third with nine points vs. Furman.
l Marshall Brown has reached double figures in scoring three times this season, including a career high 20 points in the season-opener against Sam Houston State ... With his 10-point night at Arkansas, Brown reached double figures in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
l Jason Horton continues to be one of the Big 12's top assist-men ... Horton is averaging 4.6 dimes a game and has a 1.54-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
l The Dallas native is among the League's top thieves as well, ranking fourth with 2.3 steals per game including a career high five vs. Furman.
l Horton has also provided a much-needed scoring boost over the last two outings, averaging 11.0 points on 50.0 percent (4-of-8) shooting from beyond the arc.
l Also, has there been a more improved perimeter defender in the Big 12 than Horton thus far? The sophomore held UMKC's Quinton Day (Southern Cal transfer) 20.5 points below his season average of 27.5 points in Mizzou's 60-42 win on Nov. 29 and held Arkansas point guards Eric Ferguson (1-of-5), Dontell Jefferson (1-of-1) and Sean McCurdy (0-of-0) to a combined 2-of-6 shooting and six total points ... In addition to his five steals vs. Furman, Horton held point guard Tony Carter to two points on 0-of-4 shooting.
l Thomas Gardner has reached double figures in points in 11 of his last 12 games ... Gardner has led the Tigers in scoring six times (out of eight games) this season and 13 times over his career.
l Gardner currently leads the Big 12 with a pair of 30-point contests, including a 30-point night at Davidson on Dec. 7 ... Gardner hit eight treys vs. the Wildcats, the fourth-highest single-game total in the NCAA's this year and the third highest single-game total in school history ... He has now made at least one three-pointer in 16 consecutive games, the longest three-point streak of his tenure.
l Gardner leads the Big 12 with 3.63 three-point field goals per game and ranks 13th nationally in that category, while his three-point percentage of 47.5 ranks third in the Big 12 and 24th nationally.
l Over the last three games Gardner is shooting 18-of-35 (51.4) from bonus distance.
l Gardner's 12 rebounds vs. UMKC tied a career high ... His 17-point, 12-rebound double-double was also the second of his career ... His first was a 19-point, 12-board effort against Brown in the 2004-05 season-opener.
l Freshman Matt Lawrence has been nearly as impressive from three-point range this season ... The St. Louis native is 4-of-9 from bonus distance, including a 2-of-2 effort in front of 17,427 screaming fans at Arkansas en route of a career high six points ... Lawrence made his first career trey vs. UMKC and added a fourth at Davidson.
l It's not just shooting where the 6-foot-7 freshman has been near flawless ... Lawrence has added eight boards (four offensive), three steals and two assists without committing a turnover in 8.4 minutes per game for the Tigers.
l Senior Jimmy McKinney is heating up offensively and is averaging 13.3 points over his last four games ... McKinney opened the run with 16 points at Davidson, before scoring a season high 19 vs. Texas A&M-CC on a career best 12-of-14 foul shooting ... Most recently McKinney led the Tigers with 11 points vs. No. 6 Illinois.
l While the Tigers have struggled from the line as a team, McKinney sure hasn't ... The senior leads the Big 12 in free throw shooting at 87.9 percent (29-of-33).
l Nicknamed "Rock" by his teammates, the former Vashon High School standout missed his first game as a Tiger because of a fractured frontal sinus, but has been a "Rock" for Mizzou ever since, failing to miss a game.
l McKinney's hit his 100th career three-pointer vs. Texas A&M-CC ... Only 15 Tigers have more than 100 career triples, including teammate Gardner (114).
l Freshman Leo Lyons narrowly missed his first career double-double after recording career highs of eight points and eight boards vs. Furman on Sunday ... Lyons also added a career high two blocked shots and now leads the team with seven swats.
l Sophomore center Kalen Grimes enjoyed his best game of the year vs. Illinois in his hometown return to St. Louis ... The 6-foot-9 center grabbed a career high seven boards vs. the Illini and scored a season-high five points on 2-of-3 shooting.

l Gardner ranks third in the Big 12 and among the top 25 nationally in three-point accuracy (47.5 percent), a number that has risen over the past four games due to his 18-of-35 (.514) three-point shooting vs. Davidson (8-of-14), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-of-9) and Furman (3-of-5).
l The Portland, Ore., native has hit multiple treys in all-eight contests this year, including that career-best 8-of-14 effort on Dec. 7 at Davidson, which is the fourth highest three-point field goal total in college hoops this season and the third highest three-point total in school history.
l Gardner followed that up with a 5-of-9 effort from bonus distance in the win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi helping him to his second consecutive 30-point outing.
l One final note about Gardner's three-point shooting is his drastic improvement ... Last year he shot just 27.0 percent from three on 53-of-196 shooting and shot below 33.3 percent 19 times ... This year, Gardner has shot below 33 percent from three just once and has connected on better than 50 percent from three four times.