Feb. 27, 2006
Columbia, Mo. -
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Missouri (11-14, 4-10 Big 12) will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Tuesday, when it travels to Ames, Iowa, to face the Iowa State Cyclones ... Iowa State is one of three teams currently tied for eighth place in the Big 12 Conference at 5-9 overall, one game ahead of the Tigers (4-10) ... Mizzou is currently 11th in the Big 12 standings, but could finish as high as eighth with a pair of victories over their final two regular-season tilts ... Mizzou has dropped two consecutive to the Cyclones dating back to last season ... Iowa State also claimed an 82-58 win over Missouri at Mizzou on Jan. 25 ... That contest was the second in Mizzou's current stretch of nine defeats over the last 10 games ... Thomas Gardner topped the 1,000-point mark for his career with 19 points at Colorado ... Gardner became the 37th Tiger in school history to reach the milestone and was just the 13th to do it as a junior ... Gardner has been red-hot in the first half over his last three games as he is averaging 14.7 points on 64.0 percent shooting (16-of-25) from the floor and 57.1 percent shooting (8-of-15) from three-point range during the opening 20 minutes ... Speaking of three-pointers, Gardner has 83 treys this season, which ranks sixth in Mizzou single-season history ... Gardner needs just six more to pass Rickey Clemons (2002-03) and Clarence Gilbert (1999-2000) for fourth in Mizzou single-season lore ... Gardner (83 treys) has 13 more treys than the rest of the Mizzou team (70 treys) ... With his next 20-point effort, Gardner will tie four Tigers, including legendary coach Norm Stewart with 15 20-point games in a single season ... Stewart accomplished the feat in 1955-56 ... The last Tiger to top 20 points 15-plus times in a season was Kareem Rush, who did it 17 times in 2001-02 ... The Tigers are averaging just 57.9 points on 38.7 percent shooting from the floor over their last 10 games ... The Tigers have topped 64 points just once during that stretch, a 74-71 win over Kansas State.
Horton Sharing The Wealth
With his three assists against Texas A&M, sophomore Jason Horton became just the sixth player in school history to dish out 100 assists in back-to-back campaigns ... Horton joined Anthony Peeler and Melvin Booker as the only Tigers to hand out 100+ helpers during his freshman and sophomore seasons ... Horton is currently on pace to dish out 119 assists, which would rank 12th in school history and just three outside of the Mizzou single-season Top 10.
Horton Working Up Sophomore Assist List
Jason Horton is ninth all-time among Mizzou sophomores with his 106 assists this season ... Horton's 4.4 assists per game actually ranks No. 2 all-time at Mizzou amongst sophomores, behind the 5.6 assists per game dished out by Anthony Peeler during the 1989-90 campaign.
Tiger Year Assists Apg.
Anthony Peeler 1989-90 179 5.6
Wesley Stokes 2001-02 147 4.1
Lynn Hardy 1985-86 139 4.0
Melvin Booker 1991-92 118 3.9
Mike Sandbothe 1986-87 117 3.4
Lee Coward 1987-88 117 4.1
Keyon Dooling 1999-00 113 3.6
Jon Sundvold 1980-81 109 3.4
Jason Horton 2005-06 106 4.4
Gardner Just Grand At Colorado
Thanks to another quick start at Colorado, Thomas Gardner became the 37th player in Missouri history to top 1,0000 points for his career ... Gardner reached the milestone at the 9:13 mark of the first half at CU, on a 10-foot jumper from the left wing ... The bucket was part of a 16-point surge in the opening period for the Portland, Ore., native and allowed him to become just the 13th junior in Tiger history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Getting To Know Today's Foe
Iowa State (15-12, 5-9 Big 12) enters today's contest coming off a 91-73 defeat at Baylor on Saturday ... The Cyclones fell victim to a hot-shooting Baylor squad, as the Bears shot an impressive 54.5 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from beyond the arc to earn the 18-point victory ... Will Blalock led Iowa State with 20 points, while backcourt mate Curtis Stinson chipped in 15 ... The Cyclones are currently tied for eighth place in the Big 12, one game up on Missouri ... Overall, ISU has dropped five of its last six games, with four of those defeats coming on the road ... Iowa State's lone victory during that stretch was a 68-52 win over Oklahoma State at the Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 22 ... Curtis Stinson continues to show why he is one of the Big 12's premiere players ... Stinson ranks third in the Big 12 in scoring (19.4), third in assists (5.6) and second in steals (2.6) ... Blalock ranks second in the Big 12 with 6.1 dimes per outing, second in overall assist-to-turnover ratio (2.04-to-1) and 10th with 15.1 points per game.
Mizzou Series With The Cyclones
Mizzou leads the all-time series with Iowa State 140-80, but the Cyclones own a 55-45 advantage in Ames ... Iowa State has won two consecutive in the series and will be looking for its first sweep in the series since the 1999-2000 campaign ... Iowa State hasn't won three consecutive against the Tigers since 1998 and will look for just their second stretch of three consecutive wins vs. Mizzou since 1967 ... Iowa State has won six consecutive against Mizzou at Hilton, with the Tigers' last win in Ames coming on Feb. 8, 1999, Norm Stewart's last game at the arena ... Overall, the Cyclones have won nine of the last 10 meetings with Mizzou at Hilton ... Head Coach Melvin Watkins is 2-5 all-time vs. Iowa State, but does own a win in Ames, Iowa ... His 2001-02 Texas A&M squad earned a 52-50 win vs. the Cyclones on Jan. 28, 2002.