March 3, 2006
Columbia, Mo. -
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Missouri (11-15, 4-11 Big 12) will look to snap its four-game losing streak and improve its seeding in the upcoming Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament when it hosts Nebraska on Senior Day ... Sunday's contest marks the final home game for Jimmy McKinney and Kevin Young ... The duo has been one of the more durable in Mizzou history, with Young playing in all 122 games thus far in his Mizzou career and McKinney playing in 121 of a possible 122 ... McKinney actually missed his first career game as a Tiger with a fractured frontal sinus, but has played in 121 consecutive contests since, making 113 starts ... Missouri is 60-39 all-time in Senior Day contests (final home game of the regular season) and 1-0 at Mizzou Arena following last season's 72-68 win over No. 7 Kansas ... The last time the Tigers hooked up with Nebraska on Senior Day was March 1, 2000, an 86-72 MU victory ... Speaking of the two Tiger seniors, McKinney is the Big 12's top senior scorer in League action at 14.3 points per game, while Young is the Big 12's No. 2 senior rebounder overall at 7.2 ... Thomas Gardner could become the first Tiger to lead the Big 12 in scoring since Kareem Rush (21.1) in 2000-01 ... Gardner is averaging 19.8 points and trails Texas Tech's Jarrius Jackson (20.2) ... Assuming Jackson stays on his current pace, Gardner would need 33 tallies on Sunday to take the scoring lead ... Gardner does have 30-point efforts against Davidson (30), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (30) and Kansas (40) ... Gardner recorded his 15th 20-point game of the season at Iowa State (24) on Tuesday ... Gardner tied a group of four Tigers, including legendary coach Norm Stewart with 15 20-point games in a single season ... The last Tiger with 16 20-point games in a season was Rush during that 2000-01 campaign ... Gardner is No. 1 all-time at Missouri with his 3.4 three-point FG per game ... Gardner needs 11 treys over the remainder of the season to become just the second Tiger with 100 treys in a single season ... Clarence Gilbert (twice) and Rush are the others ... Point guard Jason Horton is second on the team in rebounding over the last 10 games (4.3) and is averaging 5.3 assists over his last eight.
Tiger Scenario's For The Big 12 Tourney
Mizzou can finish anywhere between the No. 10 - No. 12 seeds for next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament in Dallas, Texas.
l To finish at No. 10, the Tigers would need a victory over Nebraska and a Baylor win over Oklahoma State (Satuday at 6 p.m. in Stillwater) ... That would put the Tigers, Cowboys and Bears in a three-way tie at 5-11, but Mizzou would own the tie-breaker ... Potential Mizzou opponents at No. 10 would be Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas Tech.
l To finish at No. 11, Mizzou would need a win over Nebraska and an Oklahoma State win over Baylor ... Mizzou's foes at No. 11 would be either Colorado, Texas Tech, Kansas State or Iowa State.
l A Mizzou loss on Sunday would put the Tigers at No. 12 ... The Tiger foe would either be Nebraska (with a Colorado loss at home to Iowa State) or Colorado (CU defeats Iowa State).
Gardner Has Been Trey-Mendous In 2006
No one in Mizzou history has been more proficient at swishing home the trey than junior Thomas Gardner ... Tied for the Big 12 lead at 3.4 three-pointers per game this season, Gardner's pace tops the Mizzou single-season record book, just ahead of Clarence Gilbert's 3.28 three-point makes per game during the 2001-02 season.
Tiger Year Total 3PG
Thomas Gardner 2005-06 89 3.42
Clarence Gilbert 2001-02 118 3.38
Clarence Gilbert 2000-01 102 3.19
Kareem Rush 2001-02 111 3.08
Clarence Gilbert 1999-00 88 2.84
Paul O'Liney 1994-95 79 2.72
Ricky Clemons 2002-03 88 2.71
Gardner is also tied for third all-time in Big 12 Conference history with his 3.4 three-point makes per game ... Gardner is currently tied with Oklahoma's Michael Neal and just behind Baylor's Tevis Stukes (3.5 - 1999-2000) and Iowa State's Michael Nurse (3.8 - 1996-97).
Player, School Year Total 3PG
Michael Nurse, ISU 1996-97 102 3.8
Tevis Stukes, BU 2000-10 100 3.5
Thomas Gardner, MU 2005-06 89 3.4
Michael Neal, OU 2005-06 82 3.4
Clarence Gilbert, MU 2001-02 118 3.3
Kenny Price, CU 1997-98 90 3.3
Clarence Gilbert, MU 2000-01 102 3.2
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 121 assists, which would rank 11th in school history and just one outside of the Mizzou single-season Top 10 .
Horton Working Up Sophomore Assist List
Jason Horton is eighth all-time among Mizzou sophomores with his 112 assists this season ... Horton's 4.5 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
Jason Horton 2005-06 112 4.5
Jon Sundvold 1980-81 109 3.4
Getting To Know Today's Foe
Nebraska (17-11, 7-8 Big 12) enters today's contest coming off a 66-64 home defeat to Kansas State on March 1 ... It was Nebraska's third homecourt loss in five tries and fifth loss overall in the last seven contests ... The Cornhuskers were once again led offensively by sophomore Aleks Maric, who came off the bench to score 16 points and grab a game-high 12 rebounds ... Maric did much of his offensive damage from the free throw line, where he hit 10-of-14 shots in 30 minutes of action ... Playing his last game at home, senior Wes Wilkinson added 16 points and six boards, but it wasn't enough to help Nebraska sweep the season series with K-State ... Overall, Wilkinson leads the team in scoring (12.0) thanks to his outstanding three-point accuracy (43.1 percent) ... In Big 12 play, however, Maric has led the Huskers, scoring 12.7 points and grabbing 9.4 rebounds per night ... Those 9.4 rebounds lead the League ... Senior wing Jason Dourisseau has also shown an improved scoring punch since the start of Big 12 play and ranks second on the club with 11.3 points per night.
Mizzou Series With The Cornhuskers
Mizzou leads the all-time series with Nebraska 120-85, including a 66-23 advantage in Columbia ... Although the Cornhuskers grabbed a 65-52 win over Mizzou in Lincoln, Neb., on Jan. 28, the Tigers have won nine of the last 11 in the series and 10 consecutive in Columbia ... Mizzou is also 18-2 vs. NU in Columbia since 1987 ... Nebraska's last win in Columbia came Feb. 22, 1995, by a 78-75 margin ... In fact, Mizzou is 16-6 vs. Nebraska since Big 12 play began during the 1996-97 season ... Tiger Head Coach Melvin Watkins is 2-4 all-time vs. Nebraska.