April 5, 2006

Columbia, Mo. - University of Missouri Men's Basketball Coach Mike Anderson calls his basketball team and staff an extension of his family. Anderson took those words literally on Wednesday (April 5), when he hired former UAB assistant coach T.J. Cleveland to his staff in Columbia.

A four-year letterwinner under Anderson at Arkansas (1998-2002), Cleveland's career path to the Division I coaching ranks mirrors that of his coaching mentor, Anderson. While Anderson started as a volunteer assistant under Nolan Richardson at Tulsa upon graduation, Cleveland followed a similar route, becoming UAB's video coordinator after graduating in 2002. Cleveland then spent three seasons in that role of video coordinator, before being named a full-time assistant prior to the 2005-06 campaign.

"T.J. is a fine young coach that we've had the opportunity to see grow since he began his career at Arkansas as a student-athlete," Missouri head coach Mike Anderson said. "T.J's passion and work-ethic have allowed him to make some great strides in this profession and will allow him to continue that growth as an assistant coach."

With the help of the former point guard as a full-time assistant, the Blazers led Conference USA in assists (15.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.22), turnover margin (+8.03) and field goal percentage (45.3), while ranking second in scoring (74.4), scoring margin (+8.7), steals (10.9) and third in three-point field goals per game (7.16).

Individually, Cleveland helped tutor two of Conference USA's top perimeter standouts, seniors Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson and Marvett McDonald. Johnson led Conference USA and ranked ninth nationally with 6.26 assists per game, while his 2.6 steals per contest ranked No. 2 in C-USA and No. 20 nationally. Johnson also paced C-USA in three-point field goal percentage (.477) and led the league with an impressive 3.13 assist-to-turnover ratio. McDonald was UAB's top offensive producer at 14.8 points per game. McDonald led C-USA with 3.1 three-point field goals per contest (No. 27 nationally) and ranked No. 15 in three-point percentage (.361).

"We are excited to be coming to the University of Missouri," Cleveland said. "This is a great opportunity for us to build on the great tradition here and honestly, I can't wait to get started."

A four-year standout at Arkansas, where the Razorbacks racked up a 76-50 overall record, Cleveland is tied for fifth all-time at UA in steals with 226 and scored 701 points over his 117-game career (6.0). A two-year captain under Coach Richardson as a junior and senior, Cleveland was part of three NCAA Tournament clubs (1998-2001) and his 1999-2000 squad won the SEC Postseason Tournament to earn the league's automatic berth to the "Big Dance".

Cleveland led Arkansas in both steals (70) and assists (76) despite missing eight games as a junior. He also led the club with 49 three-point field goals and his 41.5 percent success rate from beyond the arc ranked second in the SEC.

As a senior, the former Minor High School standout reached double figures in points nine times, including back-to-back games vs. LSU (Feb. 17, 2002) and South Carolina (Feb. 20, 2002) where he poured in 19 point and 15 points respectively in consecutive Razorback victories.

Named Alabama Class 6A State Tournament MVP after leading the Minor Tigers to the state crown as a senior in 1998, Cleveland graduated from Arkansas with a Bachelor of Arts in communications. He was married to his wife Ami (Watson) in June of 2003.

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