Sept. 11, 2006

Columbia, Mo. -

2006-07 Men's Basketball Schedule in PDF Format
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Four nationally televised contests, 15 games against postseason qualifiers and a school record 21 home games highlight a challenging 2006-07 University of Missouri's Men's Basketball schedule announced Monday by Head Coach Mike Anderson.

"Our non-conference schedule will be very competitive and attractive, hopefully preparing us for Big 12 Conference play," Head Coach Mike Anderson said. "In addition to a full slate of games, which include Purdue and Illinois from the Big Ten and Mississippi State and Arkansas from the Southeastern Conference, this schedule will certainly prepare our team for an incredible Big 12 Conference season.

"We will be at home in Mizzou Arena more in November and December, which is great for our fans and our student body," Anderson continued. "They will have the opportunity to see this team develop and grow right before their eyes."

The Tigers will enjoy a pair of nationally-televised contests against rival Kansas, beginning with an ESPN Big Monday tilt in Lawrence, Kan., on Jan. 15, before hosting the Jayhawks on Feb. 10 on ABC. The Tigers defeated Kansas on Big Monday last season and Missouri's last appearance on ABC came on Feb. 26, 2005, at Texas.

Mizzou also faces rival Illinois in the Busch Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis on ESPN. The Tigers and Fighting Illini are scheduled to square off on Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. at the Scottrade Center (formerly the Savvis Center). This season's meeting will be the 26th edition in the Busch Braggin' Rights series and will be the first for the Tigers' new sideline boss, Anderson.

The final nationally-televised contest also features a regional rivalry, as Mizzou and Arkansas square off in Columbia on Nov. 30. The ESPN2 telecast will mark the 36th meeting between the Tigers and Razorbacks and will be the first for Anderson against his former school. Prior to his time at Mizzou (2006-current) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (2002-06), Anderson spent 17 seasons as staffer at the University of Arkansas under Nolan Richardson. Richardson and Anderson helped the Hogs to a 390-170 overall record (.696), 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, three Final Four berths and the 1994 National Title.

Overall, the Tigers will face eight teams that qualified for the 2006 NCAA Tournament and square off against opponents from 10 different conferences (including the Big 12). Following exhibition games against Missouri-Rolla (Nov. 3) and Lithuania Academy (Nov. 6), the Tigers begin regular-season competition by hosting the John Thompson Foundation Classic, Nov. 10-12, at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers open the Mike Anderson era by hosting North Carolina A&T in the first day of action, before completing the tournament with games against Army (Nov. 11) and Stetson (Nov. 12). The John Thompson Classic is a four-team, round-robin tournament and there will be two games each day at Mizzou Arena.

The Tigers continue with home dates against Lipscomb (Nov. 16), Davidson (Nov. 19), Stephen F. Austin (Nov. 25) and Coppin State (Nov. 27) before that aforementioned, nationally-televised tilt against Arkansas (Nov. 30). The Tigers then wrap up the home-stand with a Dec. 3 contest against Evansville, before traveling to West Lafayette, Ind., for a contest with Purdue on Dec. 9. Mizzou's last meeting with the Boilermakers came Nov. 30, 1994, in Detroit as part of ESPN's Great Eight event. The Tigers won that early-season contest 69-66 thanks to Paul O'Liney's 24 points.

Busch Braggin' Rights vs. Illinois will then be on the line in St. Louis on Dec. 19, before a pair of home games against Southern (Dec. 30) and a talented Mississippi State unit (Jan. 2) wrap up non-conference action.

The Tigers open Big 12 Conference play at home for the third consecutive season, facing first-year Head Coach Greg McDermott and the Iowa State Cyclones on Jan. 6. It's the third time in four seasons the Tigers and Cyclones have hooked up in the Big 12-opener. Mizzou defeated ISU 62-59 to open Big 12 play in 2004-05, while the Cyclones won in Ames, Iowa, by a 70-65 margin in 2003-04. Last year Mizzou opened Big 12 play with a 69-61 home win over Oklahoma State.

The remainder of Missouri's Big 12 schedule sees the Tigers play homes games against Kansas State (Jan. 13), Texas Tech (Jan. 27), Kansas (Feb. 10), Baylor (Feb. 14), Oklahoma (Feb. 20) and Colorado (Feb. 28) and road games at Texas (Jan. 10), Kansas (Jan. 15), Colorado (Jan. 24), Kansas State (Jan. 31), Iowa State (Feb. 7), Oklahoma State (Feb. 17), Nebraska (Feb. 24) and Texas A&M (March 3).

For the first time in Conference history, the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament will be held at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City on March 8-11. Last year's Tournament was held at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, and the 2008 Tournament is scheduled for the new Sprint Center in Kansas City.

While the Tigers won't get going competitively until that exhibition-opener against Missouri-Rolla on Nov. 3, the opening of practice is just over a month away on Oct. 13. The Tigers are currently going through 6 a.m. workouts with Anderson and his staff and return to Mizzou Arena for strength and conditioning sessions with Strength Coach David Deets and pick-up games on Norm Stewart Court.

2006-07 Mizzou Men's Basketball Schedule Notes:

• Four nationally televised games: Arkansas (ESPN2), Illinois (ESPN), Kansas (ESPN and ABC).

• Mizzou faces eight teams that qualified for NCAA Tournament play last season: Arkansas, Davidson, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Southern, Texas and Texas A&M.

• In addition to those contests, the Tigers have games vs. Stephen F. Austin and Lipscomb, two programs listed as 2006-07 NCAA Tournament qualifiers by ESPN "Bracketology" expert Joe Lunardi.

• The Tigers also face four teams that qualified for the Postseason NIT a year ago, Colorado, Lipscomb, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

• The Nov. 10 game vs. North Carolina A&T will be the first for new Head Coach Mike Anderson in the regular-season at Mizzou. Tiger head coaches are 13-2 all-time in their first game.

• Mizzou hosts a regular-season tournament for the first time since the 1988-89 season. The Tigers have hosted games as part of the Guardians Classic and NIT Season Tip-Off, but this will be Mizzou's first tourney since the Walsworth Publishing Classic (1988-89).

• Mizzou faces teams from 10 conferences: Big 12, Atlantic Sun (Lipscomb and Stetson), Big Ten (Illinois and Purdue), Mid-Eastern Athletic (Coppin State and North Carolina A&T), Missouri Valley (Evansville), Patriot League (Army), Southeastern Conference (Arkansas and Mississippi State), Southwestern Athletic (Southern), Southern Conference (Davidson) and Southland (Stephen F. Austin).

• Mizzou will play a school-record 21 home games (including exhibitions). The 19 regular-season games are the most since the Tigers enjoyed 18 home games during the 1982-83 season. Mizzou went 17-1 that year at the Hearnes Center.

• Not including a pair of exhibition games against Missouri-Rolla and Lithuania Academy, Missouri opens the 2006-07 season with nine consecutive home games. The Tiger have one road test at Purdue on Dec. 9 and will face Illinois in the annual Busch Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis.

• Missouri faces Missouri-Rolla (exhibition) for the first time since Jan. 2, 1922. Mizzou is 5-0 vs. the Miners.

• The Mizzou Television Network has an outstanding schedule of games this season, including contests against Southern Conference Champion Davidson, Evansville, Mississippi State, Big 12 Champion Texas, the Big 12-opener against Iowa State and Mike Anderson's first game as head coach against North Carolina A&T.

• Missouri will face two teams from the Southeastern Conference for the first time since the 1997-98 season when the Tigers faced No. 8 Kentucky at the Maui Invitational and No. 18 Arkansas in Fayetteville.

• The last time Missouri faced Mississippi State was Dec. 7, 1974, in Columbia. The Tigers won that contest 102-78. It was part of the Show-Me Classic Tournament at the Hearnes Center.

• Mizzou will face Army, North Carolina A&T, Lipscomb and Stephen F. Austin for the first time in school history.