Nov. 18, 2006
Columbia, Mo. -
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University of Missouri Tigers (4-0)
vs.
Davidson College Wildcats (3-1)
Game 5 - Nov. 19, 2006 - Columbia, Mo.
For Openers
Missouri goes searching for its first 5-0 start since the 2002-03 campaign on Sunday, when it hosts Davidson College at Mizzou Arena ... The Tigers have started the season 5-0 just four times since 1983 and a win on Sunday would make Mike Anderson the first Tiger Head Coach to open his career 5-0 since George Bond in 1922-23, that's 84 years ago ... The last Tiger coach to open his Missouri career 6-0 was Craig Ruby in 1920-21 and he opened his coaching career with 17 consecutive wins ... Missouri continues to put forth the "ultimate team effort" as Coach Anderson would say and have had four different leading scorers and three different leading rebounders through four games ... Matt Lawrence, Kalen Grimes, Stefhon Hannah (shared with Grimes) and Keon Lawrence have each led the squad in scoring ... Matt Lawrence, Grimes (twice) and Leo Lyons have paced the club on the glass ... Missouri's bench accounted for 49 points in the 89-69 win over Lipscomb .... The 49 bench points were a Mizzou Arena record ... Last season Missouri averaged 11.9 points per game from its reserves ... This season the bench is averaging 30.3 points per game ... Mizzou is shooting a robust 47.1 percent (41-of-87) from three-point range, which is second in the Big 12 (Texas Tech, 51.4) ... Keon Lawrence (No. 3, 53.3), Stefhon Hannah (No. 4, 50.0) and Matt Lawrence (No. 8, 45.8) each rank in the Big 12's top 10 in three-point field goal percentage ... Missouri is looking to become the first Big 12 team to reach 5-0 this season.
Mizzou Quick-Hitters
l A win on Sunday vs. Davidson would make Mizzou the first team in the Big 12 to reach 5-0 and one of the nation's first six programs to reach the mark ... Clemson, Maryland, Michigan, Savannah State and San Diego State will all have the opportunity as well.
l Head Coach Mike Anderson would also be the first "first-year" coach in the nation to reach 5-0.
l A win versus Davidson would give Missouri its 1,393rd as a program ... Missouri is 38th all-time in NCAA Division I Basketball wins and is currently eight wins shy of 1,400 ... Kansas, Texas Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are the only other Big 12 schools to have reached the 1,400 win plateau.
l Head Coach Mike Anderson is reaching a coaching milestone of his own ... Anderson is just seven wins shy of his 100th career victory.
l Anderson is the first Tiger Head Coach to start his career 4-0 at Mizzou since George Bond (1922-23).
l Through just four games, the Mike Anderson Era Tigers have already set Mizzou Arena records in 12 categories.
l Those categories are points scored (101), points in a half (59), field goals in a game (41), three-pointers in a game (13), field goal percentage (.577), three-point percentage (.556), assists (32), steals (13), turnovers forced (24), individual steals (5), individual field goal percentage (.889) and individual three-pointers (7).
l Today's game marks the fifth of nine consecutive regular-season contests at Mizzou Arena ... Missouri doesn't play its first road game of 2006-07 until Dec. 9 at Purdue.
l The nine consecutive home games to start a season is a school record ... The previous mark was seven, set in 1909-10.
l Missouri is averaging a robust 19.8 assists per game (79 total) through four games this season ... The school record for assists per game throughout a season is 19.0, which came in 1988-89.
l To put the team's assist production in perspective, Mizzou didn't achieve its 79th assist in 2005-06 until the sixth game of the year (vs. Texas A&M-CC).
l Perhaps even more impressive is that same comparison with regards to steals ... The Tigers have 42nd steals through four games (10.5 per game) which is currently third in the Big 12 ... Last season, Mizzou didn't record its 42 steal until Dec. 18 against Furman, seven games in to the season.
l At their current pace of 10.5 steals per game, the 2006-07 Tigers would break the school record of 295 set in 1985-86 ... Missouri is on pace for 315 steals and the 10.5 steals per game would be the third highest average in Big 12 Conference history.
l The Tigers have achieved a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in three of four games this season ... The Tigers had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in just seven total games all of last season.
l Despite being labeled as undersized, Missouri is averaging 30.5 points per game in the paint, including a season best 50 tallies in the opener against North Carolina A&T.
l Another improved area for the Tigers has come in bench production ... Missouri is averaging 30.3 points per game from its bench through four games, including a season high 49 points vs. Lipscomb ... Last season, Missouri's reserves averaged 11.9 points per game ... Mizzou's season best for bench production in 2005-06 was 27 against Louisiana-Monroe.
l Missouri is scoring one-third of its points (33.6 of 80.8) off of opponent turnovers ... The Tigers are forcing an average of 20.8 turnovers per game and scoring 24.0 points off of those opponent miscues.
l As a team, Missouri is shooting 47.1 percent from three-point range (41-of-87) and has topped double figures in three-point makes three times this season ... The Tigers topped double figures in three-pointers just twice all of last year (at Davidson / vs. Kansas).
Tiger Tidbits (Individual Notes)
l Missouri has been very balanced offensively and have had a different player lead the team in scoring in each game ... The Tigers also have nine players averaging better than 4.7 points per game ... Last season, Mizzou had just five players average better than 4.7 points per game.
l A great example of that balance came on Thursday, when leading scorers Matt Lawrence and Kalen Grimes scored a combined 10 points vs. Lipscomb, but the Tigers still managed 89 points vs. Lipscomb, their second highest offensive night of the season.
l Jason Horton and Stefhon Hannah are one of the Big 12's top backcourt tandems and lead the conference with a combined 5.0 steals per game.
l The duo also ranks second in the league (among teams having played more than one game) with a combined 10.0 assists per outing.
l Horton ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 2.5 steals, fifth with 5.5 assists and 10th with a 2.3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
l Hannah is one the Big 12's top newcomer thus far and is ranked in the conference's top in 10 in steals (4th - 2.5), three-point percentage (4th - 50.0), three-point FG's (2.25 - 7th) and assists (10th - 4.25).
l Grimes is fifth in the Big 12 with 3.5 offensive boards per game and seventh with 2.0 blocked shots.
l Freshman Keon Lawrence poured in a career high 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range ... The last Tiger freshman to score 17 was Jason Horton at Texas A&M in 2004-05 ... The last Tiger freshman to score more than 17 points was Thomas Gardner (2003-04) who scored 20 against UNLV at the Hearnes Center.
l Leo Lyons narrowly missed his first career double-double with nine points and a career high 10 boards vs. Lipscomb.
l Marshall Brown scored a season-high 15 points thanks to a career-best 9-of-10 shooting night at the free throw line ... Brown made nine consecutive charity shots before missing his final attempt of the evening.
l Darryl Butterfield didn't miss a shot vs. Lipscomb en route to a career high 11 points ... Butterfield hit all four field goal attempts, his first career three-pointer and each of his free throws.
Getting To Know Today's Foe
Davidson enters this afternoon's contest 3-1 following a 100-89 win over the University of Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 15 in Davidson, N.C. ... The Wildcats have won two consecutive games following a 78-68 loss at Michigan during the John Thompson Foundation Classic ... Missouri, Michigan and UW-Milwaukee each hosted Thompson Foundation Classics from Nov. 10-12 ... Davidson opened the year with an 81-77 win against Eastern Michigan in Ann Arbor, before the 10-point setback to the Wolverines ... They also own a 91-64 win over Central Connecticut State ... Despite losing a number of talented seniors off of last season's 20-11, NCAA Tournament qualifying club, the Wildcats have reloaded nicely, thanks to the efforts of freshman Stephen Curry ... The son of 16-year NBA veteran Dell Curry, Stephen Curry is averaging a team-leading 22.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game ... The 6-foot-1 guard is hitting 42.4 percent from three-point range (14-of-33) and 48.5 percent of his shots from the floor ... Curry turned in a career effort against Michigan, scoring 32 points on 12-of-25 shooting ... Returner Thomas Sander is second on the club with 18.0 points per game ... As a team, Davidson is averaging 85.0 points per game on 49.8 percent shooting from the field and 41.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
The Series With Davidson
Today's game marks the third all-time meeting between Missouri and Davidson ... The Wildcats own a 2-0 series advantage and have claimed wins over the Tigers in each of the last two seasons ... Davidson grabbed an 84-81 win in Columbia on Nov. 19, 2004, and an 82-73 win last season in Davidson, N.C.
The Microwave
It didn't take freshman guard Keon Lawrence long to heat up on the basketball court ... After suffering a stress fracture in the fourth metatarsal of his left foot on Oct. 30, the freshman was scheduled to miss the next 4-6 weeks while the injury healed ... Lawrence needed just 11 days to return to action and immediately made his presence felt in the opener, burying his first career three-point attempt just 2:31 seconds after checking into his first collegiate contest.
l Lawrence continued the trend vs. Army on Nov. 11, needing just 28 second to drill his first trey (also his first shot) en route to a 10-point night against the Black Knights.
l Most recently against Lipscomb, Lawrence erupted for a career high 17 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting in Mizzou's 89-69 win ... The 17 tallies were the most by a Tiger freshman since Jason Horton hit five treys at Texas A&M on Feb. 5, 2005.
l With Lawrence's quick scoring efforts through four games, it has taken the Newark, N.J., native an average of just 2:49 seconds to score his first points upon entering the game.
In Spirit Of The Season
Thanks to Mizzou Basketball's partnership with the Central Missouri Food Bank, the Tigers helped donate 734 pounds of food to the charitable organization due to their association with Mizzou Madness on Oct. 13 ... The 734 pounds of food will be enough to provide 550 meals to families in central Missouri throughout the holiday season ... Mizzou Madness, Missouri's version of Midnight Madness, was free to the general public, but the Tigers asked fans to donate canned food items upon their arrival to Mizzou Arena.
Home Is Where The Wins Are
As the University of Missouri enters its third season in Mizzou Arena, the Tigers are starting to establish an impressive homecourt advantage in the state-of-the-art facility ... Since opening the building in 2004, Mizzou is 29-9 at home and is in the midst of a record eight regular-season contests at home in the month of November.
Missouri All-Time at Mizzou ArenaFun With Numbers
Year Record Pct.
2004-05 14-4 .778 2005-06 11-5 .688 2006-07 4-0 1.000 Total 29-9 .763
According to cbssportsline.com, Missouri is ranked No. 54 in the latest RPI rankings after the first week of the season and have quality wins over No. 31 Lipscomb and No. 64 Army ... The Tigers face No. 55 Davidson on Sunday and No. 26 Stephen F. Austin on Nov. 25 ... Of course it's too early to fully utilize the RPI and the New Jersey Institute of Technology is ranked No. 2 following their 56-55 road win at Manhattan and 63-52 home win over Rider College, but again, this is just having fun with the numbers.
The Mike Anderson Revival Tour
We're early into a long 2006-07 season, but it appears that Head Coach Mike Anderson has shed light on the careers of Tigers Kalen Grimes and Matt Lawrence ... Starters in each game this season, both returners have played significant rolls for Mizzou after seeing limited action in 2005-06.
l Lawrence opened the season with a career high 27 points on 7-of-11 shooting from three-point range to pace Missouri's 101-80 win over North Carolina A&T ... Lawrence went on to earn All-Tournament recognition at the John Thompson Foundation Classic and is third on the team lead with 12.0 points per game.
l As a freshman, Lawrence played in 25 games, but averaged just 6.9 minutes and scored 37 total points, grabbed 18 rebounds, had five assists and seven steals ... Lawrence needed just three games to top those totals in 2006-07.
l For the first time in Grimes' career, the 6-foot-9 post player recorded double figures in points in back-to-back games and enjoyed the first double-double of his career with an 18-point, 11-board effort in the win over Army.
l Grimes went on to win MVP honors at the Thompson Foundation Classic and is on a run of two consecutive double-doubles.
l Last season as a sophomore, Grimes played in all-28 games, but just recorded totals of 74 points and 73 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game ... This season, Grimes has already recorded 44 points, 25 boards in a career high 23.0 minutes per game.
The Good Tigers Giveth ...
Looking for a few under-valued statistics that often translate into "W's", look no further than assists, steals and deflections.
l In Mizzou's season-opening win against North Carolina A&T, the Tigers dished out a record 32 assists (fourth highest total all-time) and had seven players record multiple assists, highlighted by junior guards Stefhon Hannah (nine) and Jason Horton (six).
l Hannah and Horton are the Big 12's No. 2 assist duo at 10.0 per game.
... And Taketh Away
Mizzou's record number of thefts and deflections also stole the statistical headlines as Mizzou's 13 steals against North Carolina A&T tied a Mizzou Arena record.
l Horton tied his own Mizzou Arena record with five thefts, while Hannah and Matt Lawrence each added three rips apiece.
l Another key statistic recorded by the coaching staff is deflections ... Through four games Missouri has 125 team deflections.
Can You Spare A Dime
Through the first two weeks of the season, few programs can boast a better assist tandem than Missouri's Jason Horton and Stefhon Hannah ... The duo is averaging a combined 10.0 assists per game and could threaten to unseat some of the great Mizzou assist tandems of all time.
l Horton leads the club and ranks among Big 12 leaders (5th) with 5.8 assists per game ... He also ranks among the Big 12's best (10th) with a 2.3-to-1 assist-to turnover ratio, aided by his 12 assists and just three turnovers over his last two contests.
l Hannah joins his teammate as one of the Big 12's top assist producers and his nine dimes in the season opener is tied for the top single-game total in the Big 12 this season.
Quick Starts
Thanks to its fastest start in three seasons, Mizzou will have the opportunity to become the first 5-0 team in the Big 12 Conference with a win against Davidson ... The Tigers could also join San Diego State, Michigan, Syracuse, Clemson and Maryland as the only 5-0 programs in the country (end of games on Nov. 19).
l A 5-0 start would be Missouri's 14th over the last 84 years of college basketball (1922-23) and first since 2002-03.