Nov. 23, 2006

Columbia, Mo. -

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

University of Missouri Tigers (5-0)
vs.
Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (2-2)
Game 6 - Nov. 25, 2006 - Columbia, Mo.

Tip-off: 6:06 p.m. CST
Arena: Mizzou Arena (15,061)
TV: Mizzou All-Access, mutigers.com
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly play-by-play; Gary Link analyst)
Rankings: None
Series: First Meeting
Coaches:
Missouri: Mike Anderson (Tulsa '82); 94-41 overall (5th season); 5-0 at Mizzou (1st)
Stephen F. Austin: Danny Kaspar (North Texas '78) 94-77 overall; 6th year at SFA

For Openers
> Missouri opens a stretch of three games in five days when it hosts Stephen F. Austin at Mizzou Arena ... The Tigers will cap off a rare day-night double-dip with the Mizzou Football team, which closes out its regular-season earlier on Saturday against Kansas.

> The Tigers will look to remain unbeaten on the young season and become one of the first teams in the Big 12 Conference to reach 6-0 ... The Tigers have started 6-0 just five times since 1983 and a win on Saturday would make Mike Anderson the first Tiger Head Coach to open his career 6-0 since Craig Ruby in 1920-21 ... Ruby opened his Mizzou coaching career with 17 consecutive wins.

> Mizzou will be looking for its 13th consecutive win at Mizzou Arena against non-conference opposition ... That's the longest non-conference winning streak in the history of Mizzou Arena and longest at home since winning 18 consecutive from 2000-03.

> Missouri has won six consecutive regular-season games over the past two seasons (Big 12 Championship not included) ... The six consecutive regular-season wins are the most for Mizzou since the Tigers won six consecutive in 2003-04 ... A win on Saturday would be the most for the Tigers since winning nine consecutive games to open the 2001-02 season.

> The Tigers will be looking for their second consecutive win against the Southland Conference ... Missouri defeated Southland Conference Champion Northwestern State last season, but fell to Southland representative Sam Houston State in the 2005-06-opener ... Northwestern State went on to win its opening round NCAA Tournament game against Iowa last season.

> Not only is Mizzou's high-pressure style paying dividends in the win column, but it's paying off in the NCAA statistical rankings as well ... Missouri ranks No. 7 nationally with 93 total assists, No. 8 with 49 total three-pointers, No. 9 nationally with 56 total steals and No. 11 with 111 total turnovers forced.

> Stefhon Hannah ranks No. 7 nationally with 16 total steals, Matt Lawrence ranks No. 13 with 17 treys and Jason Horton ranks No. 15 with his 28 assists.

Getting To Know Today's Foe
Lipscomb enters its contest with Missouri 2-2 following a 99-54 win over Schreiner on Nov. 21 ... The Lumberjacks were led by 6-foot-9 sophomore Matt Kingsley, who poured in a career high 30 points on 13-of-16 shooting ... Overall, SFA outscored Schreiner 55-24 in the second half to pull away and earn the 45-point win ... Thanks to his 30-point effort, Kingsley is SFA's leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, and also ranks second on the squad with 6.0 rebounds ... Senior forward Antuane Miller is second on the team in scoring at 12.5 points and paces the team with 6.5 rebounds ... Stephen F. Austin opened the year with a 71-62 home win over San Diego and had narrow road losses at TCU (59-53) and Arkansas (70-59) ... Kingsley again led SFA in scoring with 18 points and eight boards in Fayetteville ... The Lumberjacks trailed by just six points (59-53) with 4:40 remaining in the second half, before the Hogs were able to pull away down the stretch.

With A Missouri Win
> The Tigers push their non-conference homecourt winning streak to 13 games.
> The Tigers will start 6-0 for the first time since 2002-03. > The Tigers could join Oklahoma State and Iowa State as the only 6-0 teams in the Big 12 Conference.
> Mike Anderson will be the first first-year head coach at Missouri to start 6-0 since Craig Ruby in 1920-21, a stretch of 86 years. > Mizzou will improve to 11-2 against active members of the Southland Conference.
> Mizzou will improve to 11-2 in November home games at Mizzou Arena. > Will give the Tigers an opportunity to go 7-0 for the first time since 2001-02 ... The Tigers have started 7-0 just four times since 1982-83 and just seven times since 1921-22 ... Ironically, that 1921-22 team was coached by Craig Ruby and started 13-0.

Mizzou, Mike Anderson In Rare Company
There were 62 coaching changes made in NCAA Division I basketball last season and of those 62 head coaches starting new jobs, just six remain undefeated ... Mizzou's Mike Anderson is one of those half-dozen.
> In fact, the new coaches in the Big 12 Conference can puff out their chests a little, as Anderson is joined by Iowa State's Greg McDermott, Nebraska's Doc Sadler and Oklahoma State's Sean Sutton.
> North Carolina State's Sidney Lowe and Washington State's Tony Bennett are the only remaining unbeaten first-year head coaches.

400 Shots A Day, 400 Shots A Day
Matt Lawrence is the most improved player in the Big 12 ... period ... and that's not just SID speak, the numbers back it up ... After averaging 1.5 points as a freshman, the 6-foot-7 sophomore has seen his per-game scoring averages soar to a team-leading 14.0 points per game this season ... That's an improvement of 12.5 points per game, but more importantly, it's a 934-percent improvement from his 2005-06 totals.
> How did Lawrence improve so rapidly? Well, the St. Louis native remained in Columbia most of the summer and averaged 400 shots per day in preparation for play in Mike Anderson's system.
> Other notable improvements around the Big 12 include Oklahoma's Longar Longar (2.1 to 11.8, 562-percent improvement) and Austin Johnson (3.0 to 11.8, 393-percent improvement) as well as Texas' A.J. Abrams, who has seen his scoring average improve from 6.4 points to 19.6 (306-percent improvement).

The Microwave
It doesn'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.
> 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.
> Last weekend 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.
> With Lawrence's quick scoring efforts through four games, it has taken the Newark, N.J., native an average of just 2:37 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.
> The Tigers continued their giving ways on Thanksgiving Day, as they traveled to Lou's Palace (located in Columbia) to serve dinner to a number of Columbia-area residents ... The Tigers began serving at 1 p.m. and spent time with local families, talk about the upcoming season and signing autographs.