Jan. 26, 2007

Missouri Tigers (12-6, 1-4 Big 12) at Texas Tech Red Raiders (15-5, 4-1 Big 12)
Game 19 - Jan. 27, 2007 - Columbia, Mo.

	GAME CENTRAL: Game Notes  Yahoo! Live Audio Mizzou All-Access
	TIPOFF: 3:01 p.m. CST. ARENA: Mizzou Arena (15,061). TV: ESPN-Plus (Dave Armstrong, play-by-play; Jon Sundvold, analyst); game available to ESPN Full Court subscribers. RADIO: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly play-by-play; Chris Gervino analyst); Sirius Ch. 110.RANKINGS:    Mizzou: NR    Texas Tech: NR SERIES: Tied 7-7 overall; Missouri lead 4-2 in Columbia. COACHES:    Mizzou: Mike Anderson (Tulsa '82); 101-47 overall (5th season); 12-6 at Mizzou (1st).    Texas Tech: Bob Knight (Ohio State '62) 884-355 overall (41st season); 120-66 at Texas Tech.

FOR OPENERS

• Mizzou goes searching for its second consecutive victory on Saturday when it hosts the Big 12-leading Texas Tech Red Raiders in front of a SOLDOUT Mizzou Arena crowd in Columbia ... After halting a 12-game losing streak away from Mizzou Arena on Wednesday, the Tigers look for their initial home win of the Big 12 season and will face a hot Red Raider club that is coming off consecutive home wins against No. 5 Kansas and No. 6 Texas A&M.
• Mizzou will be playing its first home game in 14 days ... Mizzou's last home game came Jan. 13 against Kansas State ... Overall, the Tigers have dropped their last two home contests by a combined five points (66-65 to Iowa State and 85-81 to Kansas State) ... However, Mizzou has played much improved basketball over its last two outings, including the 14-point win at Colorado.
• As a team, Mizzou leads the Big 12 and ranks No. 2 nationally with 11.5 steals per game and has 207 total steals ... The Tigers only had 167 total steals during the entire 2005-06 season ... Missouri needs just 63 more thefts to move into the single-season Top Five and needs just 89 more steals to break the school record of 295 set in 1985-86.
• Junior guard Stefhon Hannah ranks No. 3 nationally with 3.2 steals per game ... Hannah has topped five or more steals in a game six times this season ... Hannah now has 57 steals on the year and already ranks ninth on Mizzou's single-season steals list ... FYI, the single-season record is 76 held by Lynn Hardy in 1986-87 ... The Big 12 record for steals in a season is 102 by Mexico, Mo., native Cookie Belcher (Nebraska) in 1998-99 ... Hannah also needs just seven more thefts to move into the Mizzou single-season Top 3.
• With its win at Colorado on Jan. 24, Mizzou matched its win total during the entire 2005-06 campaign ... The Tigers went 12-16 last season through 28 games, but needed just 18 games (12-6) to match that win total ... Another interesting fact was that the Tigers returned just 37 percent of its scoring from last season's club.

MIZZOU QUICK HITTERS

• Mizzou will look for its second consecutive victory on Saturday when it hosts the Big 12-leading Texas Tech Red Raiders (15-5, 4-1) at Mizzou Arena.
• The Tigers have dropped three consecutive games to Tech and will look for their first win against the Red Raiders since an 82-73 win on Feb. 9, 2003.
• Missouri is looking for its first Big 12 win against a team from the state of Texas since a Feb. 16, 2005, win against Baylor at Mizzou Arena ... The Tigers have dropped five consecutive games to Lone Star opposition since that contest.
• Mizzou's bench nearly outscored its starters Wednesday at Colorado ... Mizzou reserves racked up 38 points vs. the Buffaloes, while the starting five accounted for 41.
• Mizzou nearly halted Colorado's 115 consecutive game steak with a three-point make ... The Buffs missed their first-14 attempts from beyond the arc until Xavier Silas hit a triple with just 32 seconds remaining.
• Saturday's contest will be the first all-time meeting between Missouri sideline boss Mike Anderson and Texas Tech's Bob Knight.
• Mizzou will go in search of its first 12-6 start since the 2000-01 season.
• Head Coach Mike Anderson was named the No. 1 Immediate Impact Coach in America by Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis
• Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl named Anderson one of his six most innovative coaches in America.
• Anderson was also listed as the leading candidate for National Coach of the Year by Mike DeCourcy and The Sporting News.
• ESPN's Jay Bilas paid equal props to Anderson, saying he was in fine shape to win Coach of the Year honors.
• With its 79-65 win at Colorado on Jan. 24, Missouri recorded its 1,400th victory as a program ... Missouri is 38th all-time in NCAA Division I Basketball wins and joined Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are the only other Big 12 schools to have reached the 1,400 win plateau.
• Ol' Mizzou ranks No. 2 nationally with 11.5 steals per game ... So far this season the Tigers have 207 total steals, which is already more than the 167 steals Missouri recorded during the entire 2005-06 season ... In case you were wondering, Virginia Military (VMI) leads the nation with 16.3 steals per game.
• Those 11.5 steals per game would shatter the Big 12 record of 10.8 steals set by Iowa State in 2004-05.
• At their current pace of 11.5 steals per game, the 2006-07 Tigers would break the school record of 295 set in 1985-86 ... Missouri is on pace for 350 steals.
• Despite returning just 37.6 percent of its scoring from last season, Missouri is No. 3 in the Big 12 with 78.8 points per game ... The Tigers also rank No. 2 in three-point field goals (8.2).
• Also labeled as undersized, Missouri is averaging 33.4 points per game in the paint, including a season best 50 tallies in the opener against North Carolina A&T.
• Another improved area for the Tigers has come in bench production ... Missouri is averaging 27.0 points per game from its bench through 18 games, including a season high 49 points vs. Lipscomb ... Last season, Missouri's reserves averaged just 11.9 points per game.
• If you simply take raw scoring numbers Mizzou's bench scored 334 point through 28 games last season ... So far this year, Tiger reserves have accounted for 485 points.
• Missouri is scoring nearly 30-percent of its points (21.3-of-78.8) off of opponent turnovers ... The Tigers are forcing an average of 21.1 turnovers per game and scoring 21.3 points off of those opponent miscues.
• Speaking of turnovers, Mizzou forces one turnover every four possessions ... Overall, Missouri has forced 379 turnovers in 1,369 total possessions for its opposition, that's a percentage of 27.9, which ranks No. 2 nationally ... The Tigers also record a steal once every six-plus possessions (15.3 percent), which is No. 2 nationally.
• As a team, Missouri is No. 45 nationally at 38.6 percent shooting from three-point range (147-of-381) ... The Tigers have topped double figures in three-point makes five times this season ... The Tigers topped double figures in three-pointers just twice all of last year (at Davidson and at home vs. Kansas).
• Overall, the Tigers have topped 80 points in nine of 18 games and have won six of their 12 games by 20-plus points ... Over the previous two seasons combined (2004-05 and 2005-06), Missouri topped 80 points in scoring just six times ... Over the previous three seasons (2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06) Mizzou won just four (total) games by 20-plus point margins.

TIGER TIDBITS (Individual Notes)

• Tiger Tidbits (Individual Notes)
• Stefhon Hannah continues to be one of the nation's top newcomers and ranks No. 3 nationally in steals per game at 3.2 per game ... He also ranks No. 4 in the Big 12 with 4.8 assists and No. 11 in scoring (15.3).
• Hannah has topped five or more steals in a game six times this season and has already joined the Mizzou single-season Top 10 ... In fact, Hannah needs just seven more steals to move into the Mizzou single-season Top Three.
• Hannah and Jason Horton rank No. 7 nationally with 4.7 steals per game.
• Marshall Brown has been Mizzou's top scorer in Big 12 play and ranks No. 5 in Big 12 play 18.4 points per game.
• Brown recorded career highs in back-to-back games, initially scoring 24 points at Texas, before dropping in 28 against Kansas State, which is the highest scoring total by a Tiger this season.
• In Big 12 play, Brown is averaging 15.2 of his 18.4 points in the second half on 66.7 (24-of-36) percent shooting over the final 20 minutes ... Brown is also 22-of-24 (.917) from the charity stripe in the second period.
• It hasn't just been the second half where Brown has improved from the charity stripe ... Over his last five games, Brown is 30-of-34 (.882) from the line and has pushed his overall free throw percentage to .774, which ranks No. 10 in the Big 12 this season.
• Matt Lawrence continues to be one of the nation's top three-point shooters and ranks No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 20 nationally at 49.5 percent.
• As the numbers show, Lawrence is the Big 12's most improved player this season and has upped his scoring average 820-percent from the 1.5 points per game he averaged as a freshman ... Lawrence is second on the club with 12.3 points per game and ranks No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 26 nationally with 2.9 treys per game.
• Lawrence leads the team with 53 three-point makes this year and has shot at least 50 percent from three-point range in 8-of-18 games this season.
• Lawrence needs just 19 more treys to move into the Mizzou single-season Top 10 ... Jason Sutherland is 10th on that list with 72 treys ... His .495 three-point percentage would rank No. 4 in school history.
• Lawrence was named the nation's No. 1 Surprise Impact Player by ESPN's Stephen Bardo on College Game Night.
• Jason Horton is on a run of 28 consecutive starts, which is the longest starting streak on the team this season ... Fellow junior Marshall Brown has started 26 consecutive game to rank second on the club.
• Fellow junior Kalen Grimes made his return to the starting lineup at No. 5 Kansas and snared a career high 12 boards ... Grimes had been one of Mizzou's top reserves over the previous six games after starting the first 10 games of the season.
• Kansas City, Kan., native Leo Lyons has provided a big lift inside for the Tigers since the start of Big 12 play and is averaging 7.4 points and 4.6 boards during that stretch ... Lyons is also averaging an improved 21.6 minutes per game during league action after averaging 16.5 minutes per game in non-conference competition.
• One reason for Lyons' increased playing time has been because of his defense ... Over his last seven games, Lyons is averaging 1.7 steals per game, which is second on the club ... He has recorded multiple steals in five of Missouri's last six contests.
• Freshman J.T. Tiller has seen increased playing time since the start of Big 12 play and is averaging 7.2 points, 1.4 boards and 1.4 steals during that stretch.
• Over his last two outings Tiller has reached double figures and is averaging 11.5 points, 2.0 assists, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals.

WITH A MISSOURI WIN:

• Mizzou would have back-to-back wins in Big 12 Conference play for the first time since Jan. 10, 2006 ... The Tigers opened the 2005-06 Big 12 season with back-to-back wins over Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
• Missouri would surpass its win total from the entire 2005-06 season.
• Mizzou would have its first home win since a Jan. 2 triumph over Mississippi State (0-2).
• Mizzou would snap a three-game losing steak to Texas Tech ... Missouri's last win over the Red Raiders came Feb. 9, 2003, in Columbia.
• Missouri would be the first team in the Big 12 Conference to already improve on its 2005-06 win total (Baylor not included because the Bears didn't play a non-conference schedule last season) ... The Tigers won 12 games last season and, with a win against Texas Tech, they would secure their 13th win of 2006-07.
• Anderson would also have his 13th win as head coach at Mizzou, which would be the fourth most for a first-year head coach in school history.
• Mizzou would be just three wins shy of securing its first winning record since the 2003-04 season ... The Tigers currently have 30 games on their schedule, counting the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City.

MORE ABOUT THE RED RAIDERS
   First a win over No. 5 Kansas (69-64) and then a victory over No. 6 Texas A&M (70-68) ... No club is hotter in Big 12 Conference play than Bob Knight's Texas Tech Red Raiders ... The Red Raiders are tied for the Big 12 lead with a 4-1 league mark and have impressive home wins over the Jayhawks and Aggies and a solid road triumph at Kansas State ... Senior All-Big 12 candidate Jarrius Jackson once again leads Texas Tech with 20.1 points per game ... Junior forward Martin Zeno is second for TTU with 16.6 points per game and gives the Red Raiders one of the Big 12's top 1-2 scoring duos ... Tech has won nine of its last 11 games ... Overall, Tech is 4-1 on the road this season, but will be playing its first game away from Lubbock since Jan. 13, a loss at Baylor.

SERIES WITH TEXAS TECH
   Mizzou and Texas Tech enter Saturday's contest tied 7-7 in 14 previous meetings ... Overall, the Red Raiders have won three consecutive games in the series, including a 78-62 win in Columbia on Jan. 19, 2005 ... Overall, Missouri leads the series 4-2 in Columbia, with its last win coming Feb. 9, 2003, at the Hearnes Center.

• Technically, Missouri holds an 8-6 series lead (4-1 in Columbia) ... Although the Red Raiders claimed an 84-73 win in Columbia on Feb. 25, 1997, Tech later forfeited the game becuase it used ineligible players.