Jan. 4, 2007
Columbia, Mo. -
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University of Missouri Tigers (11-2)
vs.
Iowa State University Cyclones (9-5)
Game 14 - Jan. 6, 2007 - Columbia, Mo.
Tip-off:
5:06 p.m. CST
Arena:
Mizzou Arena (15,061)
TV:
Mizzou Sports Network (Beau Baehman play-by-play; Jon Sundvold analyst)
Radio:
Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly play-by-play; Gary Link analyst)
Rankings:
Missouri is receiving votes in the AP Top 25 Poll
Series:
Missouri leads 140-81 overall; last - ISU won 85-78 in Ames, 2-28-06
Coaches:
Missouri:
Mike Anderson (Tulsa '82); 100-43 overall (5th season); 11-2 at Mizzou (1st)
Iowa State:
Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa '88) 230-132 overall (13th season)
For Openers
> Mizzou opens Big 12 Conference play on Saturday when it hosts Iowa State at Mizzou Arena ... The Tigers will go in search of their 10th consecutive win in a Big 12 Conference home-opener ... Mizzou is 9-1 all-time in Big 12 home openers, with that lone loss coming on Jan. 4, 1997, to No. 4 Iowa State.
> The Tigers and Cyclones have squared off four times in the Big 12 opener, with the most recent conference lid-lifter coming in 2004-05 ... Mizzou won that contest 62-59.
> Here's a fun statistic, Mizzou is going for its 12th win in 14 games ... The Tigers had just 12 wins in 28 games throughout the entire 2005-06 season and returned just 37.6 percent of its scoring and 66.5 percent of its rebounding from that club.
> With his five steals on Tuesday vs. Mississippi State, junior guard Stefhon Hannah leads the nation with 4.0 steals per game ... Hannah has topped five or more steals in a game six times this season ... Hannah now has 52 steals on the year and already ranks ninth on Mizzou's single-season Top 10 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's pace of 4.0 steals per game would rank No. 13 in NCAA history.
> Despite returning just 37.6 percent of its scoring from last season, Missouri is No. 4 in the Big 12 with 80.6 points per game ... The Tigers also rank No. 2 in three-point field goals (8.6) and No. 2 in three-point percentage (41.8).
> Mizzou will be looking for its 13th consecutive win at Mizzou Arena ... That's the longest homecourt winning streak in the history of Mizzou Arena and that run would rank No. 16 nationally.
> Overall, the Tigers have topped 80 points in eight of 12 games and have won six of 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.
Mizzou Quick-Hitters
> Mizzou will look for its third consecutive win when it hosts Iowa State at Mizzou Arena ... The Tigers have lost three consecutive games to the Cyclones, including a two-game sweep last season.
> Mizzou will go in search of its first 12-2 start since the 1998-99 season ... That was Norm Stewart's final campaign in Columbia.
> 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.
> Today's game marks the first Big 12 Conference game for Head Coach Mike Anderson ... The last Mizzou coach to win his initial conference game was George Edwards in 1926-27.
> With a win vs. Iowa State, Missouri would record its 1,400th victory as a program ... Missouri is 38th all-time in NCAA Division I Basketball wins and would join Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are the only other Big 12 schools to have reached the 1,400 win plateau.
> Ole Mizzou ranks No. 2 nationally with 12.2 steals per game ... So far this season the Tigers have 158 total steals, which is just nine steals shy of the 167 steals Missouri recorded during the entire 2005-06 season ... In case you were wondering, Virginia Military (VMI) leads the nation with 15.7 steals per game.
> Those 12.2 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 12.2 steals per game, the 2006-07 Tigers would shatter the school record of 295 set in 1985-86 ... Missouri is on pace for 378 steals.
> Missouri is averaging 17.4 assists per game through 13 games this season, which is No. 29 nationally ... The school record for assists per game throughout a season is 19.0, which came in 1988-89.
> Despite being labeled as undersized, Missouri is averaging 34.2 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 29.2 points per game from its bench through 13 games, including a season high 49 points vs. Lipscomb ... Last season, Missouri's reserves averaged just 11.9 points per game.
> Missouri is scoring nearly 30-percent of its points (23.5-of-80.6) off of opponent turnovers ... The Tigers are forcing an average of 22.2 turnovers per game and scoring 23.5 points off of those opponent miscues.
> As a team, Missouri is No. 19 nationally at 41.8 percent shooting from three-point range (112-of-268) ... 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).
Tiger Tidbits (Individual Notes)
> Stefhon Hannah continues to be one of the nation's top newcomers and leads the country in steals per game at 4.0 ... He also ranks No. 4 in the Big 12 with 5.1 assists, No. 9 in scoring (16.1) and No. 7 in three-point makes (2.0).
> Hannah has topped five or more steals in a game six times this season and has already joined the Mizzou single-season Top 10.
> Hannah and fellow newcomer Keon Lawrence rank No. 3 nationally and No. 1 in the Big 12 with 5.5 steals per game and are the top steal tandem nationally among a pair of newcomers.
> Jason Horton and Hannah are one of the Big 12's top assist tandems and rank No. 13 nationally with 9.0 assists per game.
> Matt Lawrence continues to be one of the nation's top three-point shooters and ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 and No. 16 nationally at 53.8 percent.
> Lawrence has been especially deadly at home and is shooting 56.3 percent (40-of-71) from beyond the arc at Mizzou Arena.
> As the numbers show, Lawrence is the Big 12's most improved player this season and has upped his scoring average 886-percent from the 1.5 points per game he averaged as a freshman ... Lawrence is second on the club with 13.3 points per game and ranks No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 28 nationally with 3.2 treys per game.
> Lawrence leads the team with 42 three-point makes this year and has shot better than 50 percent from three-point range in 7-of-13 games this season.
> Like Matt Lawrence, Kalen Grimes is among the Big 12's most improved players and ranks No. 5 in the Big 12 with a scoring increase of 6.9 points per game this season ... Grimes has upped his season averages from 2.6 points and 2.6 boards as a sophomore to 9.5 points and a team-leading 6.5 rebounds, which also ranks No. 11 in the Big 12.
> Jason Horton is on a run of 23 consecutive starts, which is the longest starting streak on the team this season ... Fellow junior Marshall Brown has started 21 consecutive game to rank second on the club.
> Leo Lyons has made three consecutive starts and continues to play much-improved basketball during that stretch ... Lyons is also averaging an improved 19.3 minutes per game during that run, compared to the 15.9 minutes he averaged in his nine games as a reserve.
> Lyons earned the first start of his career Dec. 19 vs. Illinois and responded with nine points, seven boards and a block in 27 minutes vs. the Illini.
> Like Lyons, Tiller has seen his minutes increase over the past five games ... Tiller is averaging 14.8 minutes during that stretch and is averaging an improved 6.6 points and 1.4 assists during that run.
> Junior forward Vaidotas Volkus grabbed a career high seven offensive rebounds vs. Southern ... The seven offensive caroms was the most by a Tiger this season.