Dec. 17, 2009
Columbia, Mo. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Mizzou Basketball News and Notes 2009-10
University of Missouri Tigers (6-3) vs.
University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff Lions (0-8)
2009-10 Regular Season Game 10 - December 19, 2009 - Columbia, Mo.
Tip-off: 7 p.m. CST
Arena: Mizzou Arena - Columbia, Mo. (15,061)
TV: MSN - (Chris Gervino play-by-play; Jon Sundvold analyst)
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly play-by-play; Gary Link analyst)
Rankings: Mizzou: NV/NV, UAPB: NV/NV in Associated Press / USA Today Coaches polls
Series: Missouri leads 2-0; last on Dec. 2, 2008, 95-41 win for Mizzou in Columbia, Mo.
Coaches:
Missouri: Mike Anderson (Tulsa '82); 160-79 overall (8th season); 71-38 at Mizzou (4th)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff: George Ivory (Mississippi Valley State, '88) 13-28 (2nd season) at UAPB
For Openers
> Missouri Basketball plays its second consecutive home game on Saturday as the Tigers take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff inside Mizzou Arena ... Although Pine Bluff is 0-8, George Ivory has done a great job rebuilding the program and has played eight consecutive road games vs. the likes of Oklahoma State, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Michigan and others to start the year.
> Congratulations to all the Mizzou students who have recently completed another Finals Week on the Columbia campus ... The Spring Semester is scheduled to begin Jan. 19 ... Including Saturday's game Mizzou Arena will host six home games during the winter break.
> Missouri is coming off a 51-point victory against Fairleigh Dickinson last Saturday and has been off for Finals Week ... The week-long break is Missouri's longest between games so far this season ... The Tigers will also have a week break between a Jan. 16 game at Oklahoma and a Jan. 23 home contest against Nebraska.
> Missouri owns a 24-game winning streak inside Mizzou Arena, which dates back to the home finale of the 2007-08 campaign against Iowa State … The Tigers are tied for #3 nationally with Dayton and Siena who have each won 24 consecutive ... Pittsburgh is #2 with 26 straight ... Missouri needs five more home wins to move into a tie for second place for the longest home winning streak (29) in school history ... Today's color analyst, Jon Sundvold, and the Tigers won 29 consecutive from 1980-82 ... The school record is 34.
> Missouri is a remarkable 35-0 in non-conference home games under Anderson and the Tiger's average margin of victory in those 35 wins is 26.9 ppg., including the 51-point win on Saturday.
> Zaire Taylor ripped a career high seven steals in last Saturday's win, but needed just 18 minutes to do it ... Taylor currently ranks #11 nationally in steals with a Big 12 Conference best 2.9 steals per game.
> Marcus Denmon continues his outstanding shooting ... Denmon has hit 11-of-22 treys over his last three games and is averaging 14.3 ppg during that stretch ... The Kansas City native is second on the club with 20 total three-point makes this season.
> Including Denmon, Missouri continues to get great play from its youth ... The Tiger are getting more than half of their 81.7 points per game from the sophomore class alone ... The second-year Tigers are logging 44.7 points per game ... If you add the freshman class, Mizzou is getting 69 percent of its scoring (56.5 ppg) and 53 percent of its assists (9.6 apg) from underclassmen this season.
Mizzou Quick Hitters
> Missouri Basketball returns to action on Saturday as the Tigers face Arkansas-Pine Bluff for the second consecutive season at Mizzou Arena ... Don't be fooled by Pine Bluff's record, their schedule has been front-loaded with road games and that trend will continue throughout the remainder of the non-conference season.
> UAPB fought #15 Georgia Tech to the end on Wednesday before falling 65-53 in Atlanta ... The Lions trailed by just eight at the half ... In fact Pine Bluff trailed at Oklahoma State by single digits (41-35) and was tied 32-32 at Michigan this year, so that 0-8 overall record is somewhat decieving.
> MU is playing its second consecutive home game on Saturday ... The Tigers haven't played back-to-back home games since Nov. 22 and Nov. 24 vs. Texas-Pan American and Chattanooga.
> The Tigers own a 42-game non-conference home court winning streak, which dates back to the 2005-06 campaign ... That 42-game run is a school record, topping the 29 consecutive non-conference home wins from 1979-83 ... That streak ended with an overtime loss to Marquette ... Missouri's last non-conference loss at home came against Sam Houston State in the 2005-06 season opener.
> Speaking of shooting, Missouri has been outstanding shooting the basketball at home this season ... As a team MU is shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and 44.5 percent from three-point range.
> Missouri is coming off an 87-36 win against Fairleigh Dickinson last week and the 36 total points for FDU was the lowest point total in the history of Mizzou Arena ... In case you were wondering, MU allowed just 33 points to Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Saturday's opponent) on Dec. 9, 1998, during an 89-33 victory.
> As a team Missouri had 18 steals in the win, which is the ninth most in school history and the second most this season ... The Tigers recorded 24 steals in the win against Chattanooga back on Nov. 24.
> Speaking of steal totals Missouri has 120 total thefts on the year ... Last season through nine games Missouri had 106 steals ... If you recall, MU broke the Big 12 Conference record with 388 total steals in 2008-09.
> The 51-point win over Fairleigh Dickinson is Missouri's fourth consecutive home win of 30+ points and second win of 50+ points ... Missouri defeated Texas-Pan American back on Nov. 22 by a Mizzou Arena record 56-point margin (100-44).
> Head Coach Mike Anderson spread the playing time on Saturday, as all 13 players saw at least six minutes of action and no Tiger played more than 20 minutes ... Freshman John Underwood led Missouri in rebounding with seven boards in just 10 minutes ... Underwood also hit 3-of-4 free throws and blocked a shot.
> One thing Tiger fans are enjoying this season is points off turnovers ... Missouri averaged 21.2 points per game off turnovers last season and forced one turnover every four possessions ... So far this season Missouri is forcing 22.2 turnovers per game and is averaging 30.0 points off those opponent miscues.
> Missouri continues to be one of the country's most efficient teams in 2009-10 ... One year after leading the nation in assists per game (18.4), the Tigers are dishing 18.1 dimes a contest this year ... MU already has eight players with double-figure assist totals and as a team MU is registering dimes on 61 percent of its hoops (163 assists on 267 baskets).
> Missouri has topped 20 assists four times, including 28 dimes in the 106-69 win against Oregon.
> It's certainly early, but the Tigers sport excellent depth on their roster through nine games ... Nine different players have reached double figures in scoring and 10 different Tigers are averaging at least 10.8 minutes per game ... In addition, that depth fuels Missouri's pressure and has allowed the Tigers to reach double figures in steals in 7-of-9 contests, including a school record 24 thefts vs. Chattanooga on Nov. 24.
> Those steal numbers are ahead of last season's pace ... The Tigers have ripped 120 steals in 2009-10, higher than the 106 steals MU enjoyed last season through the same number of contests.
> Missouri continues to be outstanding at the free throw line this season ... The Tigers are hitting at a 71.8 percent clip on the year, compared to 67.2 percent shooting last season.
> It's hard to argue with the production of Missouri's bench ... The Tigers are getting 38.1 of their 81.7 points per game from the reserves ... Missouri's bench has actually outscored their starters in 3-of-9 games already this season and are outscoring their opposition's bench 31.8-to-13.7.
> Mizzou has had a double-figure scorer off the pine in eight games this season, including a season high three players in the win against Oregon.
> One thing about Mike Anderson's clubs, they are built for the long haul ... Over his tenure “Coach A's” teams have averaged 26.5 points per game off the bench... That's over 109 career games.
> It's nothing new to have the reserves outscore the starters either ... Including three games this season, the reserves have dropped in more tallies than the “initial five” 15 times (in 109 games) in Anderson's tenure ... It just goes to show you, when the man says he has eight or nine starters, it means he has eight or nine starters!
> With the Tigers' improved backcourt depth the team is averaging 13.3 steals per game on the season, including a school-record total (24 steals) vs. Chattanooga on Nov. 24.
> Missouri has typically played some tough schedules over the years and that trend will continue in 2009-10 ... Mizzou has 14 games against teams that have been ranked / receiving votes in the Top 25 this season ... Included in that list are some impressive non-conference games (all away from home) against, Illinois, Old Dominion and Richmond.
> In fact, of the potential 14 games vs. those highly-touted clubs only five will come at Mizzou Arena.
Tiger Tidbits
> J.T. Tiller has earned mention on virtually every preseason All-Defensive Team in 2009-10 … Tiller is of course the reigning Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 12 Conference and was named to All-Defensive Teams by Sports Illustrated and ESPN prior to the start of his senior season.
> Tiller made his return from a bone bruise in his left foot vs. Old Dominion and distributed a season high seven assists vs. the Monarchs.
> Tiller has twice notched seven assists in a game, including seven dimes at Vanderbilt.
> The Marietta, Ga., native has 251 career assists and needs just 79 dimes this year to move into the career Top 10.
> He also owns 124 career steals and 27 more thefts would push him into the Top 10 in that category as well, surpassing former teammate Jason Horton (2004-08), who had 150 … In fact his career steals per game average of 1.3 already ranks in Mizzou's career Top 10.
> Zaire Taylor has been one of America's top defensive players so far in 2009-10 and leads the Big 12 and ranks #11 nationally with 2.9 steals per game this season.
> Taylor ripped a career high seven steals vs. Fairleigh Dickinson in just 18 minutes of action ... Taylor was in the game for 31 defensive possessions and stopped FDU 26 percent of the time with either a steal or a blocked shot.
> The seven steals are tops in the Big 12 this year, tied the Mizzou Arena record and are the second most in school history ... Had he played all 40 minutes vs. the Knights he was on pace to record 15.6 steals in the game.
> Not only is Taylor excellent at swiping the basketball, he is one of the country's best at protecting the rock as well ... Last year he ranked among the Top 5 nationally with a 3-to-1 assist/turnover ratio.
> Taylor has wasted little time picking up his assist totals this year and has dished 29 dimes while committing just 10 turnovers in his last eight games.
> Not only do Taylor and Tiller form one of America's best backcourts, but the pair is incredibly visible in the community and volunteered with the Children's Miracle Network Radiothon, which supports the University of Missouri Children's Hospital ... The duo answered phones on the phonebank and made special visits to patients.
> Laurence Bowers is one of Missouri's most efficient players this season and is third on the team in scoring (10.0), second in rebounding (5.6) and tops in blocked shots (1.7) in 20.0 minutes a game.
> Bowers has reached double figures four times this season and continues to be one of the team's most efficient players shooting 63 percent from the floor, while hitting both of his three-point field goal attempts ... The Memphis native is also a perfect 10-of-10 at the foul line.
> Bowers was a rebounding menace in the South Padre Island Invitational and was named to the All-Tournament Team for his production.
> Bowers tied a career high with 16 points in the season-opener and has set career highs in rebounding, steals and blocked shots already this season.
> Don't be surprised by Bowers' efficiency ... That's part of his game ... The Memphis native maximizes his minutes played ... Last season as a freshman he was the team's most efficient rebounder and shot-blocker in just 6.9 minutes a game.
> Kim English enjoyed back-to-back career high scoring games vs. Texas-Pan American and Chattanooga ... English dropped in 25 points in the win against Texas-Pan American, before torching the Mocs for 26 points.
> English scored 21 of his 26 in the first half against the Mocs ... He's the first Tiger to drop in 20+ in the first half since Thomas Gardner scored 40 against Kansas in an overtime win in 2006.
> English has reached double figures in seven of his last eight games, including 20-point efforts at Vanderbilt, a career high for the sophomore away from home, and 20 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson in just 16 minutes ... In fact English scored 11 points in the game's first 3:19.
> English is averaging 17.1 points per game over his last eight outings, which includes those four20-point efforts.
> Marcus Denmon is nearly full strength after off-season knee surgery and has reached double figures five times this year.
> Denmon has been Mizzou's most consistent scorer with those five double-figure efforts and has been great off the bench this year, seeing his scoring average increase to 12.0 ppg off the pine.
> Denmon has tied his career high (17 points) three times this season, including back-to-back games vs. Oregon and Oral Roberts.
> The Kansas City native is shooting 46 percent from three-point range over his last eight outings and continues to be one of the team's best rebounding guards at 3.3 boards a night.
> The Kansas City native has twice tied his career high in rebounding this year and is second on the club in three-point makes (20).
> Fans will notice a slimmed down version of Steve Moore this year … Since his arrival Moore had dropped 40 pounds and has now began to regain the weight in the form of muscle … Moore credits Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning David Deets with adjusting his eating habits, allowing the “Extreme Makeover”.
> Moore turned that weight loss into production, as he has recorded career highs in virtually every statistical category this season.
> Michael Dixon made the first shot of his collegiate career in the season opener, swishing home a three-pointer at the 9:54 mark of the first half vs. Tennessee-Martin.
> Dixon enjoyed another “first” vs. Texas-Pan American, his first start, as he scored nine points, dished seven assists and committed just one turnover.
> The Kansas City native has started three games this season, including the win over Fairleigh Dickinson when he dropped in 10 points and dished a team high five assists in 20 minutes.
> Dixon continues to take strides in his first season and notched his first career double-figure scoring game at Vanderbilt, with 11 points and two assists on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor ... Dixon went for 10 points in the win over Oregon as well, while dropping three dimes in 20 minutes.
Series with Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Missouri and Arkansas-Pine Bluff meet for the third time in series history on Saturday and Mizzou currently holds a 2-0 series advantage ... Mizzou and UAPB met last season at Mizzou Arena with the Tigers claiming a 95-41 win ... The First meeting was on Dec. 9, 1998, when the Tigers claimed an 89-33 win at the Hearnes Center during Norm Stewart's final season.
About Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Arkansas-Pine Bluff comes to Mizzou Arena with an 0-8 record, but don't let that ledger fool you, the Lions have played one of America's toughest schedules and have played each of those eight games away from home, including a close loss Wednesday at Georgia Tech ... UAPB has faced Colorado and Oklahoma State from the Big 12 and will travel to Manhattan to face Kansas State on Monday after meeting Mizzou ... The Lions have also traveled to Arizona State and Michigan ... Savalance Townsend leads UAPB in scoring this year at 13.7 ppg ... An improving club under second year head coach George Ivory, the Lions enjoyed their first-ever winning record in SWAC play last year and are the preseason #2 in the league standings behind Jackson State.
Tigers In The National Rankings
Missouri is again ranking among the national leaders in several statistical categories ... Below is a quick rundown of how the Tigers rank.
Category Avg / Ntl Rk Leader / Avg
Assists 18.1 / #9 Syracuse / 23.1
Scoring Margin 21.4 / #8 Kansas / 32.7
Steals 13.3 / #2 Syracuse / 14.0
T/O Margin 8.0 / #2 Houston / 12.2
3FGs Per Game 9.3 / #11 VMI / 13.4
The Future Is Bright For Mizzou
Missouri's freshmen and sophomores are scoring 56.5 points per game for the Tigers this season, which accounts for 69 percent of the team's 81.7 total points per outing.
> Those 56.5 points ranks second in the Big 12 this season and becomes incredibly promising since MU is welcoming the nation's #7 overall recruiting class in 2010-11.
> Kansas leads the Big 12 in underclassmen scoring at 60.2 points per game, while the Oklahoma Sooners rank third with 54.9 tallies a night.
Denmon Delivering
Marcus Denmon has continued to be one of the club's most improved players and is one of the Big 12's hottest shooters hitting 11-of-22 treys over his last three contests.
> Denmon tied his career-high tying with 17 points vs. Oregon and Oral Roberts, and then hit 3-of-6 treys in just 18 minutes in the win against Fairleigh Dickinson.
> Denmon is now second on the team in scoring at 10.9 points per game and ranks sixth in the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage (.435) and seventh in three-point makes per game (2.2).
> Over his last three outings the Kansas City native is shooting 15-of-31 from the floor, 11-of-22 from three-point range, tops all Tiger guards over the last three contests.
Balancing Act
Mike Anderson calls Missouri the “Ultimate Team” and MU's incredible balance perfectly illustrates his point.
> The Tigers have had eight different players tie or share for the team lead in assists this season.
> MU has had six different players tie or share the team lead in steals.
> Four different players have led the club in rebounding and four different players have led the club in scoring.
> And last but not least the Tigers have enjoyed incredible balance in playing time, which will pay huge dividends with experience down the road, as eight different players average at least 17.4 minutes per game.
Mizzou Arena - Now A Home Court
With Missouri Basketball unleashing the Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball and the Tiger crowds responding, Mizzou Arena is now one of the nation's toughest homecourt venues ... Missouri ranks #3 nationally with its active 24-game homecourt win streak, tied with Dayton and Siena for consecutive home wins.
> Kansas leads the nation with 46 consecutive home wins, while Pittsburgh (26) ranks #2.
> The MU record for homecourt wins is 34, which was set during the 1988-90 seasons ... The 1980-82 teams won 29 consecutive, while the 1974-76 teams won 23 in a row.
All-Time Mizzou Basketball Homecourt Winning Streaks
1. 1988-90 34
2. 1980-82 29
3. 2007-09 24
4. 1974-76 23
5. 1919-21 22
6. 1987-88 21
Here Come The Men In Block
It's early, but Missouri's front line of Keith Ramsey, Justin Safford, Laurence Bowers and Steve Moore are blocking shots and a pretty high rate ... MU already boasts 54 blocked shots through nine games and can begin looking towards the school record books for most blocks in a single season ... Since Mike Anderson's arrival at MU the high for swats in a year is 140, set in 2008-09 ... The school record is 154 set during the 2001-02 campaign.
> Missouri is currently blocking 6.0 shots a night (fourth in the Big 12) and Bowers' 1.7 swats per game is fourth in the league ... Ramsey (1.3) ranks 10th overall, while Steve Moore is 15th (1.0).
> Missouri had just 34 blocked shots last season through nine games, so the 54 swats is well above that pace from last season.
Free Is Good
The season is only nine games deep, but the Tigers appear much improved at the free throw line as the team is shooting 71.8 percent at the stripe.
> The 71.8-percent “free throwing” is the best since Mike Anderson's arrival in Columbia and would actually be the eighth highest percentage in school history.
> Missouri has shot better than 70 percent in 6-of-9 games this year and you would have to go back to 2003-04 (.709) to find the last Tiger team to top 70 percent at the line in a single season.
Mizzou Arena - Home Sweet Home
Mike Anderson is a perfect 35-0 all-time in non-conference home games at Missouri ... Not only have the Tigers won 35 consecutive in non-league action, but they have done so in dominating fashion, sporting a 26.9 ppg margin of victory.
> The Tigers have played some impressive foes during Anderson's run as well, and own quality wins over Arkansas, California, Davidson, Oregon, Purdue, Murray State, Mississippi State, Oral Roberts and others during that 35-game stretch.
> Missouri has actually been more dominant at home than normal this year, owning a 40.4 ppg margin of victory, including a 56-point win against Texas-Pan American (100-44), which is the largest margin of victory in the history of Mizzou Arena, a 51-point win over Fairleigh Dickinson (87-36), a 43-point triumph against Chattanooga (99-56) and a 37-point win against Oregon (106-69).
Year Record Margin of Victory
2006-07 11-0 18.7 ppg
2007-08 9-0 27.5 ppg
2008-09 10-0 29.5 ppg
2009-10 5-0 40.4 ppg
Total 35-0 26.9 ppg.
Share The Wealth
Mike Anderson teams have always passed the ball well and since his arrival in Columbia, Mizzou has turned in some of its greatest assist seasons in school history, including leading the country in dimes in 2008-09 ... Missouri has continued that trend this season as the Tigers are averaging 18.1 assists per game, which is #9 nationally.
> The Tigers have topped 20 assists four times this year, including 28 assists in a 100-44 win against Texas-Pan American, 28 dimes against Oregon (106-69), 25 more assists against Chattanooga and 23 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson.
> Missouri has dished 20 or more assists in 30-of-109 games during Anderson's tenure and the Tigers are an incredible 29-1 in those contests ... Missouri's lone loss with 20+ assists came in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament a year ago (21 vs. UConn) and the Tigers are 4-1 when dishing 20 dimes vs. ranked teams.
Well-Rounded Ramsey
Senior forward Keith Ramsey has set career highs in four different categories for MU already this season ... Ramsey opened the year with a career high 15 points in the win against Tennessee-Martin, before doling out career highs of five assists and four steals in the win against Texas-Pan American ... He recently set his career rebounding mark with nine caroms at Oral Roberts, six of which came on the offensive end of the floor.
> The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native ranks among Missouri's leaders in several “GLUE” stats, ranking second in steals (2.0) and tops in rebounding (6.0), while dishing out 1.9 assists and blocking 1.3 shots a game.
Sophomore Sensations
Mizzou's talented sophomore class of Laurence Bowers, Marcus Denmon, Kim English, Steve Moore and Miguel Paul is having a huge impact this season... The quintet is averaging a combined 41.2 points, 14.2 rebounds and 7.0 assists for the 6-3 Tigers, with Bowers, Denmon, English and Paul all reaching double figures a combined 17 times.
> While English (15.9), Denmon (10.9) and Bowers (10.0) lead the team in scoring, Paul is third on the club with 2.9 assists per game and Moore has enjoyed career highs already in a number of categories, including minutes played and blocks.
Top Recruiting Haul
Missouri's recruiting class in the early signing period was rated #1 in the Big 12 Conference by virtually every recruiting service and was rated #7 nationally by USA Today.
> Anderson added four members to his squad for next season, as Phil Pressey, Tony Mitchell, Rick Kreklow and Kadeem Green inked with Mizzou.