Feb. 26, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team hits the road on Saturday, Feb. 27 for a rematch with the No. 3 and 2010 Big 12 Conference Regular Season Champion Nebraska Cornhuskers at 7:05 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Center. The Huskers own a 38-30 lead in the all-time series and defeated Mizzou 82-78 at Mizzou Arena when the two teams met on Feb. 13, 2010.
UP NEXT
Mizzou travels to Austin, Texas, for a 7 p.m. contest against No. 14/16 Texas on Wednesday, March 3 at the Frank Irwin Center. The Tigers then return to Mizzou Arena for their final home game of the season in a matchup with Texas Tech on Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m. Prior to the contest, Missouri will honor seniors Amanda Hanneman, Jessra Johnson, Toy Richbow and Marissa Scott for their contributions to the women's basketball program.
SCOUTING NEBRASKA
Nebraska, which cliched the Big 12 Regular Season title with a win at Oklahoma on Wednesday, enters its game with the Tigers a perfect 26-0 overall and 13-0 in league play.
The Huskers averages a conference best 78.5 ppg. while shooting 46.8 percent from the floor. The team also allows just 57.4 ppg. and has a +3.7 turnover margin.
Senior Kelsey Griffin ranks second in the Big 12 at 19.9 ppg. on 61.6 percent shooting from the floor and leads the league with 10.3 rpg. She is joined in double figures by three teammates: senior Cory Montgomery (13.2 ppg., 4.9 rpg.), senior Yvonne Turner (12.3 ppg., 69 3-pointers) and junior Dominique Kelley (11.9 ppg., 4.0 rpg.).
Head Coach Connie Yori is in her eighth season at the helm of the Huskers and has a 147-97 record with the team.
LAST TIME VS. THE HUSKERS
The No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers scored the game's final 10 points to earn an 82-78 come-from-behind victory over Missouri on Feb. 13 at Mizzou Arena. The four-point win marked the smallest margin of victory for the Huskers all season.
With the Tigers leading by six, 78-72, and 3:15 remaining in the game, the Huskers used a jumper from Kelsey Griffin and a three-pointer from Cory Montgomery on consecutive possessions to pull within one, 78-77, with 2:04 left. Two free throws by Yvonne Turner then gave the visitors a 79-78 advantage with 41 seconds on the clock.
Trailing by one point, Mizzou committed a turnover, which led to Nebraska hitting one-of-two free throws for an 80-78 advantage with 37 seconds left. The Huskers again hit one-of-two shots from the charity stripe after the Tigers turned the ball over again. Senior Amanda Hanneman's potential game-tying three with 12 seconds remaining rimmed out and Nebraska hit a free throw with six seconds on the clock to preserve the comeback victory, 82-78.
Senior Jessra Johnson led four Tigers in double figures with 21 points. Junior RaeShara Brown posted 14 points, five assists and five steals. Sophomore Christine Flores scored 14 points and senior Amanda Hanneman added 11.
LAST TIME OUT
Junior Shakara Jones potential game-winning jumper bounced off the rim as the University of Colorado earned a come-from-behind 80-79 overtime victory Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena.
With Missouri ahead 79-76, Colorado used two free throws from Brittany Spears with 1:38 on the clock and a layup from Meagan Malcolm-Peck with 55 seconds remaining to take a 80-79 lead, the team's first since a 6-5 advantage early in the contest. After turnovers by both teams, the Tigers had one final possession with 20 seconds on the clock but Jones' jumper missed for the Buffalo victory.
Junior RaeShara Brown posted a career high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Senior Jessra Johnson notched her second double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds and classmate Toy Richbow had a career high 12 points and three steals. Junior Shakara Jones pulled down 11 rebounds.
TIGERS 11TH-BEST TURNOVER TEAM
Missouri has taken care of the ball well all season, as the team ranks 11th in the nation with just 14.2 turnovers per contest. Overall on the year, Mizzou has committed fewer turnovers than its opponents in 19 of 26 games.
The Tigers committed just six turnovers in the team's loss to Iowa State on Feb. 7. The total is the lowest of the season, besting the 10 given up against both Northern Iowa and the second meeting with Kansas.
The mark matched three other outputs of six turnovers for the Tigers since the 1992-93 season. The team committed just six against Nicholl's State on Dec. 11, 2005, Kansas on Feb. 7, 1999 and Kansas State on Jan. 10, 1993. You have to go all the way back to Jan. 30, 1988 for a lesser output, when the Tigers lost just four turnovers against Oklahoma State.
FREEBIES IMPROVING IN BIG 12 PLAY
The Tigers finished the non-conference schedule shooting just 62.6 percent (179-286) from the charity stripe in 13 games. Since that time, Mizzou has shot 72.7 percent (160-220) from the free throw line, an improvement of 10.1 percent.
The team ranks tied for fourth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage in conference games only, behind Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado and tied with Iowa State.
The turnaround has been an entire team effort. In Big 12 action, six players have attempted at least six free throws and all are shooting at least 68.8 percent from the line: Amanda Hanneman - 83.3; Jessra Johnson - 76.2; RaeShara Brown - 75.0; Christine Flores - 73.6; Shakara Jones - 71.4; Toy Richbow - 68.8.
The team has increased its overall free throw percentage to 67.0 percent thanks to the deft shooting in league games.
BROWN HAS CAREER DAY AGAINST BUFFS
Junior RaeShara Brown had the best offensive night of her career against Colorado on Feb. 23. The guard poured in a career high 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-4 from behind the arc and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Brown clearly enjoys playing against Colorado, as she has averaged 15.0 ppg. against the Buffs in four games against the team the past two seasons. In her last four outings against Colorado, Brown has scored 21 points (Feb. 23, 2010), eight points (Jan. 9, 2010), 14 points (Feb. 28, 2009) and 17 points (Jan. 24, 2009), her previous career high.
JOHNSON POSTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior Jessra Johnson posted her second double-double of the season and 13th of her career with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Colorado on Feb. 23. She shot an impressive 81.8 percent (9-11) from the free throw line during the game
In only 10 minutes in the first half, Johnson scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
RICHBOW STEPS UP THE OFFENSE
Senior Toy Richbow set a slew of career highs against the Buffs on Feb. 23. The guard posted a personal best 12 points, one more than her previous high, in a career most 44 minutes of action. Richbow also set bests with seven free throws made on nine attempts.
She shot 50 percent from the floor on just 2-of-4 shooting but hit her only three-point attempt, a bucket that gave the Tigers a 59-47 cushion with 12:04 left in the second half.
Richbow also nabbed a game high three steals.
MIZZOU HOLDS ISU'S THREES AT BAY
Iowa State entered its matchup with the Tigers on Feb. 20 as the nation's leader in three-point field goal percentage (41.7) and eighth in threes made per game (8.5).
During the contest Mizzou held the Cyclones to a season low 15.4 percent (2-13) from behind the arc, better than the 16.4 percent Iowa State shot against Nebraska on Jan. 9. The Cyclones only managed two threes against Missouri, which tied a season low, also set against the Huskers.
BROWN ENTERS CAREER TOP-10
After entering MU's career top-10 in steals on Feb. 3, junior RaeShara Brown now sits in eighth-place on the all-time list with 185 career steals. She needs 10 more to pass Stacy Williams for seventh-place. Just 63 steals away from Joni Davis' career record of 248, Brown seems destined to overtake the Tiger great next season.
The guard, who leads the Big 12 with 3.2 spg., has 82 steals so far this year. Her season total is tied for fifth all-time with Amy Fordham. If Brown records three steals, she will move into fourth-place on the single-season list, passing Joni Davis' 84-85 total of 84.
TIGERS STRONG OFF THE BENCH
Mizzou has enjoyed strong bench play throughout the season with 30.3 percent of the team's scoring coming from the bench. Overall, the Tigers average 19.2 ppg. from the bench, compared to 11.9 for opponents.
Missouri's bench has outscored the opposing bench 20 times in 26 games this season, including 18 of the past 19 games.
Only three times this year has the Tigers' bench failed to score at least 10 points (six points against Florida State, eight points against Iowa State and four points at Iowa State).
Against Texas-Pan American, 54 of Missouri's 83 total points came from the bench, a season high.
BROWN EIGHTH NATIONALLY IN STEALS
Junior RaeShara Brown leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally with 82 steals on the year for an average of 3.2 spg., 22 more than the next closest total in the conference. Her total is tied for the fifth-best single-season output in Tiger history. Most recently she grabbed one against Colorado on Tuesday.
If she keeps on her current pace, Brown will have a chance to break Amanda Lassiter's single-season steals record of 98.
Brown led the conference in steals last year with 2.7 spg. and 79 total on the year, which is the eighth best single-season total in Tiger history.
TIGERS COME CLOSEST TO STOPPING NU
Missouri's 82-78 defeat at the hands of No. 3 Nebraska was the closest a team has come to bringing down the undefeated Huskers all season.
Entering the game, Nebraska had a average margin of victory of +22.8 ppg. The Huskers' closest margin of victory was a five-point win, 76-71, at Miami on Dec. 5.
The 78 points Missouri scored also marked the second most points allowed by Nebraska all season, after a 79-point output by Texas on Jan. 12.
JOHNSON MOVING UP SCORING LIST
With a layup to start scoring in the second of Missouri's game against Bradley on Dec. 5 senior Jessra Johnson etched her name in the MU record book. The basket marked the 999th and 1,000th points in her Tiger career, making her the 27th player in Missouri history to score at least 1,000 points.
Johnson now stands in 17th-place on the all-time scoring list with 1,203 after scoring 17 points against Colorado. She needs 16 more points to pass Lisa Sandbothe (1,218) for 16th.
With 92 blocks in her career, Johnson also ranks ninth all-time on that list. Additionally, she could end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 669 in her career, she needs 10 rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.
MIZZOU TAKES ADVANTAGE OF FREEBIES
Against Nebraska on Feb. 13, the Tigers made 14-of-15 free throws as the team shot 93.3 percent from the charity stripe. The output was a season high for Mizzou, besting the 85.7 percent (6-7) the Tigers shot against Kansas State on Jan. 13.
The 93.3 percent also marked the highest free throw output for Missouri since the squad was a perfect 10-of-10 against Illinois on Dec. 21, 2007.