Nov. 26, 2011
21/21 University of Missouri Tigers (5-0) vs.
University of Binghamton Bearcats (0-4)
Tip-Off: 2 p.m.
Arena: Mizzou Arena (15,061)
TV: MSN (Chris Gervino - Play by Play / Scott Highmark - Analyst)
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Tom Ackerman - Play by Play / Gary Link - Analyst)
Rankings: MU: #21/21; (AP / ESPN/USA Today Coaches)
Series: First meeting
Coaches:
Missouri: Frank Haith (Elon `88); 134-101 overall (8th); 5-0 at Mizzou (1st season)
Binghamton: Mark Macon (Temple `91); 21-45 at Binghamton (3rd season)
For Openers...
- The Tigers host the Binghamton Bearcats Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena ... the contest is the first-ever matchup between the two schools ... It also marks Mizzou's first game against an American East Conference opponent.
- Mizzou looks to improve to 6-0 for the first time since the 2006-07 season and the 21st time overall.
- Missouri's 39-point win over No. 20/18 California is believed to be the Tigers' largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent in program history ... The previous biggest win over a ranked foe was a 119-93 win over #10 Iowa State on Jan. 23, 1988 ... Dating back to the inception of the AP poll during the 1948-49 season, the Tigers have eight wins of at least 20 points over ranked opponents.
- Mizzou's CBE Classic title was the second ever for the team after it claimed the crown in 2001 (then known as the Guardians Classic) and marked the second straight season the team won a regular season tournament championship ... Last year the Tigers claimed the Cancun Challenge.
- The Tigers are one of the nation's best overall shooting teams, as the squad leads the Big 12 Conference in the three shooing statistics: field goal percentage (.513), 3-point field goal percentage (.463) and free throw percentage (.788).
- Over the last two contests, the Tigers are shooting an incredible 58.5 (62-of-106) percent from the floor ... The team has shot over 50 percent in its last four halves of basketball, which includes games against Notre Dame and No. 20/18 Cal.
- Junior Michael Dixon now ranks first all-time at Missouri in free throw percentage at 85.1 percent ... The junior entered the season ranked fourth at 83.4 percent from the charity stripe but has made 24-of-25 so far this year to pass Jon Sundvold, Jason Sutherland and Brian Grawer ... He also lead the conference this season at 96.0 percent.
- Missouri moved up to #21 in the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll on Monday. The Tigers entered 2010-11 ranked #25 in both polls to start the year... Last season marked the first year that the Tigers were ranked in the preseason since 2003-04 ... Missouri opened the year #5 in 2003-04, the highest preseason ranking in school history.
Mizzou Quick Hitters
- The Tigers next hit the court on Friday, Dec. 2 when the squad hosts Northwestern State at 7 p.m. at Mizzou Arena.
- The Tigers are shooting well early in the season ... The team is shooting 51.3 percent from the floor, an impressive 46.3 percent from behind the arc and 78.8 percent from the free throw line in their first four games.
- Mizzou puts its 61-game non-conference home court winning streak on the line today ... The run, which dates back to the 2005-06 campaign, 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.
- Missouri has three of the Big 12's top seven shooters on its roster ... Senior Ricardo Ratliffe leads the league at 65.0 percent, senior Kim English is fifth at 56.5 percent and senior Marcus Denmon ranks seventh at 54.2 percent ... Even when counting the top 10 shooters in the league, Mizzou is the only school with at least two on the list, nevermind three.
- Senior Kim English is shooting an incredible 60.0 percent from behind the arc so far this year ... The number leads in the Big 12 ... He also leads the conference with 18 3-point field goals made.
- Six different Tigers scored in double figures against Cal on Nov. 22, the first time that happened since a seven Tigers did it in a 116-63 win over Central Arkansas on Dec. 18, 2010.
- The Tigers have had at least four double digit scorers in all five games this season ... The team also had five against Niagara and six against Cal.
- Mizzou has made at least 10 3-pointers in three of its five games so far this season ... The Tigers made 12 against Niagara, 11 against Mercer and 10 against Cal ... All of last season Missouri had 10 or more treys in a game just seven times in 34 games.
- The Tigers lead the Big 12 with 10.8 steals per contest ... This continues a recent trend as over the past three seasons, Missouri has either led the nation or finished second in steals per game ... The team led the nation in 2009-10 with 10.94 and finished second in 2008-09 (10.56) and 2010-11 (10.94).
- Sophomore Phil Pressey is doing most of the damage in the steals department with 15 on the year ... He leads the Big 12 with 3.0 per game.
- Denmon's 26 points against Notre Dame were the most by a Tiger this season ... The total was just one point off his career high ... He has scored at least 20 points in three games this season.
- Senior Steve Moore was a major factor in Mizzou's strong start over Cal on Nov. 22 ... The center scored a career high 10 points, all in the first half, on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor and 3-of-3 shooting from the charity stripe ... He also had three blocks, three steals and 2 assists.
- With three blocks against Cal, Steve Moore entered Missouri's career top-10 blocks list with 73 in his three-plus years ... He has nine on the season to rank sixth in the Big 12 at 1.8 per game ... He needs four more to tie Leo Lyons for ninth on the all-time list with 77.
- Seniors Marcus Denmon and Kim English continue to move up Missouri's all-time scoring list ... Denmon now has 1,254 in his career, which puts him 24th all-time at Mizzou ... Denmon needs 21 more points to tie Lee Coward for 23rd ... English stands at 1,143 points, good for 31st place ... He needs three more points to tie Jimmy McKinney for 30th ... The two surpassed the 1,000 point mark in 2010-11.
- Missouri has typically played some tough schedules over the years and that trend continues in 2011-12 ... After the release of the preseason polls, Mizzou will have 11 games against teams ranked receiving votes in the preseason AP top 25 and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll... Included in that list are #12 Baylor, #13 Kansas, #19/20 Texas A&M, #24 California, Texas, Illinois, and Notre Dame.
- Senior Laurence Bowers will be forced to redshirt the 2011-12 season after suffering a season-ending knee injury (ACL) in October ... Bowers averaged 11.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks a year ago.
- This year's seniors mark the winningest class in Missouri Basketball program history...The team's 77 wins over the last three seasons mark the most in a three-year stretch at Mizzou...The Tiger clubs from 1980-83 and 1988-91 won 75 games over a three-year stretch ... The class now has a record of 82-29.
- The Tigers recorded 23+ wins in each of the last three campaigns for the first time in program history...Mizzou won 31 games in 2008-09 and went 23-11 in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
- The Binghamton Bearcats enter Sunday's game with a 0-4 record on the season after losses to Colgate, Cornell, Fordham and Saint Peter's.
- Robert Mansell paces the Bearcats with 16.3 points per contests ... Ben Dickinson ranks second in points at 15.0 and leads the team with 6.0 rebounds.
- Head Coach Mark Macon owns a 21-45 all-time record at Binghamton in his third season.
Series vs. Binghamton
- Today's game marks the first ever game between the Tigers and Bearcats.
- Kim English had 19 points to lead six Tigers in double figures, and No. 21 Missouri dominated No. 20 California 92-53 to win the CBE Classic on Tuesday night.
- Missouri built a 45-26 lead by halftime and the outcome was never in doubt over the final 20 minutes, with coach Frank Haith pulling his starters with a few minutes left in the game.
- Marcus Denmon added 18 points and was the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Matt Pressey had 13 points and Michael Dixon finished with 11 for the Tigers (5-0), who won the event just a couple hours' drive from their campus in Columbia for the second time in four appearances.
- MU's 39-point victory over No. 20/18 Cal on Nov. 22 is believed to be the team's biggest margin of victory ever over a ranked foe, according to available resources.
- Dating back to the debut of the AP poll in the 1948-49 season, the Tigers had recorded eight other 20-plus point victories over ranked teams.
Margin Opponent Score Date
39 #20 California 92-53 11/22/11
26 #10 Iowa State 119-93 1/23/88
25 #18 Kansas 91-66 2/1/89
23 #4 Iowa 97-74 12/11/54
22 #7 Kansas 81-59 1/22/00
22 #19 Nebraska 74-52 2/11/78
21 #20 Oklahoma 74-53 2/15/58
20 #14 Nebraska 91-71 2/16/91
20 #25 Texas 88-68 1/10/07
Balanced Scoring Once Again
- Five different Tigers are averaging double figures in scoring through the first five games of the season.
- Last season Mizzou finished the year with five players scoring 10-plus points a contest, which marked just the fourth time in school history that happened.
- Denmon leads the way with 19.0 points, followed by Kim English (16.0), Phil Pressey (12.2), Ricardo Ratliffe (11.4) and Michael Dixon (10.2).
- Six different Tigers have reached double figures so far this season: Denmon, English, Phil Pressey, Ratliffe, Michael Dixon, Matt Pressey and Steve Moore.
- Junior guard Michael Dixon entered the 2011-12 season ranked fourth on MU's all-time free throw percentage list.
- Dixon now is currently the all-time leader at MU in free throw percentage at 85.1 percent after making 25-of-26 so far this season.
- One the season, his 96.0 percent shooting from the charity stripe ranks first in the conference.
- Senior Ricardo Ratliffe ranks first among Big 12 players with a 65.0 (26-of-40) field goal percentage through five games ... In just his last three games, he's shooting 77.3 (17-of-22) percent.
- Ratliffe now has a career field goal percentage of 58.1 percent ... He is not eligible for MU's career list because he does not have 500 attempts but if he did, his percentage would rank third all-time.
- The Tigers are the Big 12's top 3-point shooting team, hitting at a clip of 46.3 percent on the year.
- Just five games into the season, the squad had made at least 10 treys in three games.
- Mizzou's 11 threes against Mercer were the most for the Tigers since the team made 12 against North Alabama on Jan. 5 of last year.
- Senior Kim English is leading the way with 18 3-pointers in five games while shooting an impressive 60 percent from behind the arc.