March 2, 2012
7/8 University of Missouri Tigers (26-4, 13-4 Big 12) at Texas Tech (8-21, 1-16 Big 12)
Tip-Off: 3 p.m.
TV: Big 12 Network (Brad Sham - Play by Play / Rich Zvosec - Analyst)
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly - Play by Play / Gary Link - Analyst)
Rankings: MU: #7/8; TTU: NR (AP / ESPN/Coaches)
Series: Mizzou leads 15-7 (Last meeting: MU 63, TTU 50 - Columbia, Mo. - Jan. 28, 2012)
Coaches:
Missouri: Frank Haith (Elon `88); 155-105 overall (8th); 26-4 at Mizzou (1st season)
Texas Tech: Billy Gillispie (Texas State `83); 148-106 overall (8th); 8-21 at Tech (1st season)
Tigers Close Out Regular Season With Road Test at Texas Tech...
> The 7th/8th-ranked Missouri Tigers (26-4 overall, 13-4 in Big 12 Conference play) close out a magical regular season Saturday afternoon in Lubbock, Texas as they take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-21, 1-16). Tipoff for the game is set for 3 p.m. (central), and it will be televised live on the Big 12 Network...
> The Tigers broke a brief 2-game losing skid on Wednesday evening as they closed out the 2011-12 home season with a 78-72 win over Iowa State. The win clinched the #2 seed for Mizzou in next week's Big 12 Tournament, and they will play their first game in Kansas City on Thursday, March 8th at 6 p.m., against either #7-seed Oklahoma State or #10-seed Texas Tech...
> Texas Tech is looking to break a 5-game skid, since claiming its sole conference win back on Feb. 11th (65-47 at home over Oklahoma). The Red Raiders aren't far away from owning a 3-game home court winning streak however, as their last two home games were hardfought losses to Texas (71-67 in overtime on Feb. 25th) and to Texas A&M (47-38 on Feb. 14th)...
Mizzou Looks to Break Regular-Season Wins Record...
> It's already been a memorable season for the Missouri Tigers, who have locked up a 2nd-place finish in the Big 12 Conference - tying for the best finish in the league standings since the conference began play in 1996-97. The only other season in which Mizzou finished 2nd in the Big 12 was 1998-99, when Norm Stewart's last Tiger team went 11-5 in league play (20-9 overall) and tied for 2nd...
> With Wednesday's win over Iowa State, the Tigers tied a school record for most regular-season wins, with #26 on the year. A win Saturday in Lubbock would give this team the record to itself, and break the tie with the 1989-90 team which went 26-4 in the regular season before ending 26-6 overall. The 2008-09 (on which current Tigers Marcus Denmon, Kim English, Steve Moore and Jarrett Sutton were freshmen), ended with a school-record 31 overall wins and an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament...
Mizzou Looking for Lone Star State Sweep...
> Mizzou has enjoyed success on the court against its Big 12 Conference foes from the state of Texas this season, as MU is a perfect 7-0 to this point against Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. A win Saturday in Lubbock would give Mizzou a perfect 8-0 season sweep of league brethren from the Lone Star State - marking the first time since 1998-99 that MU has won all of its in-league games against Texas schools (that team went 4-0, back before the current double round-robin schedule)...
Nation's Best 6th-Man, Michael Dixon, Leads Comeback Win Over Iowa State...
> Wednesday night was emotionally charged, as it was senior night for the winningest class in Mizzou history. As often happens, the emotions of the night seemed to hamper the Tigers overall, and visiting Iowa State overcame a quick 7-0 deficit to take the lead for virtually all of the first half. The Cyclones took a 40-36 halftime lead, and quickly got up by 7 points in the 2nd half. Up stepped the only non-senior to contribute off the bench for the Tigers, and Michael Dixon, Jr. came in to help save the day...
> Dixon scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the 2nd half, thanks to a perfect 20 minutes of shooting - he went 5-of-5 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the foul line - while adding 3 of his 4 assists after intermission to help the Tigers fight back and eventually pull away late for their 78-72 win...
> A perfect illustration of how valuable Dixon is came during a crucial stretch in the 2nd half where Mizzou turned a 6-point deficit into a 3-point lead in a nearly 8-minute stretch. Mizzou trailed 49-43 with 15:54 left in the game and then Dixon took over. Over the next 8 minutes, Mizzou outscored ISU by a 19-10 margin to take a 62-59 lead with 7:33 left. During that stretch, Dixon was responsible for 15 of the 19 points, as he scored 9 of them himself and had 3 assists, in addition to grabbing 2 rebounds...
> Excuse our bias, but if there's a better 6th-man in the country, we'd like to see him.
Tigers Gunning for 50% Mark From Floor...
> Mizzou's resurgence in 2011-12 has largely centered around its offensive efficiency, as the Tigers are currently ranked by Kenpom.com as the nation's #1-ranked team in that statistical category. Naturally, good shooting plays a big part of that, and Mizzou's guard-heavy lineup features a bunch of good shooters who have helped MU to a #3 national ranking in team field goal percentage (49.9%). Senior F Ricardo Ratliffe has been no slouch himself of course, as he personally leads the entire nation with his 71.0% success rate from the floor...
> If the Tigers can finish the 2011-12 season at or above the 50.0% mark as a team, it would be the first time since 1989-90 (22 seasons ago) that a Tiger team shot 50% in a year. It would mark just the 5th time since the advent of the 3-point line in 1986-87. The alltime school shooting record is 57.3% by the 1979-80 team - a mark which is also the NCAA single-season record (and one that will likely never be broken because of the 3-point line).
Denmon Makes Big Move Up Mizzou Career Scoring List...
> Senior G Marcus Denmon has quietly gone about his business for the past four seasons at Mizzou, and the unassuming guard likely doesn't get the notoriety he deserves. But when the book closes on his Tiger career, the record will show that he's been one of the top players in Tiger history. Denmon enters Saturday's game at Texas Tech ranked 6th on the MU alltime scoring list, with his 1,697 points. He was "held" to 14 points in Wednesday's win over Iowa State, but those points jumped him from 9th to a tie for 6th on the charts, with former MU great Melvin Booker (1991-94)...
> Depending on how many games Mizzou plays the rest of the season, if Denmon kept up his season scoring average of 18 points the rest of the way, he's got a shot at realistically reaching as high as 4th on the chart, challenging former All-American Steve Stipanovich, who is 4th alltime with 1,836 points from 1980-83...
Pressey Breaks Peeler's Assists Record...
> Sophomore PG Phil Pressey is undoubtedly one of the top play-makers in the nation, and he's coming off a record-setting outing Wednesday against Iowa State. In the game, Pressey broke a long-standing single-season school record for assists. He entered the game against ISU tied with former Mr. All-Everything Anthony Peeler, who set the school season record with 179 assists in 1989-90. Pressey got his first assist on a Michael Dixon basket at the 12:03 mark of the 1st half to break the record, and he would end the night with 4 assists in all to raise his season total to 183...
> Lost in the drama of Mizzou's 87-86 overtime loss last Saturday at #4 Kansas was the fact that Pressey tied Peeler's single-season school record with his brilliant 12-assist performance against the Jayhawks. Pressey, who was saddled with foul trouble most of the day, tied his career high with his dozen dimes, while he added 8 points and 3 rebounds, along with 2 steals...
> Pressey enters Saturday's game at Texas Tech as the Big 12 Conference's leader in both assists (6.1 apg) and steals (2.1 spg), while he ranks 2nd in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.4 p/g)...