March 15, 2013

Game: Missouri (23-9, 11-7 SEC) vs. Ole Miss (23-8, 12-6 SEC)
When	March 15, 2013 | 9 p.m. CT
Location	Nashville, Tenn. | Bridgestone Arena
Tickets	Purchase
TV	SEC Network (Affliate List)
Radio	Tiger Radio Network (Affiliate List)
Online Coverage	ESPN3 | Listen | Gametracker
Printable Game Notes	Missouri | Ole Miss | SEC
Season Stats	Missouri | Ole Miss | SEC
SEC Tournament	2013 Bracket / SEC Tournament Headquarters
Future SEC Tournaments	SEC Tournament Future
Streak	Missouri has won four straight conference tournament games
Social Media	@MizzouHoops, @mutigersdotcom  | Facebook  | Mizzou Network

Missouri Tigers vs. Ole Miss
Date: March 15, 2013
Tip-Off: 9 p.m. CT
Arena: Bridgestone Arena (18,160)
TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal - Play by Play / Jon Sundvold - Analyst / Shannon Spake - Sideline)
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly - Play by Play and Gary Link - Analyst)
Rankings: Missouri - NR/RV - Associated Press / USA Today Coaches' Poll
                   Ole Miss - NR/NR
Series: Series tied, 1-1; Last 98-79 win by Mizzou on Feb. 9, 2013, in Columbia, Mo.
Coaches:
Missouri: Frank Haith (Elon '88); 182-115 overall (9th); 53-14 at Mizzou (2nd)
Ole Miss: Andy Kennedy (UAB '91); 169-99 overall (8th); 148-86 at Ole Miss (7th)

For Openers...
> Missouri Basketball continued its excellent play in a neutral-court setting under Head Coach Frank Haith, earning a 62-50 win over Texas A&M on Thursday night and the Tigers will now face Ole Miss for the third time this season in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville.
> Missouri is now 4-1 in neutral-court venues this year with wins over Stanford (78-70) and VCU (68-65) and a loss to then-No. 2 Louisville (84-61) in the 2012 Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas ... Missouri also beat No. 10 Illinois (82-73) in St. Louis before Thursday's win over A&M ... Overall Missouri is 11-2 in neutral-site games under Haith dating back to last season.
> Mizzou and Ole Miss split two regular season meetings this year ... The Tigers won 98-79 in Columbia on Feb. 9 and the Rebels won 64-49 on Jan. 12 in Oxford ... Laurence Bowers did not play in that first meeting in Oxford due to a sprained MCL in his right knee, but Bowers has been a force to close the year, finishing with three 20-point games over his last four contests.
> Over his last four games Bowers is averaging 19.3 points on 31-of-49 (.633) shooting with three 20-point efforts ... Bowers is also averaging 7.3 rebounds and has two double-doubles during that stretch.
> Mizzou was outstanding defensively in the win over the Aggies, holding Texas A&M to just 24.1 percent shooting and limiting Elston Turner to just seven points on 3-of-17 shooting ... Keion Bell drew the difficult assignment of Turner and it was just the third time he had been limited to single digits in points this year.
> Alex Oriakhi led Missouri's balanced attack with 13 points and 10 rebounds, recording his 11th double-double of the season ... It's the most double-doubles by a Tiger since Arthur Johnson ripped down 18 of them during the 2002-03 season.
> Missouri is in search of its 15th league tournament crown in school history, with the first 14 coming as a member of the Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12 conferences ... The most recent league title came last season in Kansas City in the Big 12 Tournament at Sprint Center.
> Missouri has two league tournament titles over the last four years, winning the 2009 and 2012 Big 12 crowns ... Missouri senior Laurence Bowers was a member of those two squads.
> Missouri is on a run of four consecutive conference tournament wins, its longest streak since the 1993 and 1994 Big Eight tournaments ... Missouri last won five consecutive league tournament games in 1982 and 1983, winning the 1982 Big Eight tourney before falling in the finals in 1983 ... Current SEC Network analyst Jon Sundvold averaged 15.7 points in those six games, including the winning-streak snapping loss to Oklahoma State in double overtime on March 13, 1983.
> Mizzou is  the lone high major team in college hoops with six players averaging double figures in scoring ... The Tigers have been one of college basketball's more balanced scoring teams since 2010-11 having five players in double figures in 2010-11 and 2011-12 before having six in double figures this season.
> Phil Pressey is the lone Tiger ever to play a complete season for Head Coach Frank Haith and if you break down the numbers Missouri is getting 84.7 percent of its scoring and 91.9 percent of its rebounding from players that did not see action for the club last season.

Mizzou Basketball Cliff Notes...
> Mizzou and Ole Miss lock up in the rubber match of this season's series and meet on a neutral court after each earned double-figure home wins during the regular season.
> Missouri has been very good when facing a team for the third time under Frank Haith ... The Tigers won the third meeting in games vs. Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor in last season's Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
> Missouri's defensive effort in the win over Texas A&M was nearly record breaking ... The Tigers held the Aggies to just 50 points on 24.1 percent shooting, the lowest scoring total in a postseason game since a 49-47 loss to Oklahoma in the finals of the 2003 Big 12 Championship in Dallas.
> Congratulations to Phil Pressey who broke his own single-season assist record on Thursday ... Pressey has 226 dimes this season, surpassing the 223 he dished as a sophomore in 2011-12 ... Pressey has 566 career assists and is in "no man's land" with regards to career dimes and conference rank, but he would be seventh all-time in Big 12 history and just 58 assists shy of the Top 10 in SEC history.
> Pressey is chasing former Ole Miss standout Sean Tuohy's single-season assist record ... Pressey has 226 assists this year and needs 35 dimes the rest of the season to break Tuohy's mark established in 1979-80 ... The junior is also just nine assists short of the single-season top five in SEC history and Pressey has the most assists for an SEC player since John Wall (Kentucky) dished 241 in 2009-10.
> Missouri is one of college basketball's winningest teams since 2008-09 ... The Tigers have 130 wins over the last five years, which is ninth among high major programs nationally.
> Mizzou continues to be one of the country's better rebounding clubs, ranking No. 2 nationally with 41.1 boards per game ... Missouri has done a great job on the backboard in its last 13 contests, boasting a rebounding margin of +11.7 ... The Tigers have outrebounded 26-of-32 opponents this year.
> Mizzou recently put the finishing touches on an undefeated home campaign last week and will look to continue its strong play in neutral-court settings this season ... Missouri is 4-1 in neutral site games including quality wins over then No. 10 Illinois, VCU and Stanford ... Missouri did not have the services of Jabari Brown in the wins over VCU and Stanford and in their one neutral-court loss to Louisville.
> The Tigers are 11-2 under Head Coach Frank Haith on a neutral court over the last two years, including an impressive 4-1 mark vs. Top 25 opponents.
> Missouri is also 4-0 under Haith in the conference tournament highlighted by last season's Big 12 title (3-0).
> Missouri is in the midst of its fifth consecutive 20-win campaign, a new school record ... The Tigers have actually won 23+ games each of the last five seasons.
> MU had also won 20+ games in four consecutive years from 1988-92 and 1979-83 before eclipsing that mark.
> Overall head coach Frank Haith is a very good 9-4 vs. Top 25 opponents at Mizzou and is 5-3 vs. the Top 10.
> Missouri is 5-2 vs. Top 10 opponents at home since 2008-09 and is 8-4 vs. Top 12 opponents since Mizzou Arena opened in 2004-05.
> Missouri had four players in double-figures, including 13 points and 10 rebounds from Alex Oriakhi to earn a 62-50 win over Texas A&M on Thursday ... The club was outstanding defensively, highlighted by the defensive efforts from Keion Bell, Jabari Brown and Earnest Ross ... Ross also joined Oriakhi with a game-high 10 rebounds.
> Oriakhi scored 10 of his 13 points on five dunks in the win over A&M.
> Missouri finished second in the SEC in scoring at 76.2 points per game ... The Tigers are averaging 78.9 points over their last 10 contests, shooting a solid 49.3 percent from the floor ... That average is up to  79.8 points on 52 percent shooting over the last six games.
> Mizzou is No. 7 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage at 39.4 percent (KenPom.com) and have used that great rebounding to rank No. 9 nationally in offensive efficiency ... Mizzou of course led the country in offensive efficiency a season ago.
> Missouri, Indiana, Creighton and Florida are the lone teams to rank among the Top 10 in offensive efficiency the last two years ... What makes that stat even more impressive is the fact the Tigers have just one player returning from last season's team, Phil Pressey, and are getting nearly 92 percent of their scoring production from fresh faces.
> Mizzou is also much improved in its defensive efficiency over last season ... Per Kenpom.com, the Tigers are No. 69 in defensive efficiency compared to No. 115 last year.
> Head Coach Frank Haith won his 50th game at Mizzou on Feb. 28 at South Carolina (63 total games) ... He was the fastest to 50 wins in school history.
> To put that in perspective Mike Anderson won his 50th game in his 81st try, Quin Snyder won No. 50 in his 80th game and Norm Stewart grabbed win No. 50 at Mizzou in his 92nd game ... George Edwards is actually No. 2 on the list, winning his 50th game in his 79th attempt ... Wilbur Stalcup won his 50th in game 86 tries.
> Missouri has tied a school record with six different players having scored at least 20 points in a game this season ... The last time that happened at Mizzou was during the 2008-09 season.
> Overall Missouri has 25 20-point efforts from those six players after having 33 20-point nights last year.
> Mizzou has played just 14 games this season with its regular rotation ... The Tigers are 10-4 in those contests and three of those eight wins are vs. ranked opponents (No. 10 Illinois, No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 4 Florida).
> With injuries and a near complete roster turnover, Missouri has used eight different starting lineups this year ... Haith used the same starting lineup throughout the 2011-12 campaign.
> The Tigers lead the SEC in free throw shooting, hitting 76.0 percent of their charity tosses in league play ... Overall this season the Tigers have made 501 free throws and their opponents have attempted just 542.
> Nationally the Tigers rank No. 30 in free throw percentage (.743) and are the No. 5 high major free throw shooting team in America ... Oklahoma is No. 11 nationally (.758), Oklahoma State in No. 22 (.748), Utah is No. 23 (.747) and Indiana is No. 24 (.745).
> A big reason for those free throw numbers is the senior forward Alex Oriakhi, who is shooting a career best 73.5 percent at the line on the year and is hitting 76.9 percent of his attempts in league play.
> Oriakhi is the first Tiger to average 8.0+ rebounds and shoot 70+ percent from the foul line since Doug Smith in 1990-91.
> Over the last four seasons Missouri is shooting 74.3 percent (2114-of-2845) from the foul line as a team and the Tigers have not been below 72.4 percent as a team since 2008-09.
> Mizzou has been very good in the second half of games all season ... The Tigers are averaging 41.0 points and are shooting 49.7 percent from the floor, 36.7 percent from three-point range and 76.7 percent from the foul line in the second half this year.
> The club boasts a +6.1 scoring margin (41.0-to-34.9) in this second half of those games as well.
> Mizzou's defense was outstanding at home this season, as just three teams topped 70 points vs. the Tigers (Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU) and opponents averaged just 62.4 points on 38 percent shooting at Mizzou Arena.
> Missouri has been one of the country's top rebounding teams throughout the year and has out-rebounded 26-of-32 foes in 2012-13 ... Missouri tied its largest rebounding margin of the year on March 5 (+25) vs. Arkansas and has recorded a double-digit rebounding advantages in 17-of-32 games, including four straight vs. Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Florida.
> The Tigers also average 13.6 offensive rebounds per game (No. 22 nationally) and turn that into 13.8 second-chance points per contest.
> Missouri has had six different players record double-figures in rebounds in a game this season, which is the most since six Tigers accomplished the feat during the 1995-96 campaign ... The school record for the number of players recording at least 10 rebounds in one game is seven, set during the 1959-60 season.
> In addition, Missouri already has a total of 22 point-rebound double-doubles between four different players (Bowers, Oriakhi, Ross and Bell), bettering the nine team double-doubles for Mizzou in 2011-12.
> Although the Tigers have a number of familiar faces due to transfer years with the program, just one player, Phil Pressey, has played for Head Coach Frank Haith ... Missouri is getting 84.7 percent of its scoring and 91.9 percent of its rebounding from players that did not see action at Mizzou a season ago.
> Missouri continues to get strong bench production thanks to the consistent play of Tony Criswell, Earnest Ross and the addition of Jabari Brown  ... Missouri is averaging 18.5 points per game from its bench on the year.
> On the season Missouri has 22 double-figure scoring efforts off the bench (Ross - 12, Bell - 4, Criswell - 3, Brown, Jankovic and Webster-Chan - 1).
> Despite having so many newcomers, Mizzou has been balanced through 32 games with eight players averaging at least 16.1 minutes a contest ... Nine different Tigers have also reached double figures in scoring in a game this season and seven different Tigers have recorded at least 7+ boards in a game.
> Missouri has won 73 consecutive regular-season, non-conference home games since 2005-06 and since 2006-07 (66-0) the club's average margin of victory has been 26.7 points in those non-league home tilts.
> Missouri is 16-0 in home non-league games under Frank Haith and 15 of those 16 wins have been by double figures ... In fact Mizzou is 24-2 in regular season non-league games under Haith and have won 18 of those games by 10 or more points, including wins over Villanova (10), Notre Dame (29) and California (39) on neutral courts.
> Haith was of course named the National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, taking the Tigers to their second 30-win season in school history and fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament.