Mizzou, Nebraska Meet On Wednesday
March 8, 2010
Columbia, Mo. - Complete Release in PDF Format Mizzou Basketball News and Notes 2009-10 #5 University of Missouri Tigers (22-9, 10-6 Big 12) vs. #12 University of Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-17, 2-14 Big 12) 2009-10 Season Game 32 - March 10, 2010 - Kansas City, Mo.
Tip-off: 2 p.m. CST (or 30 minutes following conclusion of Game 1) Arena: Sprint Center - Kansas City, Mo. (18,879) TV: Big 12 Network - (Mitch Holthus play-by-play; Reid Gettys analyst) Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly play-by-play; Gary Link analyst) Rankings: Mizzou: RV/NR, Nebraska: NR/NR in Associated Press / USA Today Coaches polls Series: Missouri leads 125-91 all-time; last - Mizzou won 74-59 on Feb. 20, 2010 in Lincoln Coaches: Missouri: Mike Anderson (Tulsa ’82); 176-85 overall (8th season); 87-44 at Mizzou (4th) Nebraska: Doc Sadler (Arkansas, ‘82); 237-114 overall (11th season); 69-57 at Nebraska (4th)
For Openers > Missouri Basketball heads into postseason play looking to defend its Big 12 Tournament crown within the borders of its home state ... Missouri won last season’s Big 12 title in Oklahoma City, knocking off Texas Tech (81-60), Oklahoma State (67-59) and Baylor (73-60) for its first-ever Big 12 hoops trophy. > Missouri will be playing its fourth game inside the Sprint Center ... Missouri split a pair of games against #10 Michigan State (L, 83-86) and Maryland (W, 84-70) in the 2007 CBE Classic and then fell to these same Nebraska Cornhuskers (L, 56-61) as the #10 seed in the 2008 Big 12 Tournament. > Missouri and Nebraska have met in the #5 vs. #12 game once before with MU claiming a 70-61 win in the 2003 Championships in Dallas ... Missouri went on to advance to the championship game before falling to the #3 seed Oklahoma, 49-47, in the title game. > While no Big 12 team has won four games in four days, Missouri has been close ... The Tigers advanced to the championship game in 1997 as the #10 seed in Kansas City and of course that aforementioned run in 2003 as the #5 ... Missouri (2003) and Oklahoma State (1999) are the only #5 seeds to make the finals. > Missouri is looking for its fourth consecutive Big 12 Tournament win, which is naturally the only active Big 12 Tournament winning streak ... The Tigers have never won four consecutive Big 12 Tournament games and only Kansas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma have won four straight in Big 12 Tournament play. > Mizzou has won 53 games over the last two seasons, the ninth most wins in Division I hoops during that stretch ... The Tigers are also 22-10 in league play during that time and only Kansas (29-3) has a better record vs. Big 12 foes ... If you include three wins in last season’s Big 12 Tournament the Tigers are 24-10 in their last 34 Big 12 contests. > The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball produces some incredible steal numbers and over the last two seasons Missouri has ripped away 729 total steals, the highest two-season steal total in Big 12 history ... Kansas held the previous record with 706 steals in 2006-07 and 2007-08. > Missouri is of course known for its pressure defense and those huge steal totals, but the Tigers have been very good defensively in the half court all season long as well ... Mizzou is allowing opponents to shoot just 40.5 percent from the floor and 30.1 percent from three-point range this season, the lowest field goal percentage defense totals since Norm Stewart patrolled the Hearnes Center sidelines in 1998-99. > While the Tigers are advancing defensively in the half court, Missouri still leads the nation in both steals per game (11.0) and turnovers forced per game (19.9) ... Missouri has already recorded 341 steals this season (#2 in school history) and the 11.0 thefts per game are the most in Big 12 history, topping the 10.9 Nebraska recorded in 1998-99.
Mizzou Quick Hitters > Defending Big 12 Tournament Champion Missouri and Nebraska meet in Big 12 Tournament play for the fourth time since 2003 on Wednesday and for the fifth time in Big 12 Tournament history overall ... Missouri is 3-2 vs. the Big Red, but Nebraska has won the last two postseason meetings. > Mizzou and Nebraska have met in Kansas City 23 times over the years and the Tigers are 13-10 in those games and have won eight of the last 11 meetings in KC dating back to the 1971 Big Eight Holiday Tournament. > Mizzou is looking for a three-game sweep of Nebraska this season ... The Tigers swept the regular season, winning 70-53 in Columbia (Jan. 23) and in Lincoln, 74-59, on Feb. 20. > Missouri is 7-3 vs. Big 12 North clubs this season... Only Kansas (10-0) boasts a better record vs. the North and Kansas State was third at 8-4. > In the months of February and March the last two seasons Missouri is an impressive 19-7 overall, including six total postseason wins (including three wins last season in the Big 12 Tournament). > Mizzou is a solid 8-5 the last two seasons vs. ranked opponents, including three wins over ranked foes on neutral courts: #2 Memphis, 23 Marquette and #19 USC. > Don’t get fooled by the pace Missouri plays at, the Tigers are incredibly efficient ... Missouri does lead the nation with 11.0 steals per game and ranks #1 nationally in turnovers forced (19.9), but Anderson’s club also ranks #30 nationally in assists per game (15.5), #2 nationally in turnover margin (+6.7) and is among the Top 35 nationally with a 1.2 assist/turnover ratio as a team. > The 2009-10 Tigers are looking to join the Mizzou records book in a number of statistical categories ... The 341 steals ranks #2 all-time ... The 147 blocks are also #2 ... Missouri’s 37.2 percent shooting from three-point range is #6 all-time, while the 72.5 percent free throw shooting is #7. > Missouri is being led in scoring by THREE underclassmen, Kim English (14.1), Marcus Denmon (11.0) and Laurence Bowers (10.1) ... The last time that happed was during the 1999-2000 campaign when Keyon Dooling (15.3), Kareem Rush (14.7) and Clarence Gilbert (13.7) paced the Tigers in scoring. > Third Team All-Big 12 honoree Kim English recorded his ninth 20-point game of the year on Feb. 6, scoring 21 points at Colorado ... That’s the most 20-point games by a sophomore since Linas Kleiza accomplished the feat (also nine times) in 2004-05 ... In case you were wondering, Kareem Rush scored 20+ as a sophomore 16 times in 2000-01, Anthony Peeler did it eight times, Derrick Chievous 15 times and Ricky Frazier 12 times. > Missouri has had a school record five different players hit four (or more) treys in a game this year ... Kim English, Marcus Denmon, Zaire Taylor, Miguel Paul and Michael Dixon have all hit 4+ triples in a game this season ... Don’t forget that four of those five players are underclassmen! > The previous mark was four set during the 2000-01 season by Brian Grawer, Kareem Rush, Clarence Gilbert and Wesley Stokes. > Missouri ranks #30 nationally with 15.5 assists per game … The perfect illustration for the Tigers’ unselfishness is that Mizzou has ZERO players ranked among the Top 250 nationally in assists … No one player dominates that basketball and that fuels Missouri’s quick-strike offense … However nine different Tigers have 34 or more assists this season, led by J.T. Tiller (87), Zaire Taylor (81), freshman Michael Dixon (52) and sophomore Miguel Paul (51) ... And as a reminder, Missouri led the nation in assists last season with 18.4 dimes per contest. > Missouri has topped 20 assists eight times, including 28 dimes in the 106-69 win against Oregon and 25 vs. Georgia. > Conversely the Tigers lead the nation in steals per game (11.0) and are led defensively by Big 12 All-Defensive Team member, J.T. Tiller ... It’s not the steal total to watch with Tiller, it’s the deflections and overall havoc the senior causes on the floor. > Missouri is #2 nationally in turnover margin at +6.7 … With that great turnover margin and assist/turnover ratio (+1.2) the Tigers have taken 192 more shots then their opponents this year … That statistic certainly helps to offset rebounding margin … In a crazy stat that speaks to great ball-security, the Tigers already have 147 more steals this season than their opponents through 31 games. > Did you know the Tigers actually turn their opponent over a nation-leading 30 percent of the time during a game and score 30 percent of their points off turnovers? > With that great turnover percentage Missouri is forcing 19.9 turnovers a game and is averaging 23.1 points per game off of those turnovers. > It’s certainly early, but the Tigers sport excellent depth on their roster ... Nine different players have reached double figures in scoring and 10 different Tigers are averaging at least 10.0 minutes per game ... In addition, that depth fuels Missouri’s pressure and has allowed the Tigers to reach double figures in steals in 21-of-31 contests, including a school record 24 thefts vs. Chattanooga on Nov. 24. > Missouri continues to be outstanding at the free throw line this season ... The Tigers are hitting at a 72.5 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 33.0 of their 78.1 points per game from the reserves ... Missouri’s bench has actually outscored (or tied) their starters seven times this season and are outscoring their opposition’s bench 33.0-to-18.2. > That bench scoring total leads the Big 12 Conference and ranks #2 among the national leaders. > Mizzou has had a double-figure scorer off the pine in 25 games this season, including a season high three players in the wins against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Oregon and UMKC. > One thing about Mike Anderson’s clubs, they are built for the long haul ... Over his tenure “Coach A’s” teams have averaged 27.3 points per game off the bench... That’s over 131 career games. > It’s nothing new to have the reserves outscore the starters either ... Including seven games this season, the reserves have dropped in more tallies than the “initial five” 19 times (in 131 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! > To help illustrate that point even further, Missouri has had eight different starting lineups this year. > Missouri has typically played some tough schedules over the years and that trend will continue in 2009-10 ... Mizzou has 15 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 against, Illinois, Old Dominion, Vanderbilt, Oregon, Georgia and Richmond.
Tiger Tidbits J.T. Tiller, 6-4, 200 Pounds > J.T. Tiller (aka the Tasmanian Devil) has earned mention on virtually every preseason All-Defensive Team in 2009-10, including the Big 12’s Postseason All-Defensive Team … Tiller was the 2009 Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year and was named to All-Defensive Teams by Sports Illustrated and ESPN prior to the start of his senior season. > Tiller was recently named to the Big 12’s All-Academic Team and will graduate in May with a degree in Business. > Tiller has played excellent basketball for Missouri in the second half of Big 12 play and is averaging 9.6 points, 3.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals in his last 10 games. > During that stretch Tiller scored a season high 17 points twice vs. Iowa State and dished a career high nine dimes and grabbed a season high seven boards vs. Colorado. > Tiller suffered a fractured nose in the road win at Colorado and wore a protective mask for about 30 seconds in the first win against Iowa State ... Tossing the mask aside proved to be a good idea, as the senior scored a season high 17 points, grabbed four boards, dished three assists and ripped two steals in the win. > He then hit 6-of-12 shots in Ames last week to record 17 tallies for this second time this year vs. the Cyclones. > The Marietta, Ga., native has 318 career assists and needs 12 more dimes to move into the career Top 10. > Once he gets those 12 assists Tiller will be the only player in Mizzou history to rank among the Top 10 in games played, assists and steals for a career. > He also owns 154 career steals and is #9 all-time in that category in school history. > Tiller is just the seventh player in school history with 300 dimes and 150 thefts over his career.
Zaire Taylor, 6-4, 189 Pounds > Zaire Taylor has been one of America’s top defensive players so far in 2009-10 and is #2 in the Big 12 and ranked among the Top 100 nationally with 1.9 steals per game this season. > Thanks to his versatility, Taylor was named an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 selection this season. > 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 ... This season he is #68 nationally with a 2.1-to-1 ratio (81 dimes, 38 turnovers). > Taylor has wasted little time picking up his assist totals this year and has dished 81 dimes while committing just 35 turnovers in his last 30 games, including a career-best eight assists and zero turnovers at Oklahoma. > Of course its hard to talk about Taylor and not mention his “Big Shot” moniker ... Taylor hit game-winners last year vs. #16 Kansas and at #16 Texas and then broke a 66-66 tie vs. #10 K-State on Jan. 9 with a deep triple with just 33 seconds remaining ... He then won the game at Iowa State on March 2 with three huge shots in the final :17 seconds of regulation and five minutes of overtime. > Taylor has done an excellent job supplementing his scoring at the foul line in Big 12 play and has made 41-of-48 charity shots in league action (.854). > 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.
Keith Ramsey, 6-9, 217 Pounds >Keith Ramsey continues to surge for Missouri as he concludes his collegiate career and has reached double figures in scoring in three of his last six games. > Ramsey has hit 23-of-40 shots (.560) during that stretch and is a very solid 7-of-10 from the foul line. > Ramsey has also been solid on the glass over that same time frame, averaging 8.3 rebounds, while blocking 1.4 shots and ripping away 1.5 steals a game.
Laurence Bowers, 6-8, 205 Pounds > Laurence Bowers is one of Missouri’s most efficient players this season and is third on the team in scoring (10.1), second in rebounding (5.6) and tops in blocked shots (1.4) in just 21.5 minutes a game. > Bowers is tops on the club in double-doubles with three ... He recently logged 10 points and a career high 12 rebounds vs. Iowa State in the first meeting. > In fact Bowers’ rebounding average is up to 5.8 rpg in league play thus far. > Bowers scored a career high 23 points in the Jan. 2 win against Georgia, hitting 11-of-14 FGs for his first career 20-point night. > 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. > The Memphis native has blocked at least one shot in 24-of-31 games this season, including a career high four swats in the wins against Austin Peay and Tech.
Kim English, 6-6, 200 Pounds > Kim English was named one of the nation’s Top 5 Most Improved Players by Dick Vitale in USA Today. > English became just the third Missouri underclassmen to earn All-Big 12 First, Second or Third Team honors as he was selected to the Third Team by the league coaches. > English leads Missouri with 20 double figure scoring games this season, including nine 20-point efforts. > English has 61 treys this year and needs just 14 more to move into the Mizzou single-season Top 10. > While he has been very good from the perimeter, English is evolving into a well-rounded scorer and leads the club in free throw attempts (121) and makes (89). > Although he scored just nine points against Iowa State in the first meeting due to foul trouble, the Baltimore native drilled the game-cinching three-pointer vs. Iowa State with 1:44 remaining and the Tigers ahead just 56-53. > He also scored nine consecutive points in the second half of Mizzou’s win against Texas (18 for the game) to help the Tigers pull away and earn the win. > English grabbed a career high 10 boards for his first double-double at Texas Tech. > He also grabbed six rebounds and ripped two steals vs. the Fighting Illini ... English has at least one steal in 26-of-31 games this season. > English was named the Big 12’s Player of the Week on Dec. 28 after leading the team to wins against Illinois (24 points) and Austin Peay (23 points).
Marcus Denmon, 6-3, 185 Pounds > Marcus Denmon is full strength after off-season knee surgery and has reached double figures 16 times this year. > Denmon is #3 in the Big 12 in three-point percentage (.427) and is hitting 44 percent of his treys over the last 24 games (54-of-123), including 17-of-24 games with multiple three-point makes. > Denmon has been one of Mizzou’s most consistent scorers with those 16 double-figure efforts and has topped 20 points four times in league play. > He recently scored a career high 24 points at Nebraska thanks to 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range and followed that with 21 points in the win against Colorado for the first back-to-back 20-point games of his career. > Denmon then poured in 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds at Iowa State in the huge victory in Ames. > Denmon has been very good late in games recently ... The Kansas City native is coming off a 14-point effort against #10 Kansas State where he scored eight of his team-high tying 14 points in span of 3:43 late in the second half to hand the Tigers the victory ... The Tigers were down 55-49 at the 5:37 mark when Denmon nailed back-to-back treys and then hit a baseline runner off glass. > During the win at Texas Tech Denmon scored five points in overtime, including the first bucket of the extra frame and a 24-foot trey to break an 85-85 tie. > He also scored 14 second-half points at Iowa State on March 2.
Justin Safford, 6-8, 230 Pounds > Justin Safford is out with a torn ACL in his left knee ... Safford will be continually monitored throughout the season. > Safford suffered the injury vs. Colorado and actually opened the game with a flurry, scoring eight points in the first seven minutes. > The Bloomington, Ill., native was enjoying a career year and was averaging 10.2 tallies per game, with seven double-figure scoring contests over his last 12 games.
Miguel Paul, 6-1, 172 Pounds > Miguel Paul scored a career high 15 points to lead Mizzou in the win against Nebraska back in Columbia ... Paul hit two treys and 5-of-6 total field goals in 16 minutes. > Paul owns an excellent assist/turnover ratio this season with 51 dimes and just 22 turnovers (2.3-to-1). > The sophomore is also shooting and excellent 41 percent from three point range this season, including a pair of treys in back-to-back games vs. Colorado and at Kansas State.
Steve Moore, 6-9, 264 Pounds > 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. > Moore recently blocked a career high five shots at Kansas State and those five swats were the most by any Tiger this season. > Moore has 11 blocked shots over his last four games, with four multi-block games. > The Kansas City native enjoyed a tremendous outing at Colorado, scoring four points and grabbing three boards in the first half vs. the Buffaloes. > Moore then played a career high 21 minutes in the return game vs. CU at Mizzou Arena, scoring two points, grabbing three boards, blocking two shots and ripping two steals. > Since the injury by fellow forward Justin Safford, Moore is averaging 15.8 mpg and has logged those team-leading 11 blocks during that stretch.
Michael Dixon, 6-1, 175 Pounds > Michael Dixon has been one of the Big 12’s top freshmen this season and is averaging 7.2 points on 46 percent shooting this year. > Dixon has reached double figures in 11 games and was excellent in “high major” non-conference games, averaging 11.2 in contests against Illinois, Oregon, Georgia and Vanderbilt. > The rookie showed his moxie in Missouri’s road win at Texas Tech, hitting four free throws in the final :17 seconds of OT for the triumph. > The Kansas City native leads Mizzou in FT percentage at 85.4 percent. > Dixon hit a career high 4-of-4 treys against Oklahoma State, while adding two assists, two steals and zero turnovers. > He also reached double figures in the win against Texas, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting with a pair of steals. > Dixon was named the Big 12’s Newcomer of the Week on Dec. 28, the first league honor of his young career.
About The Nebraska Cornhuskers Nebraska (14-17, 2-14 Big 12) heads to Kansas City as the #12 seed in this week’s Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament ... The Cornhuskers are coming off a 74-55 loss at Oklahoma State over the weekend despite getting 16 points from Brandon Richardson and 14 more from freshman Christian Standhardinger who made his fourth start of the year ... Senior Ryan Anderson (did not play at OSU) leads Nebraska in both scoring and rebounding this season at 11.0 points and 5.2 rebounds a game ... Richardson is second with 8.7 tallies ... Lance Jeter has been one of the Big 12’s top newcomers with 121 assists and sports an excellent 2-to-1 assist/turnover ratio this year.
The Series With Nebraska Missouri and Nebraska meet for the 217th time on Wednesday and Mizzou holds a 125-91 series lead ... The Tigers have won three consecutive games vs. the Big Red, including a 2-0 mark this year (70-53 in Columbia / 74-59 in Lincoln) ... Missouri actually swept a three-game series with Nebraska in 2005, which included a 70-67 win in Kansas City on March 11, 2005.
The Postseason Series With Nebraska Mizzou is 3-2 all-time vs. Nebraska in the Big 12 Tournament and the pair have met in Kansas City 23 times over the years ... The Tigers are 13-10 in those games and have won eight of the last 11 meetings in KC dating back to the 1971 Big Eight Holiday Tournament.
All-Big 12 Tigers - English, Taylor and Tiller Missouri had three Tigers earn various accolades from the Big 12 Coaches, as Kim English (Third Team) and Zaire Taylor (Honorable Mention) were named to the All-Big 12 squad, while J.T. Tiller was named to the All-Defensive Team for the second straight year. > English was one of just three Big 12 underclassmen named to the (Top Three) All-League teams, joining Kansas’ Marcus Morris (Second) and Oklahoma’s Tommy Mason-Griffin (Third) ... English joins Kareem Rush (First Team in 2001), Keyon Dooling (Second Team in 2000) and Clarence Gilbert (Third Team in 2000) as the only Missouri underclassmen named to the All-Big 12 squads in school history. > Taylor was the “Swiss Army Knife” of Mizzou this season and led the club in scoring, rebounding, three-point makes, assists, blocks and steals in at least one game this season ... In addition to ranking among team-leaders in a number of categories, he is #2 in the Big 12 in steals and is the owner of four career game-winners in league play. > Tiller was again masterful slowing down opponents in his senior season and helped Missouri to its best team defensive totals in 11 years ... The two-time All-Defensive pick spearheaded a Missouri defense that allowed opponents to shoot just 40.5 percent from the floor and 30.1 percent from three-point range this season, the club’s best defensive totals in 10 seasons.
Solid Sophomore Shooters Marcus Denmon and Kim English have enjoyed excellent sophomore seasons and the pair is #2 all-time at Missouri for sophomore tandems in three-point makes in a single season ... Denmon and English have combined for 128 treys this year and are shooting a combined 39.9 percent from bonus distance, headlined by Denmon’s 43 percent shooting on the season. > Only the duo of Clarence Gilbert (88) and Keyon Dooling (59) made more treys as sophomores at Mizzou, combining to hit 147-of-403 (36.5 percent) exactly 10 years ago in 1999-2000.
Kansas City Is Tigertown USA Missouri has played 182 games all-time in Kansas City and is 94-88 (.517) in those contests ... While that number is close to .500, the Tigers are actually 54-31 in K.C. since the 1971-72 season, which was the fifth year of Norm Stewart’s tenure at Mizzou. > The Tigers have played championship basketball in KC over the years, winning the Big Seven Conference title in 1954, 11 Big Eight titles in 1971-73, 1975-76, 81, 87, 89, 90 and 93 as well as the 2001 Guardian’s Classic crown ... It goes without saying, Kansas City is Columbia-West.
KC Connection Is Strong For Mizzou Missouri Basketball has enjoyed a tremendous relationship with Kansas City over the years and the Tigers are once again representing KC as Marcus Denmon, Steve Moore, Mike Dixon and Jarrett Sutton all hail from the City of Fountains. > Denmon, Moore and Sutton have enjoyed great sophomore seasons while newcomer Dixon has been one of the league’s top freshman after earning Missouri High School Player of the Year honors. > Mizzou had yet another KC Tiger on their team in 2008-09 ... Leo Lyons played four seasons in Columbia, finished his career as a 1,000-point scorer and is enjoying a successful career overseas in Israel.
Mizzou Titles Are Won In Kansas City Missouri has won 12 Championships in Kansas City over the years, including an incredible 10 Big Eight Tournament titles ... Below is a list of crowns claimed by the Tigers in Kansas City over the years.
Year Event 1954 Big Seven Holiday Tournament 1971 Big Eight Holiday Tournament 1972 Big Eight Holiday Tournament 1973 Big Eight Holiday Tournament 1975 Big Eight Holiday Tournament 1976 Big Eight Holiday Tournament 1981 Big Eight Championships 1987 Big Eight Championships 1989 Big Eight Championships 1990 Big Eight Championships 1993 Big Eight Championships 2001 Guardians Classic
Mr. Big Shot Zaire Taylor has hit four game-winners in his two seasons at Missouri, with that fourth “celebration starter” coming March 2 at Iowa State. > The Bearded Assassin hit the game-tying shot in regulation with :17 seconds left to force overtime and then tied the game with :11 seconds left in OT, setting up his driving floater to win the game as the buzzer sounded. > Taylor’s first game-winner came Feb. 4 at Texas last season as the Tigers upset the #16 Longhorns, 69-65, in Austin... Missouri intercepted Texas’ in bounds pass and clinched the game with a free throw with a second left. > Taylor then hit a 15-foot floater to upend #16 Kansas on Feb. 9, 62-60, inside Mizzou Arena with less than :02 seconds remaining. > Taylor also defeated #10 Kansas State on Jan. 9, 2010, with a deep trey at the top of the key to give the Tigers a 69-66 lead over the Wildcats with just :30 remaining.
College Basketball’s Wins Over Last Two Years Guess who is among college basketball’s winningest programs the last two seasons? ... It’s the Missouri Tigers ... Mizzou has won 53 games the last two seasons, the ninth highest win total in college hoops since the start of the 2008-09 campaign.
56 Wins Syracuse, Duke, Memphis and Kansas
55 Wins Utah State
54 Wins Villanova, Gonzaga and Pittsburgh
** 53 Wins ** Mizzou, Michigan State, Purdue and Butler
51 Wins Louisville
Tiger Trapping The Top 25 Missouri has played Top 25 foes tough under Head Coach Mike Anderson’s tenure as the Tigers have enjoyed a very respectable 8-5 mark the last two seasons vs. ranked foes. > The Tigers went 6-2 vs. Top 25 teams during the 2008-09 campaign and are now 2-3 this season including an 82-77 win against #15 Texas on Feb. 17.
Opponent W/L Score Date #2 Kansas L 77-56 03-06-10 #6 Kansas State L 63-53 02-24-10 #15 Texas W 82-77 02-17-10 at #2 Kansas L 84-65 01-25-10 #10 Kansas State W 74-68 01-09-10 vs. #5 Connecticut L 82-75 03-28-09 vs. #2 Memphis W 102-91 03-26-09 vs. #23 Marquette W 83-79 03-22-09 #4 Oklahoma W 73-64 03-04-09 at #16 Kansas L 90-65 03-01-09 #16 Kansas W 62-60 02-09-09 at #16 Texas W 69-65 02-04-09 vs. #19 USC W 83-72 11-23-09
Mizzou Defense Among School’s Best It’s easy to get enamored by Missouri’s tremendous turnover and steal totals, but the Tigers have been very good with their half court defense this season, holding foes to just 40.5 percent shooting from the field and 30.1 percent from beyond three-point range. > The 40.5 percent field goal defense is the best at Mizzou since 1998-99 season, when the Tigers held teams to just 39.3 percent shooting for the year. > The 30.1 percent three-point field goal defense is the lowest in school history and the previous low was 30.2 percent set by last season’s squad. > And last but not least, Missouri is holding opponents to just 65.5 points per game this year, the lowest at Mizzou since 1998-99 when the Tigers allowed just 62.2 ppg.
All-Academic Tigers Missouri had two players named to the Big 12’s All-Academic Team as senior J.T. Tiller and sophomore Laurence Bowers earned Second Team honors. > Tiller will graduate from Mizzou this spring with a degree in business and has started 28 games for the Tigers. > Bowers is in the college of Arts & Sciences and plans on pursuing a degree in the Visual Communications area ... He ranks third on the club in scoring and #2 in rebounding.
If You Build It ... Missouri set a Mizzou Arena record for attendance this season, as the Tigers averaged 10,349 fans per game this year, the highest average attendance since Mizzou Arena was opened in 2004-05 ... The previous mark was set last season as MU averaged 9,807 fans during its 18-game home slate. > During Big 12 games only Missouri averaged a Mizzou Arena record 13,861 fans this season.
Year Attend. Record 2004-05 9,543 16-17 2005-06 8,369 12-16 2006-07 8,243 18-12 2007-08 8,060 16-16 2008-09 9,807 31-7 2009-10 10,349 22-9
Tiger Bench the Best in the Big 12 Missouri leads the Big 12 in bench scoring this year at 33.0 points per game, a figure that will eventually break the school record of 27.0 (2008-09) ... Missouri is #2 nationally in that category, trailing only Virginia Military:
Rk. Team Scoring 1 Virginia Military 40.0 2 Missouri 33.0 3 Texas 32.1 4 Western Carolina 32.0 5 Cal State Northridge 31.5
20-Something Sophomores Missouri has had three different sophomores top the 20-point plateau this season, as Kim English, Marcus Denmon and Laurence Bowers have topped 20 points in a game a combined 14 times ... English has accomplished the feat a team-best nine times, while Denmon (4) and Bowers (1) have done it as well. > Denmon actually leads Mizzou with four 20-point games in Big 12 play, while English has done it three times ... The pair each dropped in 20+ in road wins at Texas Tech and Colorado earlier this season and Denmon has topped 20+ in back-to-back games at Nebraska (24) and in the home game vs. CU (21). > The point totals have been a good indicator of success as well since Missouri is 11-1 in games where Bowers, Denmon or English hit for at least 20 points.
Mizzou In A Special Two-Year Stretch Missouri has played a special stretch of basketball over the last two seasons, going 53-16 during that time ... The 53 wins over two seasons is the second most in school history and the school record is 55 wins over two seasons set by the 1988-89 team (29 wins) and the 1989-90 club (26 wins). Top Two-Year Stretches at Mizzou Years Win Totals 1988-90 55 Wins 2008-10 53 Wins 1981-83 53 Wins 1980-82 49 Wins 1993-95 48 Wins 2007-09 47 Wins 1992-94 47 Wins 1979-80 47 Wins 1975-77 47 Wins 2001-03 46 Wins 1989-91 46 Wins
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