President Tiller leads Tigers to win

Anyone want to admit to foreseeing the outcome of yesterday's KSU-MU game?

J.T. Tiller, DeMarre Carroll, Justin Safford, Ebony and Ivory Lawrence all played a role Saturday in the most significant win of Mike Anderson’s tenure, 77-74 over Kansas State. Anderson activated two of The Athena Five, Marshall and Leo, before the game. With Horton and Butterfield on the bench still suspended only Leo was a factor, contributing 13 points.

The story of the game was heart and hustle beating out uninspired talent. K State had Beasley. Mizzou had Tiller. K State had Walker and Sutton. Mizzou had Carroll and Safford.

KSU had Frank Martin. Mizzou had Mike Anderson. Anderson outcoached Martin, adjusting at halftime and putting his team in a 2-3 zone. KSU never adjusted, starting their offense 25-feet from the basket for much of the second half.

Mizzou shot much better after halftime. They stopped settling for perimeter shots and, despite being outmanned, aggressively drove to the basket for layups and foul shots.

This was a glimpse at how fun Mike Anderson’s brand of Nolan Richardson basketball can be with a loud crowd and a team that doesn’t quit.

As for Kansas State, there was really no acceptable excuse for losing that game. None. They had more talent than Mizzou and, seemingly, had much more to play for. A win would have given the Cats a 6-0 record in the league with an easy schedule coming up.

Early on it appeared the game might be a blow-out. Beasley and Walker had their way inside early. And KSU was making three pointers when MU collapsed on the big men. Then, inexplicably, the offense disappeared. KSU went up 15 and quit playing.

Ask most KSU fans and they will probably admit if they’re being completely honest that the season is already a success since The Streak ended. However, I can promise you they did not expect to lose to MU yesterday. And that makes the win even sweeter.

All of a sudden Big Monday is looking pretty interesting.

Austin Toros update

Quin’s club checks in at 17-10. The first place Toros are 3-4 in their last seven games and have the Tulsa 66ers nipping at their heels in the NBDL’s Southwest Division. Austin now has the third best record in the NBDL behind Idaho and Dakota.

NBA Tigers

Keyon Dooling: 8.2 Points; 1.4 Rebounds; 1.8 Assists. Magic record: 31-18.

Kareem Rush: 8.4 Points; 2.0 Rebounds; 1.0 Assists. Pacers record: 19-29.

Linas Kleiza: 12.3 Points; 4.6 Rebounds; 1.3 Assists. Nuggets record 28-18.

Couple NBA Tigers notes:

We just found an interesting website, Keyon Dooling's blog. Good stuff.

Kleiza scored 16 fourth quarter points last night against the Bobcats to lead the Nuggets to an eighth straight home win.

Former Tiger of the Week
Kelly Thames
Position: Forward
Lettered: 1994-96-97-98
Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.

Ranks #7 on MU's career scoring list, with 1,689 points (13.2 ppg) ... Also ranks #10 on the MU career rebounding list, with 785 ... Big Eight Conference Freshman of the Year in 1994 ... Was a key contributor as a freshman on MU's 1993-94 team which went a perfect 14-0 to win the Big Eight Conference, and 28-4 overall to earn the only #1 NCAA Tournament seed in school history ... Team captain as a senior in 1998 ... Led Mizzou in scoring each of his last 2 seasons, averaging a team-best 13.0 ppg in 1997 and 14.8 ppg in 1998

Finally, folks, remember that while it’s often hard to be a Mizzou fan it could always be worse.

See you next week.