Kicking the Tires: Missouri

I'm finally back with my completely unscientific "preview" of tomorrow night's game with Missouri.  My apologies for doing a poor job lately of getting game previews up.

Even though it's at home, tomorrow night's matchup with Mizzou (17-3, 4-1 Big 12) looks pretty daunting on paper, as you'll see below.  The Tigers are a deep, balanced team that ranks highly, or at least better than K-State, in almost every statistical category.  That's not to say the Tigers are invincible; they've fallen apart against Illinois and Nebraska slowed them down earlier this month.  Still, it's going to take a better effort than we've seen out of this team in January to get a win tomorrow evening.  Let's hope the win over Colorado last Saturday gives this team a newfound sense of confidence.

Individual Leaders

K-State

Jacob Pullen: 13.6 points/game, 32 Steals, 64 assists, 57 turnovers

Jamar Samuels: 19 blocks, 57.6 FG%

Darren Kent: 5.7 rebs./game

Denis Clemente: 84.1 FT%

Fred Brown: 40.2 3-PT.%

Mizzou

DeMarre Carroll: 16.3 points/game, 7.1 rebs./game, 58.6 FG%

J.T. Tiller: 40 steals,

Keith Ramsey: 18 blocks,

Zaire Taylor: 66 assists

Leo Lyons: 47 turnovers

Marcus Denmon: 84.0 FT%

Matt Lawrence: 41.7 3-PT.%

Statistical Standings (conference games only)

Scoring Offense

K-State: 63.4 (T-9^th)

Mizzou: 85.8 (1^st)

Scoring Defense

K-State: 75.8 (9^th)

Mizzou: 69.0 (5^th)

FG%

K-State: 40.0 (11^th)

Mizzou: 49.5 (2^nd)

FG% Defense

K-State: 51.6 (11^th)

Mizzou: 39.9 (2^nd)

3-Point %

K-State: 30.7 (10^th)

Mizzou: 39.8 (5^th)

3-Point % Defense

K-State: 50.7 (12^th)

Mizzou: 29.8 (2^nd)

Rebounding

K-State: 34.8 (T-7^th)

Mizzou: 35.6 (T-6^th)

Assists

K-State: 10.6 (9^th)

Mizzou: 18.6 (1^st)

Assist-to-Turnover Ratio

K-State: 0.64 (9^th)

Mizzou: 1.39 (1^st)

And finally, because it's Missouri basketball, it's fat guy with no shirt time!