From the opening tip of its first round game in the NCAA Tournament, the University of Missouri has not played like a team that was seeded 12th in the West Region. Instead, the Tigers are playing their best basketball of the season, even better than their 9-0 start that earned them a No. 2 national ranking earlier this season.
For the second straight game, Missouri used balanced scoring, tenacious rebounding and stout defense to defeat fourth-seeded Ohio State University 83-67 Saturday.
The road to sweet success has not been one without potholes and detours - the Tigers struggled after their fast start. Missouri, which is now 23-11, finished sixth in the Big 12 Conference with a 9-7 record and was bounced from its conference tournament early after a loss to the University of Texas.
The team suffered from inconsistency on offense and poor team chemistry. Head coach Quin Snyder said he constantly preached unity to his team toward the end of the season, and he has seen gradual improvement during the past month.
"They just started listening more attentively," Snyder said. "Not that they didn't ever listen. I just think they are taking everything in on a deeper level. As a group they have more depth right now. I say that without being critical of who we were. That's just who we were."
The team's record in the final 10 games of the season, 4-6, indicated otherwise. But in that stretch came the team's biggest win, a 72-69 decision against then-12th-ranked Oklahoma State University that may have saved its season. The Tigers overcame a 10-point deficit and held on to win despite junior forward Kareem Rush being held to 10 points, which is 10 points below his average. They followed that with a spirited run against top-ranked University of Kansas that just fell short, 95-92.
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Rush said Saturday's win was a big statement about how far it has come in such a short time.
"We wanted to come out and show what type of team we were becoming," Rush said. "I think that the past couple of weeks, we've worked so hard and it's paying off, and we're showing people that hard work really pays off."
The improvements have come in the form of a more balanced scoring attack, including four players in double figures against the Buckeyes, who finish the season with a 24-7 record. Senior guard Clarence Gilbert continued his impressive late season performance with 20 points to lead the Tigers. He connected on four-of-six 3-pointers, and some of them were in creative fashion. The first time he dialed long-distance he used the glass and gave Missouri a 31-21 lead with 6:36 left. Then, with 46 seconds left, he faked out his defender and hit a leaning jumper for a 45-26 lead. Missouri would up the lead to 67-39 midway through the second half on a turnaround jumper by Arthur Johnson and cruise from there.
The Tigers showed a well-rounded game, outplaying the Buckeyes in just about every way possible. They out-rebounded OSU 52-28, shot 47.8 percent from the field while holding their opponents to 44.3 percent and hit eight 3-pointers.
"An understatement is that we were beaten by a much better team today," Buckeye head coach Jim O'Brian said. "They were more physical, they were quicker and they certainly dominated the game on the backboards. We kind of ran into a buzz saw."
