Tigers defeat Texas Tech
Published Jan. 30, 2007
As Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight made his entrance onto Mizzou Arena's court Saturday night, the Missouri squad cut him off mid-stide as it made its own entrance before a sold-out crowd.
With foreshadowing fit for a Shakespearean play, the Tigers went on to roll over a hot Texas Tech team that previously beat No. 5 Kansas and No. 6 Texas A&M, winning in a 71-58 final.
"Atmosphere makes a big difference when you play against a Texas Tech team that is one of the hotter teams in the league and in the nation," coach Mike Anderson said. "And to do the things we did to them in the second half, that's a credit to our players and again to our fans for creating a great environment."
Junior forward Marshall Brown started with two 3-pointers to open the game, and the Tigers never looked back as they held the Red Raiders to zero lead changes. But Brown again fell into early foul trouble and had to sit on the sidelines for the majority of the first half.
"It's tough sitting on the bench and watching your team play," he said. "But they did a good job being patient on offense and we played good defense."
Junior center Kalen Grimes made the most of his starting spot by contributing eight of his 11 points in the first half and shooting perfectly from the field.
But it was sophomore forward Leo Lyons who helped finish off the Red Raiders early in the second half as he jump-started the Tigers with their first six points of the second half. He ended the game with 11 points and went perfect from the field as well.
"I think it's real good for us because when we are making shots down low, they have got to respect that, and they have got to guard us, so it gets the other guys open," Lyons said.
The Red Raiders came out ice cold in the second half and didn't score for the first 9:40.
"You play at different paces in different games, and you have to be able to adjust," Knight said. "If we could have got the ball in the basket at the beginning of the second half, this would have been a different ball game."
Texas Tech was without junior guard Charlie Burgess and senior forward Jon Plefka due to injury, and Knight said it played a huge difference in the game.
"We just got beat," he said before cutting off the post-game press conference. "We had two guys that didn't play that have been instrumental to our team. There wasn't any letdown, we just got our asses beat."
Mizzou Arena was sold out on Saturday for just the third time in its history.
"I'm so glad all the fans came out today because they didn't have to," freshman Keon Lawrence said. "They came out and showed us so much support, and they were so loud, and they really just got us into the game."