[sportsfan2006]

By Randy Rosetta
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

The Big 12 Conference’s collective pride took three major hits Wednesday night, but the Missouri Tigers have a chance to restore the league’s pride with a spicy showdown against an old rival tonight.

Mizzou could also recapture a little swagger itself with a victory.

Arkansas visits Columbia, Mo., tonight for the 36th renewal of the several border battles Missouri faces every season. Both teams enter this game unbeaten for the first time since 1993, and there are some new twists added this year.

Tiger coach Mike Anderson was a longtime (17 years) Razorback assistant under Nolan Richardson and was thought to be the heir apparent in Fayetteville until Richardson was unceremoniously dumped several years ago. Anderson left the Hogs for UAB and resurrected the Blazers to national prominence with impressive NCAA Tournament wins over Kentucky (2004) and LSU (2005).

Anderson spurned overtures from Auburn and Georgetown after the 2003-04 season but couldn’t pass up the chance to take over at Missouri.

Now he looks to help the Tigers (7-0) snap an eight-game losing streak to Arkansas. Mizzou’s last win over the Razorbacks was in 1991, and the Tigers haven’t prevailed at home vs. the Hogs since 1988.

For Missouri to end the skid, a deep backcourt will have to come up big. Junior college transfer Stefhon Hannah leads the nation with 28 steals and ranks fourth in the country with 42 assists and is scoring 13.3 points a game, while sophomore Matt Lawrence is the Tigers’ top scorer with 14 points a game and has nailed 23-of-46 shots from 3-point territory. Veteran Jason Horton has also been a key with 35 assists and 14 steals, while Keon Lawrence is also shooting 50 percent (11-for-22) from 3-point range.

The Tigers are 1-point underdogs on WagerWeb.com, but the combination of playing home and the built-in incentive for Anderson to beat Arkansas should push Missouri over the top.

BAYLOR: The Bears surpassed their victory total from last season by blowing past Grambling State 95-69 on Wednesday. Freshman guard Demond “Tweety” Carter scored 19 points and hit three 3-pointers to lead the Bears to their sixth consecutive home win this season and ninth in a row dating back to last season.

KANSAS: In the Jayhawks’ 83-32 triumph Tuesday, they limited Dartmouth to the fewest points ever by an opponent at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas freshman Darrell Arthur hit 5-of-9 field goals against the Big Green and has hit 50 percent or better in every game this season. He also blocked five shots against Dartmouth and leads the Jayhawks with 15.9 points a game, 17 rejections and an 80.6 percent (25 of 31) shooting touch from the foul stripe.

NEBRASKA: The Cornhuskers have quietly launched the Doc Sadler era in impressive fashion at 5-0 after routing North Texas 76-57 on Wednesday. Sadler is the first Nebraska basketball coach to start his first season with five wins since Paul Schlisser in 1919-20. One of Sadler’s first tasks as the Husker coach was to convince center Aleks Maric to come back to Lincoln, and that paid off again Wednesday as the 6-foot-11 Australian notched his second double-double of the season with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

TEXAS: The Longhorns get their second toughest test of the season Saturday when they take on Gonzaga in Phoenix. Texas has started four freshmen in the last two games, the first time that’s happened in program history. Kevin Durant, one of those rookies, has been as good as advertised with 20 points or more in all six games this season and a Big 12-best 22.3 points-per-game scoring average. Durant also leads the league with 9.5 rebounds a game and is the Big 12’s best foul shooter at 90.9 percent (30 of 33). Longhorn freshman point guard D.J. Augustin is the conference’s assists leader with 7.2 per game. Although the ’Horns are young, they’re a good best to notch a win against the Zags.

OKLAHOMA STATE: The Cowboys rolled to 8-0 by crushing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 95-73 Wednesday behind junior JamesOn Curry’s career-best 35 points. Curry also logged nine assists against the Islanders to move into 15th place on OSU’s all-time list with 271. Cowboys coach Sean Sutton is the first coach in the program’s history to win his first eight games.


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