There was some worry (by me) that the Missouri Tigers would come out a little sluggish against Northern Illinois on Monday night after playing in a very hyped game against Illinois last week. Apparently Mizzou didn't have a problem getting up for this game.
They scored the game's first 17 points and led by 40 points at halftime -- a school record halftime lead against another Division I opponent -- and got Mike Anderson's 100th victory as the Tigers head coach. The final score: 97-61.
Marcus Denmon shot 9-of-11 and scored 24 points while Matt Pressey added 18. Mizzou had eight guys playing over 20 minutes in the game and five scored in double digits.
Anderson challenged his team to play with the sense of urgency that we saw against Illinois when the Tigers put up nine points in less than a minute to give them the victory of Illinois last week. This time around they played with that urgency in the first few minutes as Northern Illinois never stood a chance.
"We’re playing pretty good basketball," Anderson said.
Indeed. The Tigers are the 10th ranked team in the country are now 12-1. This is one of those dangerous teams that no one wants to play because you're going to have to give it everything you've got to win. That bodes well for the postseason when teams are breaking down and Mizzou is rolling.