Currently: Neither Missouri nor No. 19 Southern California arrived in San Juan earlier this week with thoughts of playing in this game, but after early losses in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, the teams meet for fourth place in the consolation bracket on Sunday.
Missouri, which lost 75-71 to Xavier in its quarterfinal, advanced on Friday with an 87-59 rout of Fairfield. The Tigers set tournament records for points and assists with a season-high 27.
Junior guard Zaire Taylor, a Delaware transfer, had seven points and led Missouri with six assists, while DeMarre Carroll added a team-high 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Missouri (3-1) is among the nation’s leaders with 21.3 assists per game.
“I thought our guards did a great job finding the open players,” Missouri coach Mike Anderson told the school’s official Web site. “We had 27 assists, which on 35 baskets is outstanding.”
The Tigers trailed 20-11 with 8:09 left in the first half, but tied a season high with 50 percent shooting from the field.
“I think our guys came out a little sluggish today, but after that tough loss yesterday, I knew that would be a possibility,” said Anderson, whose team hit 41.7 percent of its shots against Xavier. “That will happen in a tournament environment from time to time, but I thought once we settled in, we played well. We shot the ball much better today.”
Senior Leo Lyons made 5-of-9 shots for the second straight game and posted his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
While Missouri has forced its opponents into 20.5 turnovers per game, USC has been just as dominant on the defensive end. In Friday’s 73-46 victory, the Trojans held Chattanooga to 25.9 percent shooting while setting a school record for an opponent’s lowest shooting percentage in a half—10.3 in the second half as USC outscored the Mocs 34-17.
The Trojans have held three of their four opponents to under 40 percent shooting.
Junior Taj Gibson followed up his 19-point, 18-rebound performance in the 63-61 loss to Seton Hall, with 17 points, 15 boards and five blocks against Chattanooga, and is averaging 4.5 blocks.
Dwight Lewis and DeMar DeRozan each had six boards as the Trojans outrebounded the Mocs 57-32. It was USC’s most rebounds in a game since grabbing 58 in a 79-61 win against Long Beach State on Nov. 24, 2006.
The Trojans have averaged 13.5 more rebounds than their opponents in starting 3-1 for the third straight season.
USC lost 78-72 to then-No. 15 Missouri in the teams’ last meeting—the Wooden Classic in 2002.
