COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Three nights after getting slammed by a national championship contender in the Kansas Jayhawks, Coppin State came to Missouri last night looking for its first victory on its weeklong trip through the Big Eight, and the Eagles felt pretty good about their chances.
After all, the Eagles came within a last-second shot of upsetting Missouri last year, when Missouri rolled through the Big Eight unbeaten before losing in the West Regional final of the NCAA tournament. What's more, four starters were gone from that team, along with Big Eight Freshman of the Year Kelly Thames, lost for the season to a knee injury. And this year's Tigers, sporting only two seniors, had not been especially impressive during their 3-1 start.
The percentages may have looked kind to Coppin State, but the Tigers sure weren't.
After watching the Eagles awaken from an early shooting slump to pull to within 39-36 at halftime, the Tigers asserted themselves by scoring the first seven points of the second half. Then, Missouri took over with its hustling, man-to-man defense and size advantage to blow out the Eagles, 90-62, before 13,300 at the Hearns Center.
Missouri (4-1) left Coppin State with one more chance to get its first victory of the season when the Eagles (0-4) finish their Midwest trip tomorrow at Kansas State. Missouri won by turning up its man-to-man defensive pressure to stifling proportions in .. the second half, while its big men, 7-foot twin centers Sammie and Simeon Haley, took command of the paint. The Tigers held Coppin to 26 points and 21.7 percent shooting in the second half.
They also won by shutting down Coppin State guard Keith Carmichael, who scored a career-high 32 points against Kansas. Carmichael, who missed his first four shots before scoring six in the first half, did not score the rest of the way. He finished with a 2-for-11 night.
On the bright side, point guard Sidney Goodman shook off an early-season scoring slump by leading the Eagles with 20 points, including 8-for-8 foul shooting. Goodman's backup, Allen Watson, also played well off the bench with nine points.
On the dark side, Coppin State's problems down low continued. Center Mario McGriff and forward Michael Thomas had just two points in a combined 28 minutes of action, with Thomas fouling out without scoring. And the Eagles were manhandled on the boards in the second half, when Missouri out-rebounded them, 32-12.
The Tigers also capitalized on a tired Coppin State team by going to the free-throw line 25 times in the second half, hitting 16.
"We embarrassed ourselves tonight. This is the worst loss since I've been at Coppin," said senior forward Stephen Stewart, who battled through persistent double-teaming to finish with 13 points, and went over the 1,000-point mark for his career.
"We knew this team wasn't better than us, and we still let them beat us by God knows how much," he added. "We told ourselves at halftime that we were better. This is one of those games you look back on and say they just wanted it more. Right now, we're just a perimeter team. We need a threat inside, and it has to be more than me. God help us if Keith is off, like he was tonight."
"We worked hard preparing for this game, and we played our best game so far this year," said Missouri coach Norm Stewart, recalling last year's 64-63 escape against Coppin State.
Stewart has only two seniors this year, and one of them, guard and leading scorer Paul O'Liney, was especially impressive last night. Besides scoring 17 points and grabbing five rebounds, he shadowed Carmichael for most of the night, denying him the ball. Carmichael also had several three-pointers rim out.
O'Liney was one of five Tigers who scored in double figures. The Haley twins each scored 11 points, combined for 18 rebounds, and destroyed the Eagles inside in the second half. Forward Derek Grimm (17 points, seven rebounds) hurt Coppin State with explosive moves to the basket and solid outside shooting.
O'Liney helped finish Coppin State with 11 of his 17 points in the second half. His three-pointer gave the Tigers a 66-50 lead midway through the second half.
The Tigers then knocked out the Eagles with a 17-5 run, highlighted by Grimm's baseline jam and finished by O'Liney's three-pointer that made it 83-55 with 3:53 left.
"We just got killed on the boards. We're not going to win if we don't rebound and if we don't defend," Coppin State coach Fang Mitchell said. "We have to do a better job of scoring inside. The Kansas loss showed us where we needed to make some improvements. What makes this so discouraging is I didn't see the improvements tonight."
Said Stewart: "We're not sneaking in the back door on anybody anymore. Teams know about us. But we're a tough group of inner-city kids. We'll shake this off and we'll get that first win."