The Tigers DO know the way to San Jose, and it ran right over the top of a stunned Ohio State Buckeyes team.
Attacking relentlessly on defense with mixture of 2-3 zones and man-to-man, Quin Snyder's club out rebounded, out shot, and out hustled Ohio State in route to the 83-67 "upset".
Ohio State, the Big 10 Conference champion and winner of the Big 10 Tournament, fell behind by double digits midway through the first half, and trailed by more than 20 points for much of the contest.
Ohio State complained before the tournament started that they deserved a better seed and a closer venue than the forth seed in Albuquerque. As it turned out, the Buckeyes didn't look like they deserved the seeding they received.
Rickey Paulding scored 20 points and Clarence Gilbert added 16 of his own.
Kareem Rush and Arthur Johnson continued their steady scoring contributions adding 17 and 14 points respectively.
However, scoring wasn't the story for Missouri on this day. Missouri beat Ohio State because they dominated on defense and out rebounded the Buckeyes by 20 boards.
So dominant were the Tigers on the boards, that they actually held a +16 rebounding advantage at the end of the first half.
Missouri advances to the Sweet 16 in San Jose to meet the winner of Cincinnati and UCLA on Friday.
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