Billikens hoping to spring upset vs. Missouri tonight

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri vs. St. Louis appears to be every bit the mismatch of the Tigers' last two games, which they won by an average of 31 points.

The Billikens are hoping the rivalry factor in the series, tied at a game apiece since the teams resumed playing two years ago after a nearly two-decade break, will help in tonight's game against the nation's third-ranked team. Missouri rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to win 77-73 last year in Columbia and St. Louis won 75-72 in 1999 in the Dome at America's Center, a neutral site.

"They're going to be the underdogs, so they're going to give us all they've got," Missouri forward Kareem Rush said. "We're expecting that. We have to lock down on defense."

This game is at the Savvis Center, St. Louis' home court.

"There's no doubt in my mind we can give them a game," point guard Marque Perry said. "We can go out and play against any team, ranked or not ranked."

Missouri (7-0) is coming off consecutive triple-digit victories over Grambling State and Jackson State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The school is off to its best start since 1991-92, when it began the season 11-0, and ready for better competition.

"We're not going to say we don't know who they are or what they're about," guard Clarence Gilbert said. "We know what it's about and we've just got to maintain our focus."

Kareem Rush leads Missouri with a 19.9-point average, shooting 47 percent from 3-point range, and Gilbert averages 18.6. Sophomore Arthur Johnson is coming off consecutive double-doubles, getting 16 points and 10 rebounds against Grambling and Jackson State.

Missouri is explosive offensively, scoring 36 points in a ragged first half against Grambling and 64 in the second half. Gilbert shot his way out of a slump in that game, missing his first nine shots but finishing with 20 points.

"We're a young team, and we have to work on bouncing back from bad games or bad halves," Rush said. "We came back and scored a lot of points, so we turned it on."

Johnson (11.4), top reserve Rickey Paulding (10.4) and point guard Wesley Stokes (10.3) also are averaging in double figures. Paulding has had three spectacular alley-oop dunks the last two games.

"Those dunks, they get us going," Gilbert said.

Right now, St. Louis doesn't even have the home-court advantage, after losing 61-58 to Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday. The school has lost its first two games in the Savvis Center.

"This team has been hard to predict for six weeks," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "Pretty soon, we're going to put it all together."

Romar is hoping Missouri's lofty standing will do the trick.

"Everybody wants to play a ranked team," Romar said. "That's competition. When you have the opportunity to play someone like Missouri, that's good."

Romar is searching for a go-to guy to replace departed Maurice Jeffers. Perry is the Billikens' best player, but he was 4-for-16 against Arkansas-Little Rock and missed a 3-pointer that would have tied that game with five seconds to go.