Snyder likes second-half defense

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Amid all the chuckling over Ricky Clemons' 25-foot bank shot, Missouri coach Quin Snyder saw something he liked even more.

His team's second-half defense.

The 16th-ranked Tigers clamped down on Iowa in the final 20 minutes and beat the Hawkeyes 88-82 on Saturday in their first game on an opponent's floor.

Iowa shot 51.5 percent in taking a 49-48 halftime lead. The Hawkeyes shot 38 percent in the second half.

"A lot of things we talked about in our game plan, we weren't doing," Snyder said. "But this team a month ago wouldn't have been able to correct that. It would have been something they would have been upset about and maybe would have corrected it the next time we played.

"For that to happen in our locker room at halftime shows the commitment that our kids have toward the defensive end."

Iowa lacked commitment

It was the type of commitment that Iowa coach Steve Alford said his team lacked. Iowa had been leading the Big Ten in defense going in, holding opponents to 58 points a game.

"I think that's the difference in them taking two or three charges and us not taking any," Alford said. "That's three possessions. Getting eight deflections and not getting any of those loose balls. That's a difference of maybe getting three or four possessions.

"When you're in a tight game, that makes a difference."

Clemons hits big one

So does a big shot, and Clemons certainly made one.

Missouri (8-1) was clinging to an 80-78 lead and the shot clock was running down when Clemons fired from the left wing, two steps behind the 3-point arc. The ball banked in with 1:18 left and the shot clock showing 4 seconds, the lead went to 83-78 and the Tigers wrapped it up on free throws.

"I called bank," Clemons said with a laugh. "I always do."

That was the sixth 3-pointer of the game for Clemons, a junior college transfer who finished with a season-high 27 points to go with seven assists.

"Gosh, that was a tough break," Iowa's Brody Boyd said. "He's a great player and he wanted that shot. I don't think there's anybody on that team that wanted it more than he did and that's why he took it."

Added Missouri's Arthur Johnson, "I thought he was going to make it. It just so happened he hit it off the glass."

Rickey Paulding scored 17 points for Missouri and Johnson had 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Johnson, a mountain of a young man at 6-feet-9 and 265 pounds, also got Iowa's 6-11 Jared Reiner in early foul trouble.

Reiner played only 14 minutes and finished the game with foul fouls. His backup, Sean Sonderleiter, also had four fouls but played enough to score a career-high 15 points.

"We weren't putting ourselves in the right position on defense," Reiner said. "We were letting them catch it in front of us and then we were pretty much at their mercy."

Chauncey Leslie led Iowa (8-3) with 19 points in its final non-conference game. Boyd and Glen Worley each scored 13 for the Hawkeyes, who open Big Ten play at Northwestern on Wednesday.

Missouri hosts Centenary on Tuesday before starting Big 12 play at home against Baylor next Saturday.

"We weren't going to lose this game," Missouri's Josh Kroenke said. "It was tough, but we really executed down the stretch."