The NCAA Tournament is in full swing the second round is underway on Thursday night as the Missouri Tigers take on the Colorado State Rams at Rupp Arena in Lexington for the chance to advance against Louisville in the east region.
The games between the eight-nine seeds in the tournament can often be close ones and Thursday night should be more of the same, as the two teams are similar in record. Colorado State went 28-8 this season and their coach Larry Eustachy is back in the tournament for the second year in a row after leading Southern Mississippi to the big dance last season.
Missouri is 23-10 on the season and the Tigers have some solid stats backing them up, as they rank 20th in scoring with over 75 points per game. The team is ranked second in rebounding with over 40 per game and are 99th in assists while hitting over 45 percent of their shots from the field. The Tigers lost to Ole Miss in the SEC tournament and had won four of the previous five games before losing.
Colorado State is ranked 50th in scoring with over 73 points per game, while they rank fourth in rebounding. The team is 145th in assists and ranks 94th in field goal percentage while shooting over 44 percent from the field.
Colorado State is the fourth team the coach has taken to the postseason, including Iowa State and Utah State. Colton Iverson has been the focus for the Rams while scoring nearly 15 points per game and the team finished the season by winning three of their final four games. Iverson sat out last season after transferring and is averaging nearly 10 rebounds per game and is now a star after starting less than half his games while at Minnesota.
"This is my fifth time at being a first-year coach at this level and this has been the most difficult, if you will, as far as expectations," said Eustachy, who has also taken Utah State, Iowa State and Southern Miss to the NCAA postseason.
