MU caps 3-0 week, tops Xavier

INDIANPOLIS -- Kareem Rush blamed a broken nose for a subpar performance earlier in the week. Now that his nose is close to normal, so is his game.

Rush scored 24 points and had 12 rebounds, and Wesley Stokes scored 14 as No. 5 Missouri beat Xavier 72-60 on Saturday night in the John Wooden Tradition.

"I had a bad game against Iowa (11 points), " he said. "I don't like to use it as an excuse, but my nose was a factor. I wasn't myself. I've been treating my nose and it helped me, and it showed."

Rush broke his nose after he was accidentally elbowed by Alabama's Demetrius Smith.

The Tigers (5-0) led 52-50 with 10 minutes left, but used a 14-2 run to pull away. The Tigers scored the final 10 points of the run.

At one point during the stretch, Rickey Paulding, who scored 10, put back a miss and followed with a free throw to make it 59-52.

"Rickey came in and gave us a great lift," Missouri coach Quinn Snyder said. "I thought he broke the game open with some transition opportunities and offensive rebounds."

Lionel Chalmers scored 23, and David West had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Xavier (1-1), which shot 39 percent from the floor.

A pull-up jumper by Gilbert pushed the Tigers' lead to 46-39, but Chalmers converted a 3-point play to make it 46-44.

Xavier cut it to 52-50 after Chalmers' basket with 10:02 left, but Missouri then went on its 14-2 run.

Xavier coach Thad Matta said the game answered a lot of questions about his team.

"Most importantly we can play with anybody in the country," he said. "We have some things with our offense we need to get better at. I thought we were a good defensive team, and I still believe it. I just hope we don't run into any more Kareem Rushes."

The win was the third for the Tigers this week.

"We arrived tonight with this stretch and now we go climb another mountain," Snyder said.

With losses by Kansas and UCLA this week, Missouri could find itself at No. 3 in next week's poll. But Snyder, who took part in three Final Fours as a player and two as an assistant coach at Duke, said the rankings meant little after only five games.

"I wasn't overly excited about it the whole time," he said. "I felt like we were working hard and we're continuing to get better. I think our kids have shown a capacity to handle that. That's part of the maturation process."

Xavier led 19-16 early in the first half, but an 11-2 run put the Tigers ahead for good. Missouri led 36-34 at the half.

Rush had 13 points in the first half and finished 11-for-21 overall.

"That was one of the best offensive performances I've ever seen in person," Matta said. "He fades on you, he spins. He has such a nice shot."

Stokes opened the second half with a 3, then Chalmers hit one to make it 39-37 but Gilbert answered with another 3-pointer.

The Tigers shot 9-of-18 from 3-point range, but were only 1-for-3 from the free-throw line.

Stokes was 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and Gilbert and Rush each made two.

"We want to take shots. We can shoot," Snyder said. "We'd be crazy to pass up shots, but we've got to know which ones to pass up. Our understanding of that has increased."