For a day, everything seemed right inside Mizzou Arena. In front of a season-high 10,536 fans, the Tigers led for more than 38 minutes and beat Tennessee 75-64 on Saturday afternoon.
“This is a meaningful day,” head coach Kim Anderson said, fighting back tears. “For a lot of reasons.”
It was a day for both Ryan (Rosburg) and Rhyan (Loos). The former led the Tigers with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including a punctuating dunk with 10.9 seconds to play that provided the final margin. The latter, the five-year-old daughter of assistant coach Brad Loos, was the center of attention of the Rally For Rhyan game as fans donated more than $50,000 for pediatric cancer research.
“Good question,” Rosburg said when asked what had gotten into him during a three-game stretch in which he has averaged 21 points and eight rebounds. “Playing like I have nothing to lose. My days are numbered.”
Missouri erased its recent trend of terrible starts and led 13-8 at the first media timeout, thanks to two three-pointers by Namon Wright and a pair of baskets by Rosburg. The Tigers stretched the lead to 11 at halftime. Tennessee closed to within four in the second half, but never made it a one-possession game in the final 36 minutes.
“I think these guys, I think they’ve grown up a little bit. I think they’ve matured. I think they were determined not to let this game get away from them,” Anderson said. “I just think they had a determination today and certainly the beauty of the day probably figured into that. They didn’t want to lose. I think they were tired of losing.”
For much of the day, the game almost seemed secondary. Fans who donated at the door were entitled to a free seat in the student section or the upper deck. That helped exceed Mizzou’s previous season-best attendance by nearly 2,500, many of them wearing specially made gold Rally For Rhyan t-shirts.
“The most important thing that went on here today was what Missouri did for Rhyan Loos today,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “It’s unbelievable that they would do that.”
“You couldn’t have scripted this day any better than what it went today,” Brad Loos said. “We really had no idea what was gonna transpire today and in my wildest imagination this would have been unbelievable. The way it turned out was amazing and I couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Loos spoke to the crowd at halftime, accompanied by his wife, Jen, and three children.
“When you picked a fight with Rhyan Loos, you messed with the wrong little girl,” Loos said, drawing the biggest ovation of the day to that point.
It was another address from Loos that the players credited for getting them ready prior to tipoff.
“He said that every day when his daughter goes to the hospital, she has no fear because she knows she’s going to beat cancer. She’s not worried about anything else, she knows she’s gonna win,” Rosburg said. “He told us that we need to play the way she would and make her proud. Go out there and have no fear and expect to win because we know that’s what she’s doing every day.”
“From the beginning, I don’t think losing was an option for us. Today we were more determined than we’ve ever been I think,” Kevin Puryear added after scoring 17 points in the win. “We love coach Loos and we love the Loos family and we just really wanted to do that for him. We were really passionate today.”
The noise of the halftime speech was rivaled only, perhaps, when Rosburg took an outlet pass from Wright with 12 seconds left and elevated for a dunk that gave the Tigers their final points. Moments later, Terrence Phillips handed the game ball to Rhyan Loos as he headed for the locker room and--at least for a day--everybody felt good about Missouri basketball.
“There’s a lot of bad in this world,” Loos said. “But through this process we’ve learned that there’s a lot more good than there is bad and this is really special for us.
“We’ve been crying a lot over the last four months. But today was tears of joy.”
Now, they look to carry that feeling over for another day with South Carolina coming in Tuesday evening.
“Tuesday is Rally For Rhyan night,” Anderson joked. “I gotta tell Mack (Rhoades).”
Read more about Rhyan Loos' fight with cancer
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