COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Director of Athletics Jim Sterk announced today the appointment of Cuonzo Martin as Mizzou’s 19th head men’s basketball coach. Martin, who has spent the past three seasons as head coach at the University of California, has averaged 20.7 wins in nine seasons as a head coach with seven postseason appearances to his credit.

Martin, who was born in St. Louis and moved to East St. Louis, Ill., as a young child, will be introduced at a 4 p.m. campus celebration on Monday, March 20 at Mizzou Arena. Doors open to the general public at 3:30 p.m.

“We are thrilled that Cuonzo is returning to the Midwest and that his family will now call Columbia home,” Sterk said. “From the outset of our search, our goal was to find a coach who had demonstrated success, academically and on the court, while also sharing our values and who can help to reignite interest in Mizzou Men’s Basketball among our fan base. I believe we found all of that and more with Cuonzo and I look forward to watching him compete for championships and postseason appearances for many years to come.”

Martin has registered six, 20-win seasons as a head coach, including a 21-13 mark in his final season at Cal which earned the Golden Bears an NIT bid. He owns a nine-year head coaching record of 186-121 (.606), which includes a three-year mark of 62-39 (.614) in three seasons in Berkeley. After directing his first Cal team to an 18-15 mark in 2014-15, Martin’s Golden Bears went 23-11 in 2015-16 and tied for third in the Pac-12 en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Before moving to the West Coast, Martin spent three successful seasons at Tennessee, where he guided the Volunteers to a 63-41 (.606) record and into the postseason each year (one NCAA, two NIT). After reaching the NIT in each of his first two seasons in Knoxville, his final UT squad registered a 24-13 record and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Martin is no stranger to the Show-Me State, having launched his head coaching career at Missouri State. After an 11-20 debut season at the Springfield school, Martin led the Bears to a 24-12 record and the CollegeInsider.com Championship in 2009-10. His third season saw Missouri State record a 26-9 record en route to the program’s first-ever regular-season Missouri Valley Conference championship and an NIT bid. Martin was named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year and was the 2011 recipient of the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award, presented annually to the nation’s top minority head coach in Division I men’s basketball.

The 45-year-old Martin has served the game of basketball for more than two decades, beginning with a standout four-year playing career at Purdue University. He has played and coached alongside some of the game’s most highly-regarded mentors, including Hall of Fame Coach Gene Keady. Martin is a member of a distinguished group of successful college basketball coaches to serve under Keady, along with Matt Painter (Purdue), Bruce Weber (Illinois and Kansas State), Steve Lavin (UCLA and St. John’s) and Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt and Pitt).

Martin also has experience as a coach with USA Basketball, serving on the USA Junior National Team staff at the 2011 FISU World University games in Shenzhen, China.

As a student-athlete, Martin was a 1995 First-Team All-Big Ten selection at Purdue when he averaged 18.4 ppg and sank 91 three-pointers. He graduated as one of the program’s all-time leaders in three-pointers (179) and among the Boilermakers’ career scoring leaders (1,666). Playing under Keady and alongside All-American Glenn Robinson, Martin led Purdue to a pair of Big Ten titles and to a 90-37 four-year record. The Boilermakers went to the postseason each season with Martin, reaching the Elite Eight of the 1994 NCAA Tournament.

Following his collegiate playing career, Martin was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 57th overall pick of the 1995 NBA Draft. He played professionally for four years with the NBA’s Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks and Vancouver Grizzlies. In 1997, Martin was the leading scorer for Felize Scandone in Italy.

Martin returned to his alma mater where he earned his bachelor’s degree in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management from Purdue in 2000. He and his wife, Roberta, have two sons, Joshua and Chase, and a daughter, Addison.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball edged Chicago State, 7-6, in extra innings after a walk-off dropped fly ball off the bat of sophomore OF Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) in the 13th inning Wednesday night at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou moves to 16-1 on the year, the longest win streak by a Mizzou team since 1981 and ties the longest active win streak in the nation this season. At 16-1, Mizzou is also off to the best start in program history through 17 games.

Mizzou led much of the game before Chicago State tied the game in the top of the eighth inning. Mizzou left 18 men on base as it failed to get the clutch hit many times. It looked like that would haunt them as Chicago State hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the 11th. But Brumfield hit a two-out, two-run double to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the 11th. Mizzou loaded the bases in the 13th and Brumfield lifted a fly ball to left field which was dropped, allowing the winning run to score. The play was reviewed, but the call was upheld to seal the win.

Lost in the long, 4:40 game was the start by junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) who went 5.0 innings with just one unearned run and a career-high six strikeouts. He was part of a Mizzou pitching staff that allowed just three earned runs over the 13-inning affair.

Montes De Oca cruised through the first two innings, picking up a pair of strikeouts and a slick 1-3 pickoff for out No. 3 in the second inning. Mizzou then got on the board in the bottom half of the inning, picking up an RBI single from Matt Berler (Hoover, Ala.) and an RBI groundout from Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.), giving Mizzou a 2-0 lead. Chicago State’s CF Matt Paciello robbed Brumfield of a hit and an RBI to end the frame with a diving catch.

After the offense gave him a lead, Montes De Oca issued a pair of walks in the third, but got a huge 4-6-3 double play and his third strikeout of the game to escape the inning. Mizzou got another run on an RBI single from Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) in the bottom of the third.

Chicago State got an unearned run in the fourth after a passed ball and an error put two men on. Jacob Northrup doubled to plate a run, but Mizzou got out of the jam with just one run allowed and took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning.

CSU cut into the lead in the seventh on a two-out, RBI single off Mizzou reliever Ty Shoaff (Akron, Ohio). That cut the lead to 3-2.

Mizzou loaded the bases in the seventh inning with one out after a Kameron Misner (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) bunt single. Berler hit an RBI groundout to second to extend the lead to 4-2. The Cougars then took advantage of a pair of Mizzou errors in the eighth inning, getting a big two-out single to tie the game at 4-4.

Mizzou stranded three runners in the eighth, one in the ninth and two in the 10th inning, including the winning run on third base in the 10th. RHP Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) then got hit with a two-run homer by 3B Rick Salazar to take a two-run lead in the top of the 11th inning.

Misner drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 11th inning and Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) singled to put two men on. Brumfield then hit a double to center field to bring both runners home as the ball scooted under the glove of the diving CSU center fielder. That tied the game at 6-6 after 11.

Sharp took over on the mound in the top of the 13th inning, pitching lights out and retiring three consecutive batters, two on strikes. Moving into the bottom of the frame, Berler led off the inning with a single blasted through the left side. Sharp helped his team out with a single of his own while Alex Samples (Bridgeport, Texas) loaded the bags with a free pass to first, giving Brumfield the opportunity at the walk-off hit.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball is officially returning to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Tigers have now earned berths in the back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1985-86.

Mizzou clinched a No. 6 seed in the Stockton (Calif.) region, it was announced Monday. Mizzou will face No. 11-seed South Florida at 4 p.m. CT on Friday on ESPN2 at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center on the campus of Florida State University. The winner of the opening round game will take on the the winner of the game between Florida State and Western Illinois on Sunday in the second round.

The Tigers will make their 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, seeking a win in back-to-back tournaments for the first time in program history. It’s the 24th overall postseason tournament selection for Mizzou. The Tigers are 5-10 all-time in the Big Dance after downing BYU in the opening round of last season’s NCAA Tournament.

— Mizzou Athletics —