COLUMBIA, MO. — As rigidly as Mizzou coach Frank Haith has avoided pausing to appreciate what his fourth-ranked Tigers have done thus far, he eased his guard for a few seconds on Thursday.

"There's no way I thought we'd be 22-2 right now, to be honest with you," he said. "These guys have been amazing."

Entering MU's game against No. 6 Baylor at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena, the Tigers are a win from matching their total in each of the last two seasons and one away from tying a career-high for Haith.

Haith went 23-11 in 2007-08 at Miami, where his 129-101 overall record and 43-69 ledger in Atlantic Coast Conference play loomed over his hiring at Mizzou in April.

Now Haith has to be considered a favorite for national coach of the year, a notion that would have been astounding in April and one that Haith publicly is handling with the same equilibrium he did the shrill outcry when he got the job.

Asked if he was paying attention to the commendations, Haith said, "No. I mean that sincerely, as well as (that) I didn't listen when people said I shouldn't be here.

"So I think that you can never get caught up in the high praise or the criticism, and I think that once you do it can affect you in a way that you don't want it to affect you."

If he were to earn one of the honors, he added, "Then it's not Frank Haith, it's our staff and it's our players."

Closer shaves

After spending much of the early season among the nation's leaders in margin of victory, MU has had a new knack recently: The Tigers' last three wins have been by three points or fewer, MU's first such streak since late in the 1977-78 season.

Consider the 89-88 win over Baylor on Jan. 21, and four of Mizzou's last five wins have been by a total of eight points.

Even when MU was romping through its schedule earlier, Haith was mindful of the work needed on late-game situations. But having them actually happen is a better way to sharpen the skill.

The Tigers led Oklahoma State by seven with 6 minutes, 17 seconds to play before losing 79-72. On Monday, they led Oklahoma by eight with just over four minutes left before eking out a win when OU's Steven Pledger missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer.

But MU got two things out of the OU finish, a victory with a coaching point to be made: Pledger was open because MU crashed the boards on a free throw that OU had to miss on purpose to give itself a chance to tie.

"We should have pulled Kim (English) off the line, and he should have matched with Pledger," Haith said.

"History" lesson

Apparently on the recommendation of long-time MU equipment man Kit Lisauskas, Haith watched "The Outlaw Josey Wales," a Western set in Civil War-era Missouri and Kansas, for a notion of regional history entering the MU-KU game last week.

"I've watched it many times before —Clint Eastwood fan — but to really watch it and get the background on what I'm watching, I did this time," Haith said. "It was intriguing to me, and I thank Kit for that."

Tiger Tales

Mizzou's next win will be the 100th for the four-year seniors, matching the school record set from 1979-83 by the Steve Stipanovich- and Jon Sundvold-led Tigers, who went 100-28 (.781). Entering the Baylor game, this group is 99-31 (.762). ... Marcus Denmon is eight points from tying Sundvold for 10th on the MU career scoring list. ... Denmon, on being on national player-of-the-year watch lists, including one for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, said, "I'd much rather get team of the year than player of the year."