COLUMBIA, MO. • Inside the rowdy confines of Mizzou Arena on Saturday afternoon, it was time once again for a Big Steve house party.
In the instant-gratification, 24-hour news cycle, a star-is-born-every-second world of ESPN highlight reels, the Big Steve house party is not quite on the same level as, say, Linsanity (Jeremy Lin, these are your 15 minutes of fame. Enjoy). But here in the home of the No. 4 ranked Missouri Tigers, it is a movement nonetheless.
And it all revolves around the high-energy movements of Mizzou's 6-foot-9, 267-pound reserve center Steve Moore and the unbridled love affair he seems to have sparked with the crazies who reside in the Zou Crew student section.
What makes Moore so special?
Well for one, he's the only player on the 23-2 Tigers who has his own cheer. Whenever he checks into the game, grabs a rebound, dives on the floor for a loose ball, takes a charge, puts up a shot or pretty much clears his throat, there is this wonderful sound that comes from the northern stands that sounds like the hum of a jet engine on takeoff.
STEEEEEEEEEVE!
The cheer began four years ago when he was a seldom-used freshman whose token playing time was acknowledged by the Zou Crew denizens. It was kind of cute back then, because quite frankly the kids viewed Moore as a victory cigar. There were rarely any Steve Moore sightings in games unless the outcome was firmly in hand.
But now he's a senior and coach Frank Haith is using him as a major contributor. His minutes are not judged by quantity, but quality.
"He's a live wire," Haith said after MU's 72-57 victory over sixth-ranked Baylor. "He deflects balls, he keeps rebounds alive, he takes charges. ... He's just an energy guy, a very valuable man on this team."
What Moore did against Baylor was eye opening, and it says just how much he has improved since he arrived in Columbia as an overweight freshman. He is usually one of the first players in the gym every practice, taking time with assistants Ernie Nestor and Tim Fuller to get some individual coaching.
"This is a big deal for him now," Fuller said. "It's his first time really being a part of something. In the past, he was getting limited minutes, making limited contributions. But this year, he's playing critical minutes and he's taking full advantage of it. He was out there today making an impact, which is pretty impressive, considering."
Ah yes, let's talk about that word "considering." Fuller didn't explain what it meant. But really, did he have to? How should I put this delicately? Baylor coach Scott Drew rolls out a stable of long, athletic giants who all look like future lottery picks. There are quite a few NBA teams that don't have this much height, depth and athleticism on their roster. Drew has five players who are 6-9 or taller and every one is more athletic than the bulky Moore.
So consider the differences between Moore and the Baylor bigs and it helps explain why he was one of the stars Saturday.
They are long-limbed gazelles. He is a thick-legged bull moose. They glide. He trudges. They hang glide. The best way to describe the way Big Steve rises off the hardwood is that it involves Moore sort of gathering himself in the right direction, then allowing momentum do the rest.
There were several NBA scouts in the building Saturday and it's safe to say none of them put this game on their itineraries because of Moore. Yet by the end of the game, there was no big man on the floor more productive than the man from Kansas City, whose 16 minutes of high-energy contribution weren't done justice by the stat sheet (three points, two rebounds, one assist, one blocked shot).
Moore did more in his 16 minutes of playing than either 6-11 projected lottery pick Perry Jones III (two-for-12 from the floor, four points, no blocked shots, seven rebounds in 31 minutes) or 6-7 forward Quincy Acy (34 minutes, seven points, four turnovers, eight rebounds), the Baylor players most NBA scouts are interested in.
There was one particularly telling display that captures how Moore gets a lot done in a little bit of time on the floor.
With Missouri holding a one-point lead with a little more than 13 minutes to go, Moore did his typical thing. He pounded his way under the Mizzou basket after a missed jumper and out of a tangle of arms and legs, his outstretched hand reached out and slapped the ball back out into the hands of Mike Dixon, who drained a 3-point jumper.
On the other end of the floor, he wrestled away a defensive rebound from another tangle of Baylor big men, flung an outlet pass to start the fast break, then out-hustled all the Baylor bigs down the floor, caught a perfect pass from Marcus Denmon and threw down a wicked dunk over late-trailing 6-11 Bears forward Anthony Jones.
"That was a great play," point guard Phil Pressey said. "That's Steve Moore."
And if that wasn't enough, he ended his day on the floor with under two minutes remaining when he completely cuffed a sweeping hook shot by 6-9 Quincy Miller in his left hand, then engulfed the ball with his entire hulking body to set off another boisterous STEEEEEEEEEVE!
"He's going to bring it every game with his enthusiasm and his hard work ethic," Pressey said. "You can't teach that, and that's what Steve brings."
