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Missouri opens men’s basketball season with 72-31 exhibition win over William Jewell

By WADE LIVINGSTON

Special to The Star

10/29/2014 9:10 PM

10/29/2014 10:13 PM

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COLUMBIA

Missouri guard Wes Clark stole the ball and jetted down the right side of the court. No one on the Hearnes Center floor was near him.

The sophomore jammed one home. The dunk made the score 36-20 in favor of Missouri. More than 16 minutes remained in the second half.

The Tigers outscored William Jewell College 36-11 the rest of the way, beating the Cardinals 72-31 on Wednesday at the Hearnes Center.

The exhibition matchup was the first time Missouri coach Kim Anderson led his squad against an opponent. The Tigers survived a cold-shooting first half, though they were never really threatened by William Jewell. Clark — who led Missouri with 14 points — and the Tigers rolled in the second half, shook off the jitters and learned to play with some different personnel groups.

Missouri shot just 30 percent from the floor in the first half. William Jewell was worse. The Cardinals were six for 30 from the floor, including two for 13 from behind the arc. They managed just 17 first-half points, despite ending the period with an 8-0 run.

Anderson hinted that he wasn’t happy with the way his team closed out the half.

“It was a 30-9 game, and then we gave up eight points, I think, in a row before half,” Anderson said. “And we talked about that at halftime. A lot.”

The second half saw Missouri start to click offensively and William Jewell simply fall apart.

At certain points, Clark was joined by two other point guards on the floor. He liked the effect that lineup created.

“We practice it a lot, playing with two other point guards,” Clark said. “It makes it easier for me because the team has to spread out and play more, like, against the shooters, so it makes it easier for me to drive.”

The Cardinals shot just more than 13 percent from the floor in the second half. Missouri shot almost 54 percent.

“We just didn’t fit together real well (in the first half),” Anderson said. “I thought in the second half we relaxed. We were just real nervous. I think both teams were nervous.”

William Jewell coach Larry Holley agreed. “For our guys to play in this big arena, you know we don’t do that very often,” he said, adding that “jitters” were definitely a factor.

But so was Missouri’s defense and length. Holley said the Tigers’ size and tenacious defense limited his offense’s ability to execute.

“I think we had, for the most part, good energy,” Holley said. “We obviously didn’t shoot the ball well. And give Missouri credit: Coach Anderson had them working hard on defense obviously this fall. And their length bothered us.”

Anderson praised his squad for its high energy level.

“I was real proud of our defensive effort, and I was probably more proud for how hard we played for 40 minutes,” Anderson said.

“I liked the aggressiveness of the whole team. I told them going into the game that if there’s a ball on the floor and you don’t dive for it, then just keep coming right on over and sit down by me.”

Missouri junior forward Ryan Rosberg said it was just nice to play someone new.

“It was awesome to get back out there,” Rosberg said. “I’m sick of playing each other all day. We have a lot of new guys, so it was a good opportunity to get out there and get some of the jitters out of the way, and just try to get used to playing with each other in a real game setting.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...#storylink=cpy

Nice to see that he's not satisfied with mediocrity. Getting on his players while being ahead by double digits at halftime is something Carlton never would have done. He was too busy updating his LinkedIn profile and slithering out of NCAA violations.

William Jewel? Never saw that one coming. I wonder how much Mizzou had to pay them to play.

I thought William Jewel was a high school team or something ROFL

I know UCMO got snubbed this year LMAO

I liked this part

“I liked the aggressiveness of the whole team. I told them going into the game that if there’s a ball on the floor and you don’t dive for it, then just keep coming right on over and sit down by me."

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4ivQONymr34" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Central Missouri, (the defending Division II National Champs), opens against Duke at Duke. Thank god, that's an exhibition game.

*sigh*

LMAO

HOLY **** I THOUGHT YOU WERE KIDDING ROFL

http://ucmathletics.com/schedule.asp...ab=basketball2

damn

Duke always schedules the D2 champ as its exhibition game.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/Haithers.gif

I picture this every time I think MU BB. =/

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Kim Anderson came home to Missouri with a nod to the past.

Because a new scoreboard was being installed at the Mizzou Arena, the Tigers held their first media day just down the road at the old Hearnes Center. They opened the preseason there, too.

Nowadays, the Hearnes is the site for gymnastics and wrestling competition. But it’s hard to forget this is where the program thrived, where Anderson was a star forward — part of 77 victories — and then a top assistant coach under Norm Stewart.

Anderson is making the jump to the SEC from Central Missouri State, which won the Division II title last season and was a consistent power at that level. Stewart remains a resource, and the old coach had some no-nonsense advice after watching a practice and then addressing the team.

“I won’t elaborate, but he had a couple of guys he had kind of pinpointed that they maybe need to do a little bit better job,” Anderson said. “So we’ll see if they paid attention.”

Players have heard plenty about Stewart’s old-school ways and how they’d have been forever running stadium stairs to pay for errors made in practice or in games.

“It’s brought up all the time,” forward Ryan Rosburg said. “What coach Stewart would say, what coach Stewart would make him do. A lot of running.”

The 58-year-old Anderson replaces Frank Haith, who departed for Tulsa after three seasons, the last ending the school’s run of five straight NCAA tournament appearances. The pride of Moberly, Missouri hopes he can be a long-term fix for a program that keeps aiming high.

Missouri opens the regular season at home against UMKC on Nov. 14. The SEC slate starts Jan. 8 at home against LSU.

Things to watch for at Missouri:

LOW EXPECTATIONS: The Tigers were picked to finish seventh in the preseason SEC poll. Last season, they tied for sixth. It’s a reflection on past performance and roster turnover.

Results were inconsistent in last year’s 23-12 season, plus Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson left for the NBA. Brown is starting for the Bucks and Clarkson plays for the Lakers.

The top returnees are forwards Jonathan Williams III and Rosburg, and guard Wesley Clark. Top recruits Jakeenan Gant and Namon Wright will need to contribute right away, and senior forward Keanu Post had some nice moments late in the season.

Missouri settled for the NIT last season after losing seven of its last eight in the regular season, and Anderson said he’ll be evaluating the rotation for a while.

“When we start playing games, leading scorers and stuff will emerge,” Rosburg said. “But if you ask me know who it’s going to be I honestly couldn’t tell you. I think it could be 3-4-5 different guys.”

MAN FOR THE JOB: Anderson was NABC national coach of the year after leading Central Missouri State to a 30-5 record with a roster that included one player who averaged more than 4.7 points. Before the exhibition opener, he reminded players to go all-out.

“I told them going into the game if there’s a ball on the floor and you don’t dive for it, then keep running right over and sit by me,” Anderson said. “I thought we brought great energy.”

SELLING POINTS: Anderson accomplished a top priority, convincing prominent recruits Gant and Wright to stay. The 6-foot-8 Gant was Georgia’s Mr. Basketball, averaging 21 points and 10.5 rebounds, and the 6-foot-4 Wright was among the top players in California, averaging 24.2 points and 9.4 rebounds.

CHILD’S PLAY: Missouri dominated in the exhibition opener with a 72-31 rout over William Jewell College. The Tigers had a 59-31 rebounding bulge and held the losers to 17 percent shooting. Clark, a sophomore, led all scorers with 14 points and added seven rebounds and three steals. Rosburg had 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. There’s one more tune-up against Missouri-St. Louis on Nov. 8 before the season starts.

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL: Transfer guard Deuce Bello was a bit player as a sophomore at Baylor, averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds. He was a four-star recruit by ESPN, Rivals.com and Scout.com out of Westchester Country Day High in High Point, North Carolina, and could be used at forward.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/10/...14-15-preview/

Rosburg playing tells me quite a bit about this team this year. We might be bad enough that the Beakers think it would be safe to play us again

Anyone going to Maui?

We're taking it this year.

A D2 coach with Division 1-aa roster!

We're going to New York for dat NIT CROWN!