Notes from Media Day

Considering a Mike Anderson-coached team will never be one that prefers or excels to score in a halfcourt setting, Missouri better find a way to start forcing its hectic style of play on opponents.

Again, there’s no way the Tigers are changing course now.

“We’re still going to be an attacking team,” Anderson said at Thursday’s media day. “Play a little smarter that’s all. I’ll take the blame for that. I didn’t make sure I had our guys in the right mindset in terms of what it’s going to take to play.”

Most of the Tigers’ shots against Kansas were anything but smart. Forced away from the basket by Cole Aldrich, the Jayhawks’ 6-foot-11, show-swatting center, Missouri’s possessions consisted mostly of one player dribbling in a circle and eventually forcing a highly-contested shot.

“Just get the ball moving. We got to run,” Zaire Taylor said. “We got to be that uptempo team we were and that we are, that we’re known to be. We’re playing at other teams’ pace recently.”

Even when Missouri gets slowed down into a halfcourt game, the Tigers can still make an effort to create motion and free up players. Their constant motion can never stop. But if the Tigers stay stalled, so will their win column.

By: Alex Ruppenthal