Tigers excited for Border War reboot

Cuonzo Martin and the Mizzou basketball team hosted 35 NBA personnel from 24 different NBA teams at Tigers' Pro Day on Saturday.

After practicing in front of the NBA scouts, coaches and executives, select Mizzou players met with the media. There were some questions about pro day, but most of them centered on the Tigers' upcoming exhibition game against Kansas at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.

Junior Kevin Puryear is one of the elder statesmen on this Missouri team. He's also a Kansas City native which means he grew up at the heart of the Border War rivalry.

"To be honest, no", Puryear answered when asked if he thought he'd ever get the chance to play Kansas while at Mizzou. "I had really heard that was kind of a dead thing. The Illinois game was was really going to be our rivalry game. I really wasn't expecting us to play Kansas at all. It's a good opportunity for us. We're excited."

Michael Porter Jr. has spent a lot of time around the Missouri basketball program over the years. His dad became the women's basketball Director of Operations in 2011, though, so Porter Jr. only had one season to see Mizzou play Kansas.

"When I first moved here that was my favorite memory of Mizzou Arena," explained Porter Jr. "I was sitting at the top of 209 section. Packed gym and Mizzou beat Kansas that game. It was just crazy. The energy in the building and that rivalry. How much people really cared about it."

Not all Mizzou players are as familiar with the rivalry though. Kassius Robertson admitted he didn't know too much about it. He's working to learn more, including what the name the series was.

"To be honest I'm still learning about it. I know it used to be called...what was it? The border wars or something like that? To me it's just another game. Just a chance for us to get better and closer as as team," said Robertson.

It's important to remember that this an exhibition game with the goal of raising money for hurricane relief. Each player that spoke brought up that point and how happy they were to help out in their own way.

The on the court product likely won't look much like an exhibition game however. Puryear, Porter Jr., Robertson, Jordan Barnett, Blake Harris and C.J. Roberts all talked about how they anticipate this being a very competitive game. Bill Self and Cuonzo Martin might want to rein their players in somewhat, but the energy in the Sprint Center will likely have everyone involved competing as hard as they can.

For those interested in tickets to the highly anticipated exhibition, here is the information that the Mizzou athletic department released.

The two schools will split the approximately 18,000 seats in the Sprint Center; each athletics department will distribute its allotment. The game will not be televised or streamed, but each school's radio network will broadcast it. The goal is to sell out the Sprint Center, which could yield approximately $1 million to distribute among the five charitable organizations.

Members of the Tiger Scholarship Fund will have the opportunity to purchase tickets from the Mizzou allotment first based on donor rank. TSF members should watch their e-mail for more details. A limited number of tickets for Mizzou students will be available to purchase starting on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Any remaining tickets from Mizzou's allotment will go on sale online only through www.sprintcenter.com starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18.

Keep it on PowerMizzou.com for more information on the Showdown for Relief.