Say this for Kim Anderson: He isn’t hiding from the criticism.
To kick off Mizzou’s Halloween and Hoops scrimmage on Friday night, Anderson emerged from a coffin near midcourt following the introduction of his team. Microphone in hand, he told the sparse crowd, “Many others have buried us. We hope to prove them wrong this year.”
Coming off two seasons in which Missouri has gone just 19-44, the Tigers are picked last in the SEC’s preseason poll. Earlier this week, Anderson said he understood the skepticism, even going so far as to say that’s probably where he’d pick his team, “but I don’t think we’ll finish last.”
“It was 100% my idea,” Anderson said. “But it was hot in there guys. I wouldn’t want to be in there for very long.”
The fans in attendance got their first glimpse of the 2016-17 team in action during an abbreviated scrimmage. The black team was composed of Missouri’s returning players, while the gold team was made up of the rookies (until the second half when Cullen Van Leer joined the newcomers and walk-on Brett Rau switched to the veterans’ bench). The vets won it 35-22.
“We shouldn’t lose that,” sophomore K.J. Walton said. “We’re more experienced, we know what to do out there. We shouldn’t lose that at all.”
Van Leer and Walton led the black team to a 26-12 halftime lead with an array of jumpers, drives to the basket and free throws. Walton led all scorers with 14 points and also grabbed five rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
“I thought the first half for the blackshirts was pretty good,” Anderson said. “They got out and they pushed the ball.”
Walton was an offensive star, making four of his six shots from the field and five of six at the free throw line. But it’s at the other end of the floor Walton put in the most work this offseason.
“Defense,” he said. “Off the ball defense, on the ball defense, just defense overall.”
“Confidence level is a lot higher,” Van Leer said of Walton. “Going to the basket, he’s scoring or getting fouled, one of the two. Just his confidence and his overall game, you can see it when you get on the floor.”
The black team (minus Van Leer) went cold in the second eight-minute half, getting only a three-pointer from Walton and a pair of free throws by Kevin Puryear before couple of buckets in the final 20 seconds.
“You’ve got to avoid the five minute drought,” Anderson said. “That’s what got us in trouble a year ago.”
The bright spot for the gold team was Jordan Barnett, who scored 11 of his team’s 22 points. Barnett made three three-pointers and also won the dunk contest prior to the scrimmage.
“He’s going to bring a lot when he comes. We’re really excited for when he gets back,” Van Leer said. “He can do it all really. He’s a freak athlete as everyone saw in the dunk contest. He can shoot. He gets on streaks when he’s shooting that it’s just flick it up and it’s going in.”
“My jump shooting ability and my ability to get my shot off is huge. I feel like I can get my shot off over anybody at any angle. Not to brag on myself or anything,” Barnett said with a laugh. “To tell you the truth, it just felt good to be out there. It’s been two years since I’ve done any sort of playing.”
“There were a little nerves tonight,” Anderson said of the rookie team. “Hopefully this helped work them out.”
The gold team mad just eight of 29 shots, including a 3-for-13 performance from freshman Frankie Hughes.
“Frankie is not shy. Frankie will shoot the ball,” Anderson said. “But we want Frankie to shoot the ball. We want Frankie to shoot it and we want Cullen to shoot it when they’re open. Sometimes there’s a discussion about being open, but they both can shoot the ball really well.”
NOTES: Jordan Geist is out with an injured right little finger. Anderson said the team will know more by Monday. “If it’s a tendon, he could be out for a while. It would be a matter of weeks and not days.”…The Tigers will face Creighton in a “secret scrimmage” on Sunday. That will be played in Omaha…With Geist out, Van Leer is Missouri’s backup point guard. Anderson said the Tigers are working with Hughes on running the point as well. “Cullen has really emerged as our backup point guard,” Barnett said. “We rely on him so much more than we did last year. When I first got here and toward the opening of spring, he was strictly a two-guard. We just figured, ‘Why not? Let’s try Cullen at the point.’ And he did ridiculously well.”
