Tigers win over Coppin State
Published Nov. 28, 2006
Missouri men's basketball coach Mike Anderson has prided himself on the probability that a different player would step up for the team each night. In the first six games of the season, four different players have led the team in scoring.
Monday night made that five for seven. Junior forward Marshall Brown led a balanced, if shallow, offensive attack for MU, scoring 21 points, 16 in the first half.
Sophomore guard/forward Matt Lawrence added 20 as the Tigers beat the Coppin State Eagles 98-77.
"I felt good today," Brown said. "I got in the flow of the game and was able to do things that way."
Anderson agreed with his forward, saying that when Brown isn't overly aggressive, he contributes more.
"When he lets the game come to him, it's easier and he does better," he said.
Brown also complimented junior guard Stefhon Hannah. The junior college transfer was named Big 12 co-newcomer of the week and made a case to receive it again. Hannah had 12 points and 13 assists, tying a school record for assists with Melvin Booker, who needed three overtimes to reach that total against Illinois in 1993.
"It's fun to play with Hannah," Brown said. "It's fun knowing that if you get to where you should be on the floor, he's going to get you the ball."
Hannah said that setting the record isn't such a big deal.
"Thirteen assists doesn't seem like a lot with the great finishers we have on this team," he said.
The Tigers (7-0) didn't trail after the first minute and led comfortably for much of the game. Up 10 at halftime, MU had five three-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half to stretch the lead over the Eagles (1-5) to 19.
Leading the second-half charge was Lawrence, who scored 19 of his 20 points after halftime. He credited his improvement to a talk he had with Anderson at halftime.
"The coaches told me that if I didn't shoot they'd take me out," he said. "So I decided to let it fly."
Anderson said that his team didn't shoot well, but they did shoot 46 percent from the floor and 52 percent in the second half. Some of the players, including junior center Kalen Grimes, were more worried about the team's defense.
"We really have to pick our defense up," he said. "Tonight we got lucky because we scored so much. You can't score every night, but you can focus and lock down on defense."
Lawrence said that the team was too risky going after the ball.
"I think we reached too much and didn't focus," he said. "Allowing Coppin to score 43 points in the second half is not where we want to be. It hurts our pride."
Up next for the Tigers is a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks that should have special meaning to Anderson, even if he denied it Monday.
"I look at it as just another game," he said.
Of his time in Fayetteville, Ark., he added that "Arkansas provided for my family, and I'm grateful for the time there."
It is MU's first game against a team receiving votes in the major national rankings. The Razorbacks are 5-0, coming off a win Sunday over West Virginia.
"It's a good test for us to see where we are," Anderson said. "We're trying to just find what we have."