Tigers school Lithuania Academy
Published Nov. 8, 2006
With the regular season opening Friday, the MU men's basketball team didn't amaze in its second and final exhibition test. But it didn't really need to.
The Tigers had an easy Monday night against Lithuania Academy, taking a 31-8 lead in the first 11 minutes. MU held the Academy to 18 points in the first half and won handily, 94-40.
Lithuania had more turnovers than points, 41 to 40. That set an MU record for the most turnovers ever forced in a game.
Junior forward Marshall Brown, who led the Tigers with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting, was surprised by the historically bad nature of the Academy's play.
"I've never seen 41 turnovers and 40 points in my life," he said.
In addition to the turnovers, Lithuania shot 22 percent from the floor and didn't make a shot that wasn't a 3-pointer or a free throw until Vytautas Pliauga hit a jumper with 7:42 left in the first half.
But Brown wasn't exactly impressed with the Tigers' play in the first half. MU committed 10 turnovers and shot 48 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
"I thought we came out sluggish," he said. "We played down to the level of our opponent a little."
Junior forward Stefhon Hannah agreed, but said Missouri, which only had two turnovers in the second half, played better as the game went on.
"We picked it up," he said. "We knew that we had to keep playing no matter what the score is."
Hannah and sophomore guard Matt Lawrence added 16 points each. Coach Mike Anderson praised Hannah's play.
"He's a real exciting player for us," he said. "We're an attacking team, and he's an attacker."
With the win pretty much in the bag, Anderson was able to get at least 10 minutes of playing time for 10 of his 11 players, the exception being junior Nick Berardini, who hit a 3-pointer in the final minutes.
"The nice thing about these games is that they give you an opportunity to play everyone and see what you need to work on," he said.
With the exhibition season over, the Tigers now have three games at home in three days, starting with North Carolina A&T on Friday night. Brown said MU would have to work hard leading up to those games to be ready.
"We've got to practice extremely hard," he said. "We've got to bring energy and effort."
Some players said they weren't used to playing such a high frequency of games. Freshman guard J.T. Tiller, who had five points, said it would be a challenge.
"I've never done three in a row in the regular season," he said. "But it's a new experience. I'm anxious, but I can't wait to play actual games. It's exciting."
Anderson said that the weekend would take on extra meaning because the games are part of the round-robin John Thompson Classic, named after the former Georgetown head coach.
"John Thompson's a pioneer for black coaches," Anderson said. "He's made it possible for Mike Anderson to be at Missouri."