Tigers win exhibition opening game

MU's focus on defense helped the team come away with a win.

By Sam Wilson

Published Nov. 6, 2007

More than eight minutes into its first game, the MU men's basketball team found itself trailing Division II UM-St. Louis 16-14.

"Like most teams in this time of the year, the first game, you've got the jitters taking place," coach Mike Anderson said. "It was very evident early on."

The Tigers were able to recover to a 33-24 halftime lead. In the second half, the team used defensive pressure to pull away to a 78-51 win against the visiting Tritons.

"We made them turn the ball over a lot," sophomore guard Keon Lawrence said. "And we capitalized on it by scoring fast breaks, playing the way we like to play."

Anderson said he felt if his team continued to apply pressure, it would break UMSL down in the second half.

"The way we play, it's just a matter of time," he said. "I thought fatigue was a big factor in this game. We had a lot more numbers than they did."

Junior forward DeMarre Carroll said the team is used to a fast-paced game and this helped in the second half.

"Half of us weren't even tired," he said. "Forty minutes of hell, we do it everyday."

Junior forward Leo Lyons said the team mainly focuses on defense.

"We hardly practice on offense at all," he said. "Our game plan is to go out there and play defense."

Lyons led the Tigers with nine rebounds. But UMSL still managed to out-rebound the Tigers 36-33.

"That's a problem we had last year," Lyons said. "We're still working on it. It just won't change overnight, but we're still trying to get better at rebounding."

Anderson said his team didn't attack enough on the glass.

"I thought we were spacey with rebounding," Anderson said. "We were in position, but we weren't coming up with them."

Anderson said if the team gets more rebounding production from all five players on the floor, it can improve tremendously in that category.

"We can be as big as we want to," he said. "Our guards, they're going to be a key."

Lawrence said he has vowed to improve his rebounding.

"I know I can pull down a lot of rebounds," he said. "I'm definitely going to start putting that in my mind."

Anderson's system leads to a wide-open style of basketball. But Carroll said he doesn't see that as a hindrance to the team's rebounding.

"My thing is rebounding," he said. "I really don't look at it like that. I just like this system because it's up and down. It's not slow."

The Tigers have their final exhibition game against Missouri Western at 7 p.m. on Thursday at home.

Anderson said not to expect the same lineups as Saturday's game because he is still tinkering to see how combinations work.

"With these two games, I'll be tinkering with the lineup quite a bit, just to see where we are," he said.

The regular season opens at home with the CBE Classic on Nov. 12.