Men’s basketball players reinstated

By Andrew Denney
Feb. 5, 2008

Senior guard Jason Horton and senior forward Darryl Butterfield were back in action Monday against Kansas. The two were suspended just over a week after an incident at a downtown Columbia nightclub that resulted in Horton’s arrest, the hospitalization of senior guard Stefhon Hannah and the suspension of five players.

In a Feb. 1 statement following Horton’s arrest, coach Mike Anderson thanked the Columbia Police Department for their efforts in investigating the incident.

“As we move forward, our priority will be to help these young men learn from this regrettable incident and grow as citizens in our community,” Anderson said in the statement.

During the incident, Hannah’s jaw was injured, and he had to have surgery that morning. In a statement, the MU Athletic Department said he is expected to be out of play for four to six weeks.

Following the incident, Anderson indefinitely suspended Horton, Butterfield and Hannah, as well as senior Marshall Brown and junior Leo Lyons.

Lyons and Brown were reinstated Feb. 2, but the Tigers did play the Nebraska Cornhuskers Jan. 30 without the five suspended players.

Anderson said the suspended players violated team rules against “fighting, breaking curfew and being someplace our student-athletes shouldn’t be.”

MU athletics spokesman Chad Moller said the athletic department “feels good” that Anderson addressed the problem.

“We educate our kids on what proper social standards we expect them to abide by,” Moller said.

Anderson instituted a no-tolerance policy for the basketball team after junior forward DeMarre Carroll was shot in the leg in downtown Columbia in July.

Butterfield was arrested in October on suspicion of third-degree assault.

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Men’s basketball players reinstated

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