2015-2016 Missouri Basketball Season Preview
By Sammy Stava
The first season as head coach last year at Missouri for Kim Anderson didn’t go as planned, obviously. Ending with a dismal 9-23 record last season, being predicted to finish last in the SEC this season, and losing Montaque Gill-Caesar and Jonathan Williams isn’t exactly promising.
However, this season will be better than last season, because it can’t get much worse. As ugly as last season was, 10 out of the Tigers’ 23 losses were in single digits, including Illinois by three, Oklahoma State by two in overime, and Arkansas by one.
This year’s non-conference schedule for Missouri will be a tough task, having to play at Xavier, in the CBE Classic featuring Kansas State, Northwestern, and North Carolina, at Arizona, then against N.C. State and Illinois. If the Tigers want to have major improvements, they will need to rack up the wins against Wofford, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Arkansas State, Northern Illinois, Nebraska-Omaha, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, and Savannah State before SEC play.
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Look for newcomers Terrence Phillips, Cullen VanLeer, Kevin Puryear, K.J. Walton and others to possibly give this team a much needed spark. Phillips already seems to be a fan favorite in Columbia. Wes Clark has the potential to have a good year at point guard bouncing back from his injury. Ryan Rosburg will have to be the senior leader and keep a positive team chemistry. D’Angelo Allen, Jakeenan Gant, and Namon Wright have a lot to prove this season.
For this year’s team to have any shot at a good year, the off the court issues and suspensions have got to stop. And it has already started.
Welcome to Mizzou basketball season: Namon Wright & D'Angelo Allen suspended for tonight's exhibition vs. Missouri Western
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) November 7, 2015
Mizzou won their lone exhibition game last Friday, over Missouri Western. Looking to this Friday, the season opener will already be a must-win. Mizzou cannot start out 0-1 and have their early-season 2014 loss to UMKC happen all over again.
“This season will be better than last season, because it can’t get much worse.”
Missouri tips off the regular season Friday night against Wofford at 7:00 p.m. CT on the SEC Network alternate channel. Wofford was the defending Southern Conference Champions last season and lost 56-53 to Arkansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Missouri has usually been a solid basketball program, but they hit rock bottom last season. It is important to be patient and give Kim Anderson time to rebuild, because there is no doubt that he wants to succeed in Columbia.
Don’t count on a postseason appearance or a winning record quite yet for the Tigers, but look for improvements and Kim Anderson, slowly but surely in the coming years, getting this program back to relevancy and respectability.
Record prediction: 13-18, 5-13 SEC.
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Head to our Mizzou page for plenty of updates on both Tigers football and basketball as the hoops season gets underway.