Highly touted transfer Jordan Clarkson found himself 0-3 from the field and in foul trouble just nine minutes into his career as a Tiger. With MU leading by just five, in stepped freshman guard Wes Clark, who shot 3-12 for a total of eight points in the Missouri’s two preseason games.
Clark played the final 11:01 of the half, hitting his first three shots as the Tigers went on a 30-8 run to close out the half. He finished the game with 13 points, four assists and no turnovers as Missouri (1-0) routed Southeastern Louisiana (0-1) 89-53 in its season opener.
“There is no drop off,” Missouri associate head coach Tim Fuller said. “When Wes comes in the game, he gives us the same energy and same burst in a different way, because … he plays with a lot of pace. I was surprised about him going 3-3 on 3’s, but he makes shots.”
Clark said he made the most out of the time he had. He said he’d been working on his shooting with the coaching staff in practice.
Junior guard Jabari Brown led the Tigers with 19 points. Senior guard Earnest Ross had 12 more.
After going 0-5 from the beyond the 3-point arc in exhibition play, Clark hit all three of his deep attempts. The entire team excelled at shooting the long ball Saturday night, going 12-23 from downtown.
“Coach (Frank) Haith is an offensive genius,” Fuller said. “His offense lends itself with our high pick-and-roll and our transition game, it lends itself to getting open shots. And we work on that constantly, that’s a part of our practice every single day, and we have great shooters.”
Fuller was making his first appearance as a head coach as Haith began his five-game suspension. He said he felt Haith’s influence throughout the game.
“I almost felt like coach Haith is not gone, he’s a part of me,” Fuller said. “He helped raise me since I was 19-years old, so I quietly hear him talking as I’m out there coaching.”
Starting the second half with two fouls, Clarkson picked up just one more as he dropped 14 points in the half. Fuller said that being out of foul trouble made all of the difference for Clarkson.
“We just continued to tell Jordan, ‘just attack the basket,’” Fuller said. “He’s the same player, he just got in foul trouble.”
Sophomore forward Ryan Rosburg also battled foul trouble, although he still managed seven points in his first career start.
The one hole in Missouri’s performance was its free throw shooting. The Tigers shot just 55.6 percent from the line.
“I was frustrated with myself,” Brown said. “I’ve never missed that many free throws in a game. I think it was just concentration and taking your time up there.”
Fuller said the coaching staff knew Southeastern Louisiana shot well from outside. That preparation paid off, leading to just seven 3-pointers for the Lions.
“(Assistant) Coach (Dave) Leitao did a great job on the scout to make sure our guys were prepared to take away the 3-point shooting,” Fuller said. “We’re really excited about our perimeter play in Jabari Brown and Earnest Ross, and went out and tried to guard the basketball as best we could.”