With Missouri’s opening weekend complete, we’ve learned a lot through the Tigers’ first two games.
**The team is leaning on Wes Clark early.**
Missouri coach Kim Anderson said before the season started that he still wasn’t sure who his scorers would be. Two games in, sophomore guard Wes Clark has provided the Tigers with a steady scoring option, recording 29 points —13 against Missouri-Kansas City and 16 vs. Valparaiso — over the weekend series. Clark was the only player to put up double-digit points in both games, and demonstrated a knack for getting to the basket, drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line. Clark scored 10 of his 29 points from the charity stripe, hitting 10 of 12 shots from the line.
**The starting lineup seems to be set.**
While Anderson has said “there’s always competition,” the Tigers have seemingly found their starting lineup for the time being. The same five players started Missouri’s first two games. Guards Wes Clark, Keith Shamburger and Montaque Gill-Caesar manned the backcourt, with forwards Johnathan Williams III and Ryan Rosburg playing up front.
The Tigers are 1-1 with the lineup and will likely give it another go on Wednesday against Oral Roberts. While the current starting five have been fairly effective to this point, forwards Keanau Post and D’Angelo Allen could see time against teams with bigger lineups.
**Allen is making his presence known.**
Freshman forward D’Angelo Allen keeps managing to find his way into Anderson’s press conferences.
“I thought D’Angelo Allen made some really big plays,” Anderson said with a smile after Sunday’s game, answering a question about improved offensive performance.
It was the second time in the last few weeks that Allen came up.
“I keep going back to D’A,” Anderson said at a press conference on Nov. 8. “He continues to make things happen … He plays with a little bit of recklessness, which I think is good.”
Allen has five points and four rebounds in 20 combined minutes in the Tigers’ first two games.
**There’s still work to do before the Maui Invitational.**
The Tigers are scheduled to travel to Hawaii after Wednesday’s game against Oral Roberts for next week’s EA Sports Maui Invitational, where they’ll face Arizona, Kansas State and Purdue. The competition represents a significant jump in talent from the Tigers’ first three opponents (Missouri-Kansas City, Valparaiso and Oral Roberts), and Anderson says the team still has preparing to do before getting on the plane.
“We haven’t touched on some things we need to on the offensive end,” Anderson said after Sunday’s game against Valparaiso. “We got a lot of work to do in three days.”
The Tigers have a tough set of games in Maui, as they play the second-ranked team in the country (Arizona) and a Kansas State team that’s received Top 25 votes. But Anderson is looking forward to seeing how his team sizes up against top-tier opponents.
“It’s a chance for us to see where we’re at as a basketball team and as a basketball program,” Anderson said. “I’m excited about that.”