Following last season, guards Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson chose to forgo their senior years at Missouri. Their departures, combined with forward Earnest Ross’ graduation, dealt a heavy blow to Mizzou.
Brown, Clarkson and Ross, all transfers into the program, are gone. Gone are the 51.4 points per game produced by the three former Tigers last season. Gone is 78 percent of Mizzou’s scoring.
Mizzou is left with four players from last year’s squad: Jonathan Williams III, Ryan Rosburg, Wes Clark and Keanau Post, who combined for 16.2 points per game through the 2013-14 season.
“I’m hoping that the guys who were here last year that didn’t score as much will step up their game,” coach Kim Anderson said. “I don’t really know if we’ll have one guy scoring 20 (points per game). I don’t know if it will be like that. I’m thinking it might be three guys with 14 or 12, and a bunch of guys in that seven to 10 range.
“I think it will be more balanced at least to start with, and then we’ll see. This is a team that is going to evolve as the year goes on.”
But it’s not just points per game that have left Mizzou. It’s certain types of points.
>“I don’t really know if we’ll have one guy scoring 20 (points per game),” Anderson said. “I don’t know if it will be like that. I’m thinking it might be three guys with 14 or 12, and a bunch of guys in that seven to 10 range.
The wrists behind 87 percent of last season’s three-point jumpers have left the building, too. Between Brown, Clarkson and Ross, 169 three-pointers were made. Out of the 202 three-pointers scored last season, only 25 were sunk by returning players. Clark had 21 and Williams drained four in 11 attempts.
However, Williams has been on a mission this past summer. Williams, who played point guard at Southwind High School in Memphis, Tennessee, has been working on his jump shot during the offseason. He said he has expanded his range, and improved on his finishing around the rim.
“I’m really happy,” Williams said. “I think I worked on a lot of things. All I’ve got to do now is keep praying, keep believing.”
“J-Three,” as he is called by his teammates and coaches, is the top returning scorer for the Tigers. He averaged 5.8 points per game last season, serving mainly as a shot blocker and rebounder. Williams said he knew the ball would be put in his hands more this year. He’s ready for the ball.
“We had Jordan, Jabari and Earnest. Those were our top three scorers, so they just needed me to rebound,” Williams said. “But now, since they left, the ball is being put in my hands. I’ve just got to shoot the ball, but continue to block shots and rebound.”
Junior forward Ryan Rosburg is also ready. Rosburg scored 4.8 points per game last season and said he is embracing the role of being counted on for points this season.
“I love it,” Rosburg said about his increased offensive role. “I know this year with coach Anderson’s system, it’s going to be so different. I think I’ll definitely have a scoring role this year, but I think we’re so balanced that any given night we can have a different leading scorer.”
Anderson is familiar with a balanced scoring attack. He said he has had teams in the past with one star lighting up the scoreboard, and teams with seven or eight players equally distributing the points.
Anderson said he likes coaching a team where everyone is contributing, and he thinks this year could have that characteristic.
“Sitting here today, I think this could be a very well-balanced team,” Anderson said. “I think this could be a fun team to play on because there are so many guys who can contribute, and it’s going to be young guys. They’re going to have to get their feet wet early because they’re going to get touches.”
Anderson’s Central Missouri Mules had 11 players who averaged five or more points per game last season en route to a NCAA Men’s Division II Basketball Championship.
Mizzou scored 2,553 points in 35 games last season. With the producers of exactly 2,000 of those points absent this season, the scoring breakdown of the 2014-15 Tigers is yet to be seen.
“I’m sure there will be some guys who’ll step up,” Anderson said. “Norm Stewart once told me: ‘There’s always a leading scorer on a team. There’s always somebody who scores more than everybody else.’ I’m not sure how this team will evolve.”
