Coming into his first season at the helm of Missouri basketball, head coach Kim Anderson knew that his team would face some stumbling blocks.

At 4-4, the Tigers have stumbled through the first month to their season. Mizzou opened the season losing to unranked Missouri-Kansas City on Nov. 14 at home. They were blown out by unranked Purdue in the EA Sports Maui Invitational and nearly lost to another unranked foe in Southeast Missouri State on Dec. 2 in the Mizzou Arena.

“Lately we’ve had some tough times and played some good teams,” junior forward Ryan Rosburg added. “Once we start seeing shots fall and once we execute and figure out what works, it will just start flowing from there. Hopefully it will be a domino effect.”

Anderson said that there is no one anywhere as disappointed as he is currently.

“Obviously we have a lot of work to do,” he said. “We’re going to keep fighting them. We’re going to keep trying to get better and just try to do the best we can at helping these guys get better.”

According to Anderson, it’s a confidence issue for his team.

“I really think what this team needs is something good to happen,” Anderson said. “I really think that at times we do things well, but we’re just not consistent. Part of that is being young, but most of that is being able to execute what we practice.”

Practices have reverted back to some of the basics for the Tigers as a result of their inconsistent play on the offensive end. Anderson said his team has been doing layup and putback drills, which are unusual at this level of play.

“I guess you could say we’re all learning right now still,” senior guard Keith Shamburger said. “We need to get out of that phase soon. We’re eight games in, about to be nine. It’s going fast.”

Even with time flying by in his final season, Shamburger said the team is close to being right.

“I think we’re just a couple wins away,” he said. “Once we start winning, things will be back to normal.”

Those wins could come in the next few days for the Tigers, who face Elon on Thursday and Xavier on Saturday. Both games are in Columbia.

Shamburger described the upcoming duo of home games as “real big.”

“It’s going to test our character and where we want to be this season,” Shamburger said. “Hopefully we come out victorious in both of them.”

But Anderson said everything will not be magically fixed, even if they win both games.

“I’m not going to sit here and say if we beat Elon and Xavier that we’re going to the Final Four,” Anderson said. “I’m just saying that if something good would happen where we would get some confidence and feel good about ourselves, I think that would help us.”

He said it is important for his team to not push itself too much during these times of frustration, but instead to relax and believe in each other.

“It’s only eight games,” Anderson said. “It’s not like we’ve played 26. We’re going to continue to help guys get better and gain confidence.”