Shortly after his team suffered its second loss of the season on Wednesday, Missouri coach Frank Haith provided a detailed list of areas where he wanted to see the Tigers improve, with hustle, focus and physicality at the top of it.</p><p>But if recent history is any indication, Haith won&#x92;t attempt to achieve any of that by shuffling his starting lineup today against Texas Tech. No. 2 Missouri, which is 18-2 and 5-2 in Big 12 play, is the only team in the conference to start the same group &#x97; Phil Pressey, Matt Pressey, Marcus Denmon, Kim English and Ricardo Ratliffe &#x97; every game this season. </p><p>Haith, who has been coaching for over 25 years, can&#x92;t recall being a part of a team that&#x92;s gone as long without changing the starting lineup at least once.</p><p>&#x93;I think that&#x92;s pretty unique,&#x94; Haith said. </p><p>Perhaps its no coincidence, then, that the only other team in the Big 12 that&#x92;s come close to accomplishing the feat is also one of the top-five teams in the nation. No. 5 Kansas has sported the same lineup all but one game this year.</p><p>&#x93;That helps with your chemistry, because guys know what they&#x92;re going to do from one game to the next,&#x94; Haith said. &#x93;Sometimes when you have that indecision and are rotating lineups, guys don&#x92;t know (what&#x92;s expected) all the time.&#x94; </p><p>However, Haith&#x92;s original decision on who to start wasn&#x92;t a slam dunk. The preseason injury to forward Laurence Bowers created a starting spot in an already guard-heavy lineup, but with Ratliffe, English and Denmon entrenched in their spots, Haith still had three solid options &#x97; the Pressey brothers and junior Michael Dixon &#x97; for two starting jobs.</p><p>All three players had starting experience last year, but with a short bench &#x97; the Tigers only go seven deep &#x97; Haith ultimately chose to start the Presseys and make Dixon the sixth man because of the latter&#x92;s scoring ability. </p><p>&#x93;You want to have to something coming off the bench from an offensive standpoint,&#x93; Haith said. &#x93;If we start Mike, when we sub we&#x92;re not as good offensively.&#x94; </p><p>The move has worked out, obviously. Sophomore Phil Pressey is averaging 10 points and six assists per game and has showed flashes of being an elite table-setter. </p><p>Matt Pressey is a glue guy who has become a defensive stopper and contributes in a variety of other ways, despite his modest stats (8 points a game, 4 rebounds , 2 assists). </p><p>And Dixon, who is averaging almost 12 points per game, has emerged as one of the top sixth men in the nation.</p><p>Haith credits his team&#x92;s veteran leadership &#x97; five of the seven who play are seniors &#x97; for making it work. And people have taken notice, even the coach who toppled them on Wednesday.</p><p>&#x93;There&#x92;s a reason they are the second-ranked team in the country,&#x94; Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said after the Cowboys&#x92; 79-72 upset victory. &#x93;They are very good.&#x94;</p><p>And while that ranking will certainly take a hit thanks to the road loss to the Cowboys, there&#x92;s little doubt Missouri&#x92;s veteran players know what went wrong at Gallagher-Iba Arena. </p><p>&#x93;We didn&#x92;t force our will on Oklahoma State,&#x94; Denmon said. </p><p>The good news is their roles remain defined, and their lineup &#x97; barring an uncharacteristic shakeup &#x97; will likely be the same against the Red Raiders. </p><p>Now its up to a veteran squad that not only has talent, but experience and consistency going for it as well, to get back to its winning ways.</p><p>&#x93;That comes along with the territory of having some national recognition,&#x94; Haith said. &#x93;We&#x92;ve got to be tough enough to be able to handle that.&#x94;