COLUMBIA — It has become an increasingly common sight in recent weeks: an enraged Frank Haith on the sideline, his suit jacket off, stomping and yelling in what is, in part, an effort to fire up his Missouri basketball team.

“They will tell you I have intense moments,” Haith said.

Particularly on the road, where Missouri is 0-4 this season. Good teams find a way to execute in hostile environments, and the Tigers’ proclivity to hoist quick shots away from Mizzou Arena has led Haith to rant, rave and do whatever he can to get them to patiently run their offense.

“If you ask those guys, they’ll probably tell you I’m pretty hard (on them),” Haith said. “I don’t think I’m that hard, but I’m sure they think that.”

But there still appears to be a belief that Haith has been harder on this season’s team, 16-5 overall and 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference, than last year’s senior-led group, which finished 30-5.

“I didn’t see him do it much last season,” senior forward Laurence Bowers said, “but last season’s team, I don’t think they gave him as much heartache as we have this year.”

Junior guard Phil Pressey agreed.

“Yeah, I guess you can say that,” Pressey said. “We didn’t lose much (last year). Those games we did lose, he did get on us. But the more you lose, the more he yells.”

Haith has been yelling a lot lately, senior center Alex Oriakhi acknowledged with a hearty laugh. Aided by sluggish starts, Missouri has turned in some real stinkers on the road in all three of their SEC road games, trailing Mississippi by 11, Florida by 17 and LSU by 13 at halftime.

“He’s definitely calm,” Oriakhi said of his normally even-tempered coach. “But when we’re not playing the way we’re supposed to, you’re going to … see a different side of Coach Haith, especially at halftime in locker room.”

Oriakhi then detailed Haith’s routine.

“First, it’s the jacket … don’t tell him I said this, now,” Oriakhi said with a laugh. “Then he throws the jacket, then the marker.

“We know when we missed up at halftime, so we’re just sitting in the locker room, almost waiting for it.”

Both Oriakhi and Bowers say the routine is effective.

“First the jacket comes off, then the tie comes off,” Bowers said. “He definitely finds a way to bring the most out of us. But we can’t keep letting him do that. He’s going to mess around and pop a blood vessel.”

The Tigers will get another chance earn their first road win at 8 p.m. Thursday, when they take on Texas A&M in College Station.

“Going to A&M, we have a chip on our shoulder,” Bowers said. “I can tell you that, because we haven’t won on the road.”

Bowers said its important for Missouri to get out to a strong start. He knows that if they don’t, they’re going to hear about it from Haith at the break, routine and all.

“Hopefully, he won’t have to do that this next game at halftime,” Bowers said.