Kim Anderson saw challenges for this MU team, but not this soon

From the outside, anyway, the script said this day could only be one of celebration in the end.

Sure, it had been months since native son Kim Anderson at last had been hired as men’s basketball coach at the University of Missouri, the job that still stubbornly lurked as his dream even after he had convinced himself it was folly to think about any more.

But Friday night really was the inauguration, his first game, and it was at Mizzou Arena against a UMKC team that went 10-20 last season.

Even with a perfunctory performance, even with a rebuilding program that at least one major-college coach refused to consider looking at because of its minimal cast of returnees, surely Mizzou would beat the Kangaroos.

That’s why they were giving out 5,000 T-shirts bearing Anderson’s name and old jersey number (42) on Friday, and that’s why three busloads of fans came from Anderson’s hometown of Sedalia clad in shirts of their own that touted “Restore The Roar.”

Excited and hopeful as Anderson was at the dawn of this new era, though, he also had fretted.

With plenty of reason, it turned out, as the Tigers lost 69-61 to UMKC.

It was a monumental and promising victory for the ’Roos, and whatever the exact opposites of that are for MU … which simply isn’t allowed to lose to UMKC.

That said, the Tigers looked entirely like a team that had seven new players — minus one, freshman Jakeenan Gant, who was abruptly held out “as a result of a review regarding his eligibility.”

They looked entirely like a team that Anderson earlier in the day had considered and said, “This is going to be a teaching year.”

And they looked entirely like the team that had trouble shooting in exhibition wins against William Jewell and Missouri-St. Louis.

That’s why before the game Anderson had joked that perhaps MU should be saving some of those shots it was making in warmups.

He had a point, but it was no laughing matter: Against UMKC, Mizzou made just 24 of 63 field goals, including an unsightly five of 23 from three-point range. For that matter, it made just eight of 16 free throws.

MU had gotten away with the poor shooting in the exhibition games, though, and between that and some generally decent defense, Anderson had ample hope that Friday night would play out OK.

Then again, he’s still learning how to read this team.

During a pre-game meal Friday, Anderson noted that the players were much quieter than they’d been before the exhibitions.

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” said Anderson, adding, “You never know with a lot of young guys. You don’t know.”

And now you don’t know how this inaugural season will play out.

This was only one game, of course, and the Chiefs’ rotten start against Tennessee is a reminder that you can only conclude so much from such little evidence.

Just the same, it’s clear that there is a long way to go to fuse this group together. Right now, it has the looks of a lot of parts that not only don’t mesh but, in fact, also seem to grind.

“I just thought we were a step slow,” Anderson said after the game, “and I don’t know why.”

The answer is kind of simple, though.

“We don’t have that good a feel for each other,” sophomore guard Wes Clark said.

As it looks for offensive identity, MU had hoped to lean on defense and rebounding and savvy and grit, Anderson’s points of emphasis.

But it didn’t have enough of any of that on Friday.

While the Tigers held the ’Roos to 37 percent field-goal shooting for the game, they were scorched for five of nine three-pointers in the tone-setting first half.

And MU was outrebounded 43-38 as it put UMKC at the line 29 times. The ’Roos also happened to hit 23 of those, including 15 of 16 by Martez Harrison, the one UMKC player that Anderson knew could sway the game and, in fact, did.

At a shoot-around before the game, Anderson essentially had forecast it: “This is the game, I’ll tell you right now. Control this.”

In a sense, MU’s baseline for improvement is simple.

Anderson knows his team has limitations. He also knows some of its capabilities.

The key starting point is to be able to at least be able to get what he stresses to fully register and have a better chance to be executed.

It’s not going to happen fast, and MU is going to have some serious growing pains.

The Tigers play host to Valparaiso on Sunday and Oral Roberts on Wednesday before heading to Hawaii for three high-profile games, starting with No. 2 Arizona on Nov. 24.

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Anderson said. “I knew there were going to be challenges.”

Just maybe not so immediately.

This story was originally published November 15, 2014 at 12:15 AM with the headline "Kim Anderson saw challenges for this MU team, but not this soon."