Keon Lawrence is leaving Missouri basketball team
By MIKE DeARMOND
The Kansas City Star
Keon Lawrence wants out of the Missouri basketball program, and this time coach Mike Anderson isn’t going to try to stop him.
Anderson announced Friday that he has granted Lawrence, a 6-foot-2 guard who would have been a junior next season, a release from his scholarship.
“The well-being of our student-athletes is always a chief concern for us, and with that, I have always wanted my players to be happy,” Anderson said in a statement released shortly before 6 p.m. Friday.
“I feel by granting Keon his release it’s in the best interest of both him and our program. We appreciate Keon’s efforts at Missouri and wish him nothing but the best.”
Lawrence’s version of the split carried a sharper edge.
“It’s not my teammates, and it’s not the fans,” Lawrence told The Columbia Daily Tribune in a story published Friday afternoon. “That should tell you something.”
When contacted by The Star, Lawrence chose his words carefully.
“I need to be closer to home,” Lawrence said when asked why he was leaving Missouri.
Lawrence refused to answer follow-up questions.
MU officials confirmed Lawrence’s desire to transfer to a school closer to his home in Newark, N.J. That could be Rutgers, which tried to recruit him out of high school.
Lawrence, under NCAA rules, would have to sit out a year at another Division I school but then would have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
On Wednesday in an interview with The Star, Lawrence spoke with enthusiasm about the upcoming season and the influx of seven new players.
“This squad, everybody’s about the team,” Lawrence said. “They’re going to give what it takes to win. Whether somebody doesn’t like it or not. They’re here to please the coach.
“That’s one thing we were missing last year. People wanted to please each other, themselves, instead of playing their role, doing what the coach wanted them to do.”
While it may seem odd that Lawrence went from that stance to deciding to transfer in less than 48 hours, Missouri, in essence, had to convince Lawrence three times to either come to or stay in Columbia.
He originally committed to play for former coach Quin Snyder. When Snyder was ousted and replaced by Anderson, associate head coach Melvin Watkins — a holdover member of Snyder’s staff — convinced Lawrence to honor his commitment.
Lawrence nearly left MU last December after being demoted from the starting lineup by Anderson. At that time, Anderson and Watkins talked Lawrence into staying.
Toward the end of the season, which MU finished 16-16 overall and 6-10 in the Big 12 and out of NIT contention, Lawrence was hurting.
“You just watch other teams, how they’re just on the same page,” Lawrence told The Star. “They’re putting themselves in position to be in the (NCAA) tournament and play beyond. They’re not fighting to get to the NIT or whatever.
“I want to have that same team here.”
But, Lawrence added: “I’m not going to throw my negative stuff in there. It’s not going to do anything but split the team up more.”
In given games, Lawrence was the Tigers’ best player last season.
He scored 18 points as Missouri upset Texas. He scored 24 points in a loss at Texas Tech and 25 in a loss at Kansas. He averaged 11 points and 3.3 rebounds, third in each category behind Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll.
On Wednesday, Lawrence had praised the new players, said the veterans were in for a fight and the entire team was intent on erasing doubts anyone had about the MU program.
“People are going to say what they want,” Lawrence said. “But we’re going to prove them otherwise.”
But now, Lawrence won’t be a part of that.
To reach Mike DeArmond, Missouri reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4353 or send e-mail to mdearmond@kcstar.com
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