COLUMBIA | A reporter, supposedly in all seriousness, asked Leo Lyons whether Missouri&#8217;s upcoming trip to Puerto Rico made it hard to concentrate in Monday night&#8217;s 103-75 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga.</p><p>Lyons played along.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s very hard,&#8221; Lyons said in a perfect deadpan. &#8220;Puerto Rico&#8217;s a lovely place, and everybody wants to go.&#8221;</p><p>How, pray tell, did he come to form his pretrip travel log?</p><p>&#8220;I saw pictures,&#8221; Lyons said. &#8220;Checked the weather report.&#8221;</p><p>And then, even Lyons had to laugh.</p><p>The weather will be nice, but the going will get tougher for the Tigers in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Missouri, 2-0, faces Xavier, 2-0 and receiving votes in the national polls, at noon today at San Juan.</p><p>If Missouri beats the Musketeers, the Tigers will play the winner of the Fairfield-Virginia Tech game at 12:30 p.m. Friday. If the Tigers lose, they&#8217;ll meet the Fairfield-Virginia Tech loser at 10 a.m. Friday.</p><p>No games will be played Saturday, and the championship round is set for Sunday.</p><p>Junior point guard Zaire Taylor contends Missouri will be playing in the tournament title game at 6:30 p.m. Sunday against the winner of a lower bracket that includes Chattanooga, Memphis, Southern California and Seton Hall.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going out there to win a championship,&#8221; Taylor said.</p><p>Lyons seemed comfortable with that challenge, perhaps because, starting with the end of last season, the 6-foot-9 senior forward finally seemed to grow into the promise of his game.</p><p>&#8220;I always knew what I could do,&#8221; Lyons said. &#8220;It was just a matter of me going out there and showing it.&#8221;</p><p>Lyons has topped 20 points in each of Missouri&#8217;s games this season. Going back to the final four games of last season, Lyons is averaging 22 points and 11.2 rebounds a game.</p><p>Lyons and fellow senior forward DeMarre Carroll, in fact, have combined to average 43 points and 16.5 rebounds in the first two games.</p><p>Senior Matt Lawrence scored 16 points the last time out, freshman Marcus Denmon 15 in the season opener.</p><p>Newcomers Taylor, Miguel Paul and Laurence Bowers have had their impressive moments already, something that needs to continue if the Tigers are to make significant progress from last season&#8217;s 16-16 finish.</p><p>&#8220;We need everybody to the last player,&#8221; Lyons said. &#8220;The young guys have got to be ready. You never know when they&#8217;re going to be out there on the court.&#8221;</p><p>All of the tournament games will be televised on the ESPN networks. Sunday&#8217;s title game will be on ESPN2 and ESPN360, with other Sunday games set for ESPNU.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> @ Go to <strong>KansasCity.com</strong> for a live blog on today&#8217;s Missouri-Xavier game at Upon Further Review, The Star&#8217;s sports commentary blog.</p><p></div>