Before next game, lots of practice on the agenda for MU basketball team

Not that today’s practice was going to be a picnic, but the tone changed for Missouri after its 69-61 loss to the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Friday.

“It’s going to be a big day,” Mizzou coach Kim Anderson said.

The original idea was the have the players work their way over to the practice facility in the late afternoon and go over the next opponent, Valparaiso on Sunday.

Instead, the day will include instruction. Much instruction.

Against the Kangaroos, Missouri shot 37 percent, mostly against zone defense, got out-rebounded and shot 13 fewer free throws.

“This isn’t punishment,” Anderson said. “We need to learn from this. We need to watch it as a coaching staff, as a team, so we can understand what we need to do.

“It will be a busy day.”

Surely one area of concentration will involve attacking a zone. The Tigers didn’t work the ball inside or play well along the baseline. They too often settled for perimeter looks and went five of 23 from beyond the arc.

“At the beginning, they extended their zone and it was hard to get open shots, and when we did we just weren’t hitting,” said Missouri guard Wes Clark, who finished with 13 points but missed six of seven from deep, as did Montaque Gill-Caesar, who finished with 21.

The Tigers’ Keith Shamburger nailed a three-pointer that cut the deficit to 52-48 with 8:32 remaining. Missouri then missed its final six.

Undoubtedly the Tigers will see more of the same, starting Sunday.

“I’m sure we’ll get zoned,” Anderson said. “Zone us, that’s fine. That’s why I’m coaching, to figure out what’s going wrong and correct it.”

That will take up much of the workout time, but there were plenty of mistakes made Friday to fill a lesson plan.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Anderson said. “They may not be, but I am.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 11:54 PM with the headline "Before next game, lots of practice on the agenda for MU basketball team."