Tod Palmer breaks down the 2015-16 Missouri men’s basketball season

Missouri took the first step toward putting real distance between last season’s 9-23 disaster and what second-year men’s basketball coach Kim Anderson ultimately wants to build at his alma mater by knocking off Wofford on Friday at Mizzou Arena.

The Tigers want to forget last season and the best way to do that is to erase the memory win by win.

No one is going to declare Missouri national-title contenders or even Southeastern Conference-title contenders. Those goals are farther than this season’s journey is likely to go.

It’s about inching back to respectability.

Exiting the Big 12, the Tigers finished second during the regular season and won the conference tournament in 2011-12.

MU spent most of that season as a top-10 team in the Associated Press rankings, earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won 30 games.

It’s been a steady downhill slide ever since.

Missouri debuted fifth in the SEC a year later and squeaked into the 2013 NCAA Tournament only to lose again in its opening game.

The Tigers slipped to sixth in the SEC and settled for a National Invitation Tournament berth in 2013-14 before bottoming out with a last-place conference finish last season.

The only direction to go is up, but this version of Missouri’s lacks size and experience.

Forward Ryan Rosburg is the only senior on a roster with five new scholarship players after junior guard Martavian Payne opted to step away from basketball and focus on academics, the school announced Friday.

Rosburg is also the only player taller than 6 feet 8, but the Tigers hope to make up for the size deficiency by pushing the ball more and going en masse to the glass.

Blue Springs South graduate Kevin Puryear, while undersized at 6-7, brings bulk to the interior and a rebounding presence Missouri had been missing.

Junior Russell Woods, a 6-8 forward from Chicago by way of John A. Logan Community College in Illinois, is a wiry, athletic and energetic presence in the paint.

Puryear and sophomore Jakeenan Gant, a 6-8 forward from Springfield, Ga., have the range to play away from the basket and stretch defenses.

Of course, Anderson’s affinity for ball-handlers is no secret and it’s the guards who will really make the Tigers go.

Freshman point guard Terrence Phillips is a pass-first playmaker who can break down defenses off the dribble and can excel in transition. He brings an attacking mentality Missouri sorely needed.

Now healthy, junior Wes Clark, who missed the last month of his sophomore season because of a dislocated elbow, is ready to build off the progress he showed last season.

Freshman guard K.J. Walton also brings a slashing presence and defensive tenacity that Missouri was desperate for on the perimeter.

Sophomore Tramaine Isabell’s energy off the bench provides a spark and adds quality backcourt depth at the point, while sophomore Namon Wright appears to have grown.

Wright and freshman Cullen VanLeer are three-point threats the defense must respect, a welcome change from last season, when Missouri only shot 32.9 percent from long range.

Shooting for .500 overall would be a good benchmark for the Tigers, who face a schedule that includes Xavier, North Carolina State and Arizona during nonconference play.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Tod Palmer breaks down the 2015-16 Missouri men’s basketball season."