The Missouri Tigers have gone through a lot in the past week. Finals, the suspension of Micahel Dixon and a shooting during the funeral of Marcus Denmon's cousin, but one thing is for sure, the Tigers won't be looking past the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles Thursday evening.
Generally when Summit League opponents visit Big 12 Conference arenas, fans can mark one in the win column. Well, after last season's Golden Eagles victory in Tulsa, the Tigers know they'll have their hands full.
Even though the Golden Eagles record is at a sub .500 4-5, the 8-1 Tigers have lots to play for when pitted against Oral Roberts.
The Golden Eagles have nearly as many Kansas City natives on their squad, three, as Mizzou's four. And with Dixon in street clothes, the numbers are even.
The KC, MO natives for Oral Roberts include leading scorer and assist man Dominique Morrison, Michael Craion and Roderick Pearson. Aptly named Steven Roundtree leads the team in rebounding.
For the Tigers, with Dixon on the shelf, Phil Pressey expects to see more floor time. The diminutive freshman is second on the team in assists per game, and was one dime shy of double-figure assists on Saturday in his best performance as a collegian.
Kim English also had a good game Saturday, maybe the best of the year for the Preseason Wooden Award nominee, as did Justin Safford, both pouring in 14 points.
Leading Missouri, Denmon averages 16.4 ppg and Ricardo Ratliffe cleans the glass at a clip of 7.8 rpg.
Laurence Bowers should be the fifth starter, joining English, Pressey, Denmon and Ratliffe in the starting lineup.
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