Joking with teammates for position

Jokingly, Jason Horton calls teammate Stefhon Hannah “Stefanie” during practice.

“We play with each other like that all the time,” Hannah said with a laugh. “I call him names, he calls me names. We’re just chill.”

But when Missouri opens its preseason Nov. 3 against Missouri-Rolla, Hannah may answer to another name: Starter.

After Friday night’s Black and Gold game, Tigers coach Mike Anderson said only that certain players had positioned themselves to be considered. Hannah, a point guard, was one of them.

“I thought he willed his team from the standpoint of getting guys in the right position,” Anderson said of Hannah after Friday night’s game.

The other three were guard Matt Lawrence, forward Marshall Brown and center Kalen Grimes. But Anderson reiterated there was still time for other players to make an impression.

“Once we get a chance to go over what took place tonight... I was sitting there watching, but I’ll get a chance to look at some tapes,” Anderson said. “We’ll see what takes place in practice this week.”

Anderson isn’t the only one looking at the starters. The Black and Gold game was one determining measure for Missouri fans.

A few fans in the upper deck were liberal with their criticisms of the new era of Missouri basketball — especially with Horton, a junior guard.

“If Horton starts, we’ll be in trouble,” Thomas Cox, of Kansas City, said.

“Do you think he’ll start?” a fan from a few rows down interjected. “Because I’m with you.”

“He’s looking good tonight,” Cox’s brother, Billy Cox, a physician’s assistant who works with Missouri teams, responded.

What continued was an animated discourse on the state of Missouri basketball.

Thomas Cox, a 1989 alum, went as far as to say that Horton should have left with his former coach, Quin Snyder.

In Horton’s two years at Missouri, he has garnered mixed crowd opinions with his up-and-down performances.

But it was Hannah who has already won the starting point guard spot in Thomas Cox’s opinion. “I think he’s going to be a really good player for us,” Cox said. “I think (Anderson) should put Horton on the bench.”

If Anderson were to bench Horton, it would be another break with the recent past. Horton was one of Snyder’s highest-rated recruits but has struggled to make the impact many expected he would. Hannah, who was recruited by Anderson, played better than Horton on Friday.

Hannah scored 19 points, including what turned out to be the game-winning two with 1.5 seconds left to give his Black team an 87-85 win over the Gold team. Those last two points came on a fade-away jumper with freshman guard Keon Lawrence in his face.

“Everybody can have it in their hands, but it’s who wants it,” Hannah said. “Anybody on the team could have made the shot but the ball was in my hands, so I took it.”

Hannah got the chance to win the game after Horton, who scored eight points, missed two free throws that would have given the Gold team the lead. But Hannah insists, despite the competition for playing time, that his relationship with Horton is strong.

“We’ve been making each other better,” Hannah said. “He’ll have a good day, I’ll have a good day. I’ll have a good week, he’ll have a good week.”

Horton, who started 19 games at point last season, said earlier that he welcomes the presence of other ballhandlers.

“Everybody’s going to bring up the ball,” Horton said. “I won’t have to do it every possession. It takes a lot out of you. When you’re the only ballhandler out there it’s hard.”

Missouri fan Tary Stift sat a few rows from the court, studying the yellow flier that detailed Missouri’s team. Stift, who remembers watching Missouri basketball at Brewer Fieldhouse, was optimistic for the Anderson era and the quick style of play.

“I like fast breaks,” Stift said. “If you get out fast, you can get down there and score. I like that strategy instead of passing the ball around. It’s more exciting.”

Horton and Hannah are also getting pushed by freshmen guards Keon Lawrence and J.T. Tiller. On Friday, Lawrence and Tiller both were impressive. Tiller scored 15 points for the Black team and played physical perimeter defense. Lawrence scored 18 for the Gold and showed good quickness and an ability to finish by the basket.

“Those are good freshmen,” Anderson said. “They fit up-tempo basketball and you can see that.”

Lawrence said that while he hopes he is a starter, it doesn’t matter to him.

“I’m just trying to play my role and try to be a leader and talk on defense,” Keon Lawrence said. “I don’t really care about starting.”

Those might be words that Anderson wants to hear. Anderson’s up-tempo system requires a deep bench, one he said may force him to play 11 players.

“The starters are important,” Anderson said. “But the guys coming off that bench, those are key guys.”