Alumni from Tigers' 1943-44 team visit Mizzou Arena

COLUMBIA — Playing on the same college basketball team with your brother can provide some advantages.

Missouri men’s basketball players Phil and Matt Pressey often say they know what the other is going to do before he does it. But the Pressey brothers are not the only brothers who have played together for  the Tigers.

The first pair, twins Beau and Cliff Minx, played for Missouri during the 1943-44 season. The Minx brothers were two of more than 60 past players at Missouri's 87-54 victory against Iowa State on Saturday at Mizzou Arena.

In addition to being honored at halftime with the other alumni, the Minx brothers relived some memories from their playing days while watching the Pressey brothers play against Iowa State.

“They play pretty much like us,” Cliff Minx said while laughing. “Just like them, we always knew what the other guy was going to do.”

On Saturday, the Pressey brothers didn't produce the same big numbers they have been recently. Matt Pressey finished with nine points, while Phil Pressey had two.

The game against Iowa State also sparked another memory for the Minx brothers.

When the Minx brothers played against Iowa State, it was the first time in NCAA history that two sets of brothers played against each other. Iowa State had its own set of brothers, Ray and Roy Wehde. Missouri lost both meetings to Iowa State that season, 41-25 and 46-32.

The Minx brothers are identical twins, and they didn’t hesitate to use that to their advantage on the basketball court. Cliff Minx grinned widely at one memory.

Cliff Minx was a forward and Beau Minx was a guard. In a high school basketball tournament, Cliff Minx, who often scored more points, got into foul trouble. In order to keep Cliff Minx in the game, their coach called a timeout and had the two switch jerseys.

“We couldn’t get away with that in college, but it was nice in high school,” Cliff Minx joked during halftime of Saturday's game.

Going into college, the Minx brothers were not heavily recruited and decided to walk-on to the Missouri men's basketball team. they said Missouri was at a disadvantage compared to its opponents, unable to recruit the same caliber of players that went to Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma.

When asked what their favorite moment of their season with the Tigers, the Minx brothers agreed that it was Missouri's 35-28 upset win over Kansas.

“Kansas was really good,” Beau Minx said. “We went 1-1 against Kansas that year, and weren’t expected to beat them. I was so proud of the fact that we beat Kansas that year.”

The 1943-44 Missouri team was also the Tigers' first NCAA tournament team. The Tigers went into the NCAA tournament with a 9-8 record. Missouri lost to eventual champion Utah 45-35 in its first game of the tournament before defeating Pepperdine 61-46 for third place.