The Joplin Globe
November 11, 2006 01:38 am
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By Jim Fryar
jfryar@joplinglobe.com
They've played Division I opponents.
Now Missouri Southern basketball coaches want a more accurate measurement of where their teams stand as the regular season approaches.
Both Maryann Mitts and Robert Corn should see their teams in better light tonight, with an exhibition doubleheader at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Southern men play Livin' the Dream, a men's touring team, at 5 p.m. The Lion women meet St. Louis Goldstar, another touring team, at 7.
There is no admission charge for tonight's games.
"I think it's going to be a better measuring stick for where we are than the Arkansas game was," Mitts said. "Arkansas (which beat the Lions 78-48 last Saturday) was an awfully steep challenge. You kind of had to read between the lines to find the positives."
Corn and the Southern men had a similar experience in a 75-48 loss at Indiana State.
"After watching the tape, I was disappointed with how well we played," Corn said. "We had way too many turnovers and a lot of those were self-induced. We also shot the ball poorly (including 1-for-14 from beyond the 3-point arc). Some of those were not the shots we wanted to get."
Livin' the Dream, which has played the Lion men the past several seasons, features former area standouts including Webb City's Blake Bard and Dan Stanley, Neosho's Doug Gillispie and Matt Olson and Riverton's Brad Mann.
Bard, Olson and Mann all played at Missouri Southern and Gillispie and Stanley were Pittsburg State standouts.
Mann and Bard played on the Southern team which finished 30-3 in the 1999-2000 season.
Corn said he's looking for three areas of improvement tonight.
"The big thing, early in the season, is how well you execute," he said. "Defensively, are we doing a good job of ball pressure, are we doing the things we've worked on. And offensively, setting good screens, keeping turnovers down, getting good shots.
"No. 2, we'll get an idea of where we are from a conditioning standpoint. We want to get up and down the floor a lot this year.
"The last thing is intangibles like, 'How hard are we going to play?' That's going to be so important all year. We can't take possessions off."
Deonte Cox, a 6-foot-8 junior transfer from Forest Park Community College in St. Louis, led the Lions with 24 points against Indiana State. Ed Miles, 6-5 senior from Dallas, had seven rebounds and T.J. Britton, 6-3 junior transfer from Mineral Area CC, had six points and four steals.
"It's great to play outside competition," said Corn. "In practice, you can get a false sense of security. You don't realize your weaknesses.
"Hopefully, in tonight's game, we'll show significant improvement."
Mitts said St. Louis Goldstar lost an exhibition earlier this week to MIAA rival Central Missouri. But the Southern coach is more concerned with assessing her own team than worrying about an exhibition opponent.
"We've been working diligently on our timing," she said. "That was one of the issues we had at Arkansas. We need to get on the same page on the offensive end.
"We've also been working on being more fundamentally sound. We were awfully careless against Arkansas.
"Right now, it's hard for me to judge exactly where we are."
Dana-Mae Robbs, 6-0 center from Lecompton, Kan., led the Lions with 19 points against Arkansas. Danielle Devader, 5-9 sophomore from Holton, Kan., had 10 points and Tynesha Pierce, 6-0 junior transfer from Texas-Pan American, had nine points and nine rebounds.
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