The first game under Frank Haith was a success for the Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team. The better news was that several scorers emerged for the Tigers on a night when the team was fitting in under a new coach and around lost forward Laurence Bowers. In the end, the Tigers opened the season with an 83-68 win over Southeast Missouri State.
Marcus Denmon and Ricardo Ratliffe both had 20 points and 8 rebounds and Kim English added 19 as the Tigers rolled in the second half to pull away from SEMO. It had been close in the first half as Mizzou only led by two, 38-36. Still the No. 25 Tigers had enough scoring power to pull ahead for good not too long into the second half after a speech from Frank Haith and they put the game away from there.
Next up for the Tigers is a home game on Monday night against Mercer.