Halfway through last night's game against Mississippi State University, Missouri had taken 16 three point attempts, often right after running the ball up the court with a lot of time left on the shot clock and rarely off of a screen. In fact, few of Missouri's first half shots were reminiscent of the Illinois game in which the team as a whole used penetration, ball movement and screens to get to the ultimate objective: high percentage shots. Instead, Mizzou was sloppy, undisciplined and lazy in its shot selection.

Any player can take a shot at any time. That is always an option. It's rarely the best option. What a good team works toward is increasing the odds that the ball will go in. That's the difference between street ball and high caliber basketball.

It did seem like the second half was a better brand of ball. Mizzou reduced its three point attempts to six. One of those attempts was a beautiful screen to a wide open Matt Lawrence who buried it. That's the kind of three point attempt we need. Even still, with three minutes to go and Mizzou up about 10, they were still running and taking quick, low percentage shots. Stefhon Hannah (who might beg to differ) threw up a couple of circus shots with a lot of time left on the shot clock. Fortunately they went in. I don't expect that to happen regularly and I hope that's not part of the game plan.

I'm still on the Mike Anderson band wagon. I'm practically driving it. The consistent level of effort most of the players give has been impressive. I can see they're trying to work toward something and sometimes sputter. A slashing player who expects to dish may find the dishee AWOL. That makes him look sloppy when he's not the problem. We'll see that type of problem iron itself out as team chemistry gets better.