Guard Jimmy McKinney and center Kevin Young graduated, and leading scorer Thomas Gardner left school for the professional ranks.

Point guard Jason Horton, center Kalen Grimes and swingman Glen Dandridge—all of whom arrived in Columbia as a highly touted group of recruits—rounded out the junior class.

Missouri did not have much difficulty in Mike Anderson's first three games as head coach, defeating North Carolina A&T, Army and Stetson to capture the John Thompson Foundation Classic title.

The athletic department allowed the fans to fill the lower bowl, though, to compensate for a storm that forced MU to cancel classes the next day.

In a back-and-forth game, Illinois held on for the victory after junior guard Stefhon Hannah fumbled the ball on the final possession and failed to get off a potential game-tying three-pointer.

Ben Hansbrough, who later transferred to Notre Dame and earned Big East Player of the Year honors in 2011, scored eight points in that game for the Bulldogs.

However, with a chance to throw down a monstrous dunk in the open court, junior forward Marshall Brown missed the jam and killed any hope of a comeback.

The underdog Tigers battled the 6th-ranked Jayhawks wire-to-wire, but sophomore Matt Lawrence's tying three-point attempt as time expired did not even catch the rim.

MU returned home to defeat Bob Knight's Texas Tech team to draw to 2–4 in conference play, but it lost three of its next four games to fall to 3–7.

Three days later, Anderson won his first game against a ranked opponent by beating 18th-ranked Oklahoma State 75–64 at Gallagher-Iba Arena, a traditionally difficult Big 12 venue.

Maric, who proved to be an extremely difficult match-up for the smaller Tigers during his career, made five free throws to seal the game in the final minute of overtime.

The Tigers battled Texas A&M to a tie at half-time in the Big 12 finale, but the Sweet 16-bound Aggies blew the game open in the second half for a comfortable win.

The Bears entered the game with a 14–15 record but featured a young, talented backcourt—the same players who took the program to a surprising NCAA Tournament appearance just one year later.

Anderson's vaunted pressing style did not fare well against Baylor, as it shot 63 percent from the field and burned Missouri's full-court pressure for 40 minutes.