The Missouri Tigers’ first regular season game in the new Paige Sports Arena was a win, though not an impressive one. Mizzou topped Brown 68-60 in the opening round of the Guardians Classic. The Tigers, who trailed by as many as five points in the first half, shot just 35 percent from the field in the game and just 7-of-26 from the three point line. Sophomore Thomas Gardner led the team in points with 19 and rebounds with 12, for the first double-double of his career. Linas Kleiza chipped in with 17 points and nine rebounds. Brown was short-handed with returning Ivy League Player of the Year, Jason Forte on the bench for disciplinary reasons. He averaged 16.8 points and five assists per game as a junior last season. The only other upperclassman for Brown was junior Luke Ruscoe, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. The rest of the team is comprised of freshmen and sophomores. The Tigers were without center Jeffery Ferguson who was serving the first of a three-game suspension for playing in a non-sanctioned summer league this year. The attendance for the first game in the Paige Sports Arena was surprisingly low, with just 6,981—the arena holds over 15,000.
