Gary Pinkel isn't going to let anything become a distraction for Missouri's preparations next week for its Border War football game with Kansas.

Xavier led 35-32 at halftime. A pair of free throws by Carroll gave Missouri a 45-43 lead at 14:10, and although Xavier led by a point twice after that, the Tigers went up by seven on a free throw by Leo Lions with 7:04 to play.

Senior wrestler Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) was named one of 21 semi-finalists for the fifth annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup.

Pinkel, with a record of 58-39 (59.8%) at Mizzou, stands as the third-winningest coach in program history. The Tigers will play in their fourth-consecutive bowl game this year for only the second time in school history (1978-81 was the other such stretch). Pinkel's overall career record is 131-76-3 (63.1%).

Missouri wrestling's home opener dual against Hofstra will be a little different from dual meets past. For the first time, all proceeds from the event will go directly to the Missouri wrestling scholarship endowment fund.

Two games into Anderson's third season at Missouri, the Tigers will use the highly competitive Puerto Rico Tip-Off to test a platoon of guards that contributed heavily in blowout wins over Prairie View A&M and Chattanooga.

Elvis Fisher, the left tackle, is all wrong for Missouri's offensive line. He did not grow up on a farm. He does not have small-town roots that run deep.

COLUMBIA | A reporter, supposedly in all seriousness, asked Leo Lyons whether Missouri's upcoming trip to Puerto Rico made it hard to concentrate in Monday night's 103-75 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga.

In addition to the Wuerrfel Trophy, Daniel is also a finalist for the Draddy Trophy, the Unitas Golden Arm Award, the Manning Award, and the Lowe's Senior Class Award. He is also a semi-finalist currently for Maxwell Award and the Davey O'Brien Award as well.

COLUMBIA | Kenji Jackson can't wait to see how the other half lives, even though he'll have to wait until Nov. 29 to see it.