Post by MizzouTiger on Mar 6, 2008 10:37:40 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/167/story/517566.html
Keon Lawrence trying to be a leader for struggling Mizzou
BY MIKE DeARMOND
The Kansas City Star
COLUMBIA | There are times — last Saturday at Baylor being one — when Keon Lawrence can’t talk about another defeat.
Words won’t come. Or, he won’t let them come, fearful of what he might say about a game Missouri led by 13 points in the second half and lost by 11.
“You think about how close you were,” Lawrence said. “You just watch other teams, how they’re just on the same page. They’re putting themselves in position to be in the (NCAA) tournament and play beyond. They ain’t fighting to get to the NIT or whatever.
“I want to have that same team here.”
Missouri tries to avoid falling to 15-15 in its regular-season home finale tonight against Iowa State. Lawrence takes a share of responsibility for that — possibly more than is warranted for a sophomore guard who has scored in double figures in seven of Missouri’s last eight games.
“When we lose, man, it seems like we just separate,” Lawrence said. “I ain’t going to throw my negative stuff in there. It ain’t going to do nothing but split the team up more.
“… When we lost by one or whatever, I’ll be just mad, thinking about what I could have done earlier in the game to help us.”
That explains why Lawrence draws inside himself after some games. And lately, why he grows as wary of immediate action as he was of the gangs of Newark, N.J., where he grew up.
“I usually jump on my teammates,” Lawrence admitted. “But they all don’t always respond the way, like, if coach (Mike Anderson) jumps on me during practice.”
Anderson — in the nine games Stefhon Hannah missed because of a broken jaw or his ultimate dismissal from the team — has challenged Lawrence to lead.
“You’re the loudest,” Anderson told Lawrence, “so I don’t see why you can’t be the voice.”
In Missouri’s last eight games, in which he has averaged 15.5 points and scored 16 or more four times, Lawrence has been that voice.
“When (Hannah) was here I knew he was going to be vocal,” Lawrence said. “When he left, I was waiting to see if somebody would step up. But now I’m just taking it.
“I know what I’ve got to do now. I’ve got to be a leader earlier (in the game), and not wait for other people.”
Doing that has included being a friend to team enigma Leo Lyons, who has been on a tear the last two games but inconsistent most of his junior season.
“Me and Keon work out a lot together,” Lyons said. “Even though he’s younger than me, he’s a lot of motivation to me because he knows what I can do.”
And Lawrence has been demanding Lyons do it.
“The thing is how he’s going to do next game?” Lawrence said. “Is he going to come out like he did two games ago, or is he going to come out just going through the motions?
“I put that kind of consistency on my shoulders.”
Two weeks ago Lawrence assured that the midseason troubles wouldn’t keep him from coming back to Mizzou for his junior season. On Monday, Lawrence made that a promise.
“I’m going to be here,” he said. “I like it here. Even though things ain’t going the best right now.
“That’s like life. You just can’t run anytime something don’t go right.”
Keon Lawrence trying to be a leader for struggling Mizzou
BY MIKE DeARMOND
The Kansas City Star
COLUMBIA | There are times — last Saturday at Baylor being one — when Keon Lawrence can’t talk about another defeat.
Words won’t come. Or, he won’t let them come, fearful of what he might say about a game Missouri led by 13 points in the second half and lost by 11.
“You think about how close you were,” Lawrence said. “You just watch other teams, how they’re just on the same page. They’re putting themselves in position to be in the (NCAA) tournament and play beyond. They ain’t fighting to get to the NIT or whatever.
“I want to have that same team here.”
Missouri tries to avoid falling to 15-15 in its regular-season home finale tonight against Iowa State. Lawrence takes a share of responsibility for that — possibly more than is warranted for a sophomore guard who has scored in double figures in seven of Missouri’s last eight games.
“When we lose, man, it seems like we just separate,” Lawrence said. “I ain’t going to throw my negative stuff in there. It ain’t going to do nothing but split the team up more.
“… When we lost by one or whatever, I’ll be just mad, thinking about what I could have done earlier in the game to help us.”
That explains why Lawrence draws inside himself after some games. And lately, why he grows as wary of immediate action as he was of the gangs of Newark, N.J., where he grew up.
“I usually jump on my teammates,” Lawrence admitted. “But they all don’t always respond the way, like, if coach (Mike Anderson) jumps on me during practice.”
Anderson — in the nine games Stefhon Hannah missed because of a broken jaw or his ultimate dismissal from the team — has challenged Lawrence to lead.
“You’re the loudest,” Anderson told Lawrence, “so I don’t see why you can’t be the voice.”
In Missouri’s last eight games, in which he has averaged 15.5 points and scored 16 or more four times, Lawrence has been that voice.
“When (Hannah) was here I knew he was going to be vocal,” Lawrence said. “When he left, I was waiting to see if somebody would step up. But now I’m just taking it.
“I know what I’ve got to do now. I’ve got to be a leader earlier (in the game), and not wait for other people.”
Doing that has included being a friend to team enigma Leo Lyons, who has been on a tear the last two games but inconsistent most of his junior season.
“Me and Keon work out a lot together,” Lyons said. “Even though he’s younger than me, he’s a lot of motivation to me because he knows what I can do.”
And Lawrence has been demanding Lyons do it.
“The thing is how he’s going to do next game?” Lawrence said. “Is he going to come out like he did two games ago, or is he going to come out just going through the motions?
“I put that kind of consistency on my shoulders.”
Two weeks ago Lawrence assured that the midseason troubles wouldn’t keep him from coming back to Mizzou for his junior season. On Monday, Lawrence made that a promise.
“I’m going to be here,” he said. “I like it here. Even though things ain’t going the best right now.
“That’s like life. You just can’t run anytime something don’t go right.”