Fun and games are over; next time the game counts

University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball coach Chris Pilz freely admits, he and his team have had a lot of fun during the exhibition season. Not many Division II teams get to enjoy the kind of preseason training camp the Tritons had this year.

First, the Tritons traveled to one of the country's true basketball meccas, Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., to play the legendary Kentucky Wildcats.

Second, the Tritons returned home to play a double-overtime thriller against defending Division III national champ, the Washington University Bears.

Finally, the Tritons enjoyed the honor of being the first regular season opponent for the Saint Louis University Billikens in their new, state-of-the-art Chaifetz Arena.

"It's been an unbelievable experience," Pilz said. "Those are things the guys will remember for a long time. But the bigger thing is, if we put a carrot like that out there, they work a little harder."

All that hard work, along with the glitzy preseason schedule, has Pilz and his team very excited about the start of the regular season.

"Those guys are ready," Pilz said. "Just having the chance to go against somebody with a different color uniform on, and a different name on the jersey will be great. Our guys are ready to get it going."

The Tritons will get it going Thursday night, when they host the Harris-Stowe State University Hornets at the Mark Twain Gymnasium for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

"One of the things we want to do is make it tough for teams to beat us here at home," Pilz said. "We play kind of an attacking style.

"We'll play multiple defenses. We want to try to make it really tough on our opponents."

Picked to finish fourth in the GLVC West Division preseason poll, the Tritons will not get much rest following the season opener.

On Saturday, they will travel to Kirksville, Mo. to take on the Truman State University Bulldogs, which won their season opener, 80-60 over William Woods University last Saturday.

"That's going to be a really tough road game for only your second game out," Pilz said. "That's just a really difficult place to play on the road."

Next week, the Tritons host three games at the Mark Twain Building, Tuesday, Nov. 25 against Robert Morris University.

Then, Saturday, Nov. 28, and Sunday, Nov. 29, the Tritons will host the UMSL Thanksgiving Classic against Central Bible College and Missouri Baptist University, respectively.

"I think us getting out to a good start is the key to our season," Pilz said." We need to get as many wins early as we can. That'll help breed some confidence before we get started in conference."

Pilz hopes a hot start for the team will bring even more fans out to the games.

"We need to get some rowdy student fans out here," Pilz said. "I think our fans will enjoy how these guys play. There's going to be a lot of action in here. We've got a couple of high flyers that people won't want to miss what these guys can do."