Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall talks with Tennessee guard Detrick Mostella (15) in their game against East Tennessee State on Dec. 31, 2014, in Knoxville.KNOXVILLE -- You couldn't blame Donnie Tyndall and Kim Anderson if they decided to compare notes and share stories some time before 6 this evening.
As two of the Southeastern Conference's three first-year basketball coaches, Tyndall at Tennessee and Anderson at Missouri are facing a number of similarities this season with new-look rosters.
"I think very similar situations," Tyndall said before the Volunteers practiced Thursday. "He had maybe one more guy than we did returning. He got the job late and tried to put together a roster. His team's playing extremely hard. I think he's doing a great job coaching those guys, and they've made progress.
"They've gotten better week to week, and that shows a team that's well-coached, when their players are developing and growing."
When the teams met at Mizzou Arena last season, Jabari Brown scored 24 points to lead the Tigers past Tennessee and Jordan McRae, who had 31 points. Only three starters from that game -- Tennessee's Josh Richardson and Missouri's Johnathan Williams III and Ryan Rosburg -- are back this season.
Tennessee big man Jarnell Stokes and Missouri guard Jordan Clarkson were second-round NBA draft picks and now play for the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively. McRae, drafted in the second round as well, is playing in Australia, where former Tigers guard Earnest Ross is playing as well.
Brown is playing in the NBA Development League, former Vols forward Jeronne Maymon is playing professionally in Israel and ex-Tennessee point guard Darius Thompson transferred to Virginia.
Coach Frank Haith left Missouri for Tulsa and Cuonzo Martin bailed on Tennessee for California within days of each other in April, and after the Tigers tabbed Anderson from Division II Central Missouri, the Vols hired Tyndall from Southern Mississippi, which coincidentally beat Missouri in the National Invitation Tournament.
Even after losing its top three scorers, Missouri was picked to finish seventh in the SEC, six spots ahead of Tennessee, by the league's media in October.
"They're like us," Anderson said Thursday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "but I think they're probably a little better in that they're a little bit more experienced.
"They've got some good players, and (Tyndall's) done a good job of putting it together in a short amount of time."
While Tennessee was upsetting No. 19 Arkansas on Tuesday night, Missouri was suffering a 49-point thrashing at top-ranked Kentucky. The surprising win for the Vols came three days after they scored 14 second-half points in an ugly 56-38 loss to Alabama.
"You always want consistency as a coach," Tyndall said. "You want to know what you're going to get out of certain guys. You want to know what you're going to get out of your team, but the biggest thing with a youthful, inexperienced team is exactly that, a lack of consistency.
"If you look across the country, the teams that are consistently good and play consistently well are usually junior- and senior-dominated teams. We haven't been consistent. I don't expect that to change a whole lot.
"I do hope we get a little more consistent as the year goes along, but with so many newcomers guys are going to be up and down, guys are going play well one night and not the next, and unfortunately it's the nature of where our team sits this year."
Missouri also has been up and down, opening SEC play with a win against favored LSU and taking Illinois and Oklahoma State down to the wire after a season-opening loss to Missouri-Kansas City and blowout defeats to Arizona, Purdue, Oklahoma and Xavier.
For two teams that will have to scratch and claw for every win this season, the one up for grabs in Columbia tonight could be valuable for both.
"We're a young team, so we still have a lot to learn," Vols forward Derek Reese said. "A lot of players haven't played in this environment yet, so it's just a lot of learning. We've still got a lot to learn, and we've got a lot to improve, so it kind of gives us more confidence knowing that we've got a lot of potential."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com