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FOOTBALL Chiefs hope to have outside linebacker Tamba Hali back on the field Sunday. Page 4B
SECTION B, Thursday, November 28, 2013
MISSOURI 3 – ARKANSAS 0
Tigers lose three-star recruit
Flawless finish
Jhonathan Williams switched his verbal commitment to the Fighting Irish
Missouri volleyball finishes season 34-0 with sweep of Arkansas
By MATTHEW FAIRBURN
sports@ColumbiaMissourian.com Jhonathan Williams wasn’t expecting the phone call he got in midNovember. Having verbally committed to Missouri, the 6-foot-6-inch, 230-pound high school defensive end wasn’t really thinking about other colleges. But on Nov. 13, Notre Dame came calling and extended a scholarship offer to Williams, who is listed as a three-star recruit by 247sports.com. On Wednesday morning, two weeks after receiving his offer, Williams switched his verbal commitment from Missouri to Notre Dame. “There were two really major factors,” Williams said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “The first was definitely my family’s current situation. You know, it’s in the best interest to support and help my family by staying close to home. I also felt really welcomed by the players and the coaching staff. I felt at home there.”
Saturday’s game Missouri vs. Texas A&M WHERE: Memorial Stadium WHEN: 6:45 p.m. WATCH: ESPN
UNHO YI/Missourian
Missouri seniors Lisa Henning, left, and Molly Kreklow watch a commemorative slideshow following the Missouri volleyball team’s 3-0 win over Arkansas on Wednesday night. The Tigers became the first Southeastern Conference volleyball team to go undefeated during the regular season. By REBECCA DELL from throughout their lives and careers. sports@ColumbiaMissourian.com Senior volunteer assistant coach Matt Porter was recognized as Seniors Molly Kreklow and Lisa Henning and their fellow starters well. ran around the court during introductions Wednesday, high-fiving He said the team has been unbelievable in their success, and he’s the kids that lined three-quarters of the court, as usual. benefited from growing with the team. They high-fived the team staff on the bench, as usual. “I used to be super quiet, but now me and Molly and Lisa are the Then they high-fived Missouri Gov. Jay best of friends, and I couldn’t have asked for Nixon, not as usual. two better people to share a senior class with,” ‘I honestly don’t ever want he said. “Looking forward to watching SEC champs @MizzouVB go 34-0 in their final match at Kreklow and Henning, current roommates, to leave, but obviously home tonight against Arkansas #Mizzou,” said watched the slide show with their arms around Gov. Nixon’s Twitter account, @GovJayNixon, sometime you have to move each other, laughing and talking. before the game. “I honestly don’t ever want to leave, but obvion with your life. You only ously sometime you have to move on with your And the Missouri Tigers did just that, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, get four years for a reason.’ life,” Henning said. “You only get four years for 29-27). a reason. But I feel confident that we set a nice MISSOURI SENIOR LISA HENNING Kreklow opened the evening with the serve, tone for this team and taught our underclassmen On her final season holding it for three points before the Razorwell what is expected, and how high expectations backs got a sideout. Missouri took the first set (are) what you need to have in a team in order to without giving up the lead. grow. So I feel really confident in our underclassmen.” Arkansas opened the second set with a point, forcing the Tigers Coach Wayne Kreklow said it was good for Missouri to end playto work to find their rhythm. Then in the third set a few Tiger mis- ing two tough teams — Kentucky and Arkansas — and the next step takes early on kept Arkansas in the set. The two teams went back for the team is to start over for the NCAA tournament. and forth, almost as if the Tigers didn’t want the season to end. They “At some point we’ll look back and try to dissect it and figure out finished at 29-27. how it all happened,” he said. “To do this (stay undefeated) over that And just like that, the regular season was over. long a period of time is just something that’s really remarkable.” The team recognized the teary-eyed Kreklow and Henning after Supervising editor is Greg Bowers: bowersg@missouri.edu, 882the match with flowers, framed jerseys and a slide show of photos 5729.
Williams’ hometown of Berrien Spring, Mich., is just 30 minutes north of Notre Dame’s campus in South Bend, Ind., so when the Irish entered the picture, they already had a leg up on Missouri in the location department. After visiting Notre Dame for its most recent game against Brigham Young University, Williams had seen all he needed. “I’ve always known about the prestige of Notre Dame,” Williams said. “It was a really great experience. Everyone was really positive, and I had a great time. On Wednesday morning, Williams called Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski to inform them of his decision. Kuligowski was Williams’ main contact during the recruiting process. The success Missouri has had developing NFL talent at defensive end was enticing, but Williams couldn’t pass up a chance to stay close to home. The recruiting process was slow to develop for Williams. He was committed to Toledo over the summer but started to pick up bigger and bigger offers as his senior season went on. Williams doesn’t think much changed in his game. People just started to notice him. “I live in a small town,” Williams said. “I guess things just didn’t get out here like they do in bigger cities.
Please see WILLIAMS, page 2B
‘Humbled’ Haith returns to Missouri men’s basketball Head coach’s suspension ended Tuesday after sitting out first five games of season By RYAN HOOD
GREG KENDALL-BALL/Missourian
Missouri coach Frank Haith walks back to the court Feb. 19 before the second half of Missouri’s 63-60 win over Florida. Interim coach Tim Fuller led the Tigers to a 5-0 record in Haith’s absence.
sports@ColumbiaMissourian.com Frank Haith didn’t waste any time. The moment Tuesday arrived, the Missouri men’s basketball coach returned to work, marking the end of his five-game suspension. “I came over to the office last night around midnight and spent about an hour in there just going through some stuff,” Haith said Tuesday morning in a teleconference with reporters. “It feels good, really good, to be back. “I’m very humbled about being back. I’m just a guy doing what I do. It’s truly a blessing.” Haith returns to an unblemished squad. The team cruised to a 5-0 record under interim coach Tim Fuller during Haith’s five-game hiatus. “I’ll finally be able to sleep,” Fuller said. “I saw just how challenging coach Haith’s job really is.” Haith gave Fuller high marks for his handling of those challenges. “I thought the staff did a great job,” Haith said. “Tim did a great job. And that’s a hard thing to do. Obviously, there’s things we’ve got to get better at, and we will. But under the circumstances, I thought he did a great, great job.” Haith said he “was not a good person to be around” while watching the Tigers’ five games
during the suspension, which he did alone at home. “I was able to see a lot and learn a lot about our team, about everything,” Haith said. “It’s helpful to me to come back to the team and be able to share with them the things that I learned watching them from afar and talking to people that watched our games.” What Haith saw was a team he believes could shoot better (50.5 percent now), rebound better (41.4 per game) and create better ball movement. As for lineup changes, Haith said he’d like to get the team’s post players more involved, mentioning Tony Criswell (13 minutes per game) and Keanau Post (9.2 minutes per game) as two post players he’d like to see play more. Haith mentioned guards Jabari Brown (37 minutes per game) and Jordan Clarkson (30.4 minutes per game) as players he intends to play less. “I told the staff there are some guys I want to see get more minutes and some guys I want to see get less,” Haith said. “I understand where they were at. They didn’t want to lose games. We’ve got to monitor the heavy minutes on Jabari and Jordan a little bit, and we need to get some other guys involved. And we will.” After 18 days without Haith, the players are relived to get their coach back. “I really enjoyed playing for Coach Fuller; he brought me here. But I love Coach Haith as well, so it will be exciting to have him back,” Brown
Please see HAITH, page 2B