Bowers’ loyalties divided

Missouri's Laurence Bowers, center, gets some love from teammates before he delivers a speech to the crowd at Mizzou Arena after they defeated Arkansas in an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, March 5, 2013, in Columbia, Mo. Missouri won the game 93-63. It was Bowers final home game as a Tiger. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

— Arlyn Bowers watched the Arkansas-Missouri game Tuesday night in Mizzou Arena wearing a red pullover, but with mixed emotions.

The former Razorbacks point guard, who played from 1988-1991 when Mike Anderson was an Arkansas assistant, is the uncle of Missouri senior forward Laurence Bowers.

“I always root for Arkansas, and I always want Coach Anderson and his staff to do good because I played for him and he was always good to me, even in the years after basketball,” said Bowers, who is a lieutenant with the Memphis fire department. “But I’m in support of my nephew right now. This is his moment, this is his night.”

Laurence Bowers made it a senior night to remember, leading the Tigers to a 93-63 victory with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

“He was fantastic,” Arlyn Bowers said. “I’m so proud of him.”

Worst to Mizzou

The 30-point loss was Arkansas’ most lopsided to Missouri in a series that dates to 1950.

The Razorbacks’ worst loss to the Tigers was previously 22 points, most recently when Mike Anderson was Missouri’s head coach in 2006-2007.

Arkansas holds the largest margin of victory in the series, which is tied 19-19. The Razorbacks beat the Tigers 120-68 in 1993-1994.

Tuesday night’s game also marked the most-lopsided loss in Anderson’s two seasons as Arkansas’ coach, equaling a 98-68 loss to Florida last season.

Antler antics

Arkansas forward Coty Clarke said before the Razorbacks’ practice Monday that he figured Missouri fans would be waiting on the Razorbacks at Mizzou Arena before Tuesday night’s game.

Some Missouri fans couldn’t wait that long.

The Antlers, a group of student fans with a history going back to 1976, greeted the Razorbacks on Monday night when Arkansas’ charter plane arrived at the Columbia airport.

A fence prevented the Antlers from getting close to the team, but they yelled some unflattering remarks.

Cars driven by some of the Antlers then got in front of the Arkansas team bus and drove about 35 miles per hour, delaying the Razorbacks’ arrival at their hotel by several minutes.

“That’s just fans being fans,” Arkansas guard Kikko Haydar said. “I’m partial to the fans back at home, but they have some good fans here as well.”

Just kidding

Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson opened his post-game game news conference by saying, “First, don’t ask me any questions about officiating. No, I’m just kidding. A little humor.”

Anderson was mimicking Missouri Coach Frank Haith,who after the Razorbacks beat the Tigers 73-71 earlier this season opened his post-game news conference by saying he didn’t want to be asked about the officiating.

Moving forward

Mike Anderson, who hugged Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden after talking with the media, was asked if he had any regrets about being the coach at Arkansas now as opposed to Missouri, where he served for five seasons.

“I think sometimes in life you’ve got to move forward, and that’s what I’ve done,” said Anderson, noting the improvements he made to the Missouri program.

“When I came in here … there was a lot of stuff taking place then. And at that time, I told Mike Alden, ‘I will make you look good. I will do the job. I will have it be one of the top programs in the country, one of the top 25.’

“I told him that. It’s going to be a brand, and that brand is that kids are going to be first-class, they’re going to graduate, they’re going to do the right things on and off the court. Five years later, I think we did that, and not only that, we’re changing lives.

“I have no regrets about being at the University of Missouri. The people were great to me, and I thought my family and I appreciated the time we had here, and we did the best we would do. As a coach, and as a person, that’s all you can do.”

Sports, Pages 16 on 03/06/2013