COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Men's Basketball began its preparations for the 2016-17 season on Sunday, Oct. 2, inside Mizzou Arena with its first official practice. Head coach Kim Anderson's group is ahead of schedule in its preseason workload, having gone through 10 full practices ahead of the group's foreign tour of Italy (Aug. 5-15).

The Tigers return several key components of last season's group, including sophomores Terrence Phillips (Orange County, Calif.) and Kevin Puryear (Blue Springs, Mo.), who both started every game of the 2015-16 campaign.

Anderson, the sophomore duo of Phillips and Puryear, and the Tigers' lone senior, Russell Woods (Chicago, Ill.) met with Mizzou Network to preview the upcoming season and discuss the beginning of practices. See the video below: