For someone who wasn’t even originally supposed to be on the floor for his team’s first games, Jason Adams has been difficult to stop this season.

Actually, he’s been a handful for opposing teams by anyone’s standards. 

Offseason back surgery has not slowed Adams as he’s led the Missouri Southern men’s basketball team to a 3-0 start, setting a career-high single-game scoring mark in one of the Lions’ wins against the University of Arkansas-Monticello.

“It’s just unbelievable, he has back surgery and basically gets released in two and a  half weeks,” Head Coach Robert Corn said. “That gives you an idea about what type of condition he keeps himself in the entire year. 

“He’s one of those kids that, I don’t know what his percentage of body fat is, but it’s extremely low. But he keeps himself in great shape.”

Adams scored 74 points in the Lions’ first two games, including 44 in the win over UAM for his career-best.

Corn is quick to credit Adams and his high level of play, but he also points out the contributions of the other role players, and says depth is one of his team’s biggest strengths.

Senior center Keane Thomann has scored 44 points in the Lions’ first two games, good for second on the team.

Four other Lions have also scored in double figures in one of the two games.

Southern won a thriller against UAM, coming from a 14-point deficit two times in the second half on the way to its 102-99 victory.

“Our guys kept battling, kept competing and eventually things started clicking,” Corn said. “We started getting some things going in our direction and as a result you know, we were able to make some plays there at the end so that’s a perfect illustration of what we preach in practice about ‘you’ve got to keep playing, you can’t quit.'”

This weekend, the Lions will travel to compete in the Pittsburg State Classic. Today, Southern will play Avila University, and tomorrow pits the Lions against Mid-America Nazarene.

“Both very good programs, they’re both very well-coached,” Corn said. ” … They’re game-tested. So it’s going to be very important that our defense can get out and disrupt their offensive execution.”