Columbia, Mo. ? Jimmy McKinney will be coming off the bench for a while at Missouri, no matter how well he plays.

The Tigers’ top freshman recruit had a big debut in Saturday’s 81-46 rout of Austin Peay with eight points in 16 minutes, flashing an array of inventive passes, ball-handling skills and shooting range from well beyond the three-point line. He did this while wearing a protective hard-plastic mask for the broken bone above his right eye suffered in an exhibition game Nov. 2.

But there’s no danger of junior Josh Kroenke losing his starting spot to McKinney for at least a while. That’s because coach Quin Snyder values McKinney’s versatility on the talented but thin Tigers.

McKinney can back up point guard Rickey Clemons, shooting guard Rickey Paulding or Kroenke at small forward.

“He can contribute in any aspect of the game we’re needy on a given night,” Snyder said.

Snyder said it’s not important whether you start for him. It’s how you contribute.

“I don’t want to get into a McKinney watch on the starting lineup,” Snyder said. “Our kids are not concerned at all about who starts and it’s going to stay that way. It’s really not relevant to what we’re doing. It goes in the lineup card but other than that that’s about it.”

Although it didn’t look it, McKinney also believes he needs to knock some of the rust off his game.

“Whatever it takes to win I’ll do it,” McKinney said. “I don’t mind at all. Michael (Jordan) came off the bench, so I can come off the bench, too.”

McKinney and Jeffrey Ferguson entered the game as the third and fourth reserves against Austin Peay with 11:49 to go in the first half, and he might not see early duty tonight against Sacramento State either when MU (2-0) looks for its third straight win.

Sporting a protective mask, Missouri freshman Jimmy McKinney calls a play against Austin Peay. McKinney broke a bone above his eye during an exhibition game.

McKinney said it took a while to adjust to the mask, but now it’s no big deal. He will have to wear it for the next month, which is a lot better than missing another month of basketball.

“It was so hard,” McKinney said. “I told the doctors, ‘We have to do something, I can’t sit any longer.’ It was fun out there.”

McKinney entered midway through the first half and immediately made his mark. About a minute and a half later he led a fastbreak and flipped the ball behind his head from underneath the basket to startled teammate Arthur Johnson, who fumbled it.

“I think I caught him a little by surprise,” McKinney said. “But I don’t think he’ll miss the next one.”

Johnson thought he was ready.

“I was yelling ‘Behind you, behind you,”‘ Johnson said. “I wish I would have caught that one. If a guy’s open, you have to get it to him anyway you can. Over the head, that’s fine, whatever you have to do.”