Mizzou Tigers hoops team enters 2024-25 season with clean slate. Here’s how + why

The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team is coming off a notoriously historic 2023-24 campaign.

How bad? MU went winless in Southeastern Conference games. Mizzou’s 18-game SEC losing streak marked the program’s first winless season in league competition since 1907-08.

Coach Dennis Gates opened a practice this week to talk about the upcoming 2024-25 season. The Tigers open at Memphis on Nov. 4.

Gates spoke of creating a program that is honorable following last year’s 8-24 campaign.

“(The players) have been taught to shake things off at an early age,” he said. “We have resilient guys, guys that have been through things, guys that have transferred, but they wasn’t born with a silver spoon. Adversity has faced them in their life at some point.

“And these guys (are) just ready to lace them up, ready to build on what the summer brought, and that’s the focus — being able to move forward in a positive way.”

Missouri finished last season on a 19-game losing streak, but Gates is not dwelling on the past.

“You can’t predict the things that we went through last year,” he said. “But I’m not focused on last year. I’m focused on what’s coming forward and what’s moving forward, and that’s what new seasons give us: the opportunity to hit the ground running from ground zero.”

Mizzou has 11 new additions — five incoming freshmen and six transfers — to its 18-man roster. With so much turnover, Gates has primarily focused on fostering team chemistry. MU has seven returnees.

“You strip everything down (to) the bare bones,” Gates said. “Whenever you have a new program, new team or new season, you have new personalities in the locker room. You want to make sure that these guys are connected in a certain way, not just physically — when they go out and perform — but emotionally and mentally, that they have the endurance to stick together and do the things necessary but also sharpen each other’s blade every day.”

Gates says he expects all 18 players on the roster to take on a leadership role at some point this season. The players have organized a weekly team-building event — “Feel Good Friday” — after Friday practices.

Senior guard Tamar Bates attributed the rawness of the conversations during those shared meals to how the players have grown close to one another in a small amount of time.

“(We) just talk and connect and just spend time together off the court,” said Kansas City, Kansas native Bates, the Tigers’ second-leading scorer last season. “A lot of teams may forget that aspect of it, but we feel as if that’s really important to connect away from basketball, because we spend all day in here and sometimes forget that guys have a whole different life and a whole different personality outside of basketball.

“Having that routine throughout the summer and throughout the fall has been really good for us.”

‘Tough, physical and disruptive’: MU’s new defensive identity

Mizzou will be looking to improve its defense and rebounding.

“We’re looking to be tough, physical and disruptive every game, every practice, every day,” said junior forward Aidan Shaw, the Blue Valley grad. “That’s going to be our identity.”

Gates dubbed assistant coach Ryan Sharbaugh the Tigers’ “defensive coordinator.” And Gates has south to instill those three key values — toughness, playing physical and being disruptive to the opponent — in his players.

“It’s the fabric of which we’ve approached this season with,” he said. “Our mentality has been built since June, and we’re lucky that our guys have received it in a way that they have.”

Graduate center Josh Gray’s 7-foot, 260-pound frame fits the definition of toughness, physicality and disruption.

“I’m going to play really good defense and rebound,” the South Carolina transfer said. “I think I am a defensive menace.”

Shared fatherhood

Jacob Crews and his wife Carmen welcomed a son in August.

Crews — a grad transfer from UT Martin — said his introduction to fatherhood changed his perspective on and off the court.

“It makes me wake up every morning more grateful,” Crews said. “It gives me an extra motivation and added happiness to my life. ... When you see that face, it just makes you want to work that much harder.”

Crews will be entering his first season at Missouri. Before his son was born, the team threw a baby shower for him and his wife.

“It was just crazy to be like, ‘Man, we’re loved by many people, and so is he, and he’s not even here yet,’’’ Crews said.

Crews is not the only father on the team. Bates has a daughter and has given Crews some parenting tips, and he believes it has brought them closer together.

“I try to just give him little tips and tricks, and we have conversations from time to time about (fatherhood),” Bates said. “Our clock is a little bit more stuffed now. We don’t have any time to play around or waste a day, waste a minute or waste an hour in terms of the work that we put into our craft, because this is how we feed our family.

“So, that goes back to that accountability standpoint: our success, my success, Jacob’s success, the team’s success is relying upon each other.”

Bates gets to play close to home at Mizzou, which enables him to spend more time with his family.

“Being as far away as I was from her was rough for me, and I wasn’t able to really realize that in the moment,” Bates, who transferred from Indiana in April 2023, said.

“When I was able to ... be a lot closer to home, I definitely felt that (the) gap was a lot shorter, and I was able to really focus in on my craft and able to maximize what I do as a basketball player.”

Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published October 10, 2024 at 2:41 PM.