Missouri’s recent slump comes down to this area, says head coach Dennis Gates
After back-to-back disappointing road losses — a 97-93 defeat to Vanderbilt on March 1 and 96-84 loss to Oklahoma on Wednesday — No. 15 Mizzou men’s basketball returned home Saturday to Mizzou Arena with a chance to close out the regular season on a high note and win a fourth consecutive home game.
Instead, the Tigers head into the SEC Tournament on a three-game losing streak after falling 91-83 to No. 19 Kentucky. It is the fifth time in the past six games that the Tigers gave up 90 or more points.
Mizzou coach Dennis Gates attributed foul troubles and points off of turnovers for the recent defensive slump.
“I see a different foul count,” Gates said. “That’s what I see, how we won was on the foul line. The last three years of this SEC season, we were last place in drawing free throw fouls and shots.”
“I did an entire research project on it. We were always — even my first season here — we were at the bottom half of that, so when we looked at this season, when I looked at our players and I saw the physicality and their talent, I said this is an area where this team will be able to improve. If we don’t get to this foul line, execute at the foul line, we won’t give ourselves a chance to win.
“… We’re at a point of the season where mistakes have to be minimized, and the mistakes were points off of turnovers today.”
Despite the Tigers and Wildcats entering Saturday’s contest with the fifth- and sixth-ranked offenses, respectively, according to KenPom, the game did not start as expected, especially for the black and gold.
Mizzou found itself down 38-29 at the half after shooting 11-of-31 from the field and hitting just 3 of 13 shots from deep.
The trio of Tamar Bates, Caleb Grill and Anthony Robinson II shot a combined 2-for-13 in the opening frame and combined for just seven points in that same span. The second half didn’t go much better for the trio, as they finished the loss with a combined 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting.
The main reason the Tigers remained competitive entering the second half was Mark Mitchell. The junior wing had 12 points and five rebounds through the first half, scoring eight of those points in the last 2 minutes, 30 seconds before the break.
Mitchell continued his dominance in the second half, adding 10 more points to finish with a game-high-tying 22 on 8-for-14 shooting, 2-for-2 from deep.
Despite Bates not having a statistically eye-popping performance Saturday, with just eight points on 3-for-8 shooting, the senior guard finished the regular season shooting 51.3% from the field, 40.7% from 3-point range and 93.7% from the free throw line. Bates is the only player nationally to shoot 50-40-90 this season with a minimum of one made 3-pointer and free throw per game.
Even with the loss to the Wildcats, the Tigers have been a tough obstacle to overcome for any squad visiting Columbia. They finish the season with an 18-2 record at home, which Gates gave a lot of credit to Mizzou’s fans for.
“I am proud of our fans and our student body,” Gates said. “The consistency that they have shown throughout the year is the reason why we finished 18-2 in this building. Everybody collectively gave their very best, and when you can create a magical environment, it’s because of our community, it’s because of our institution, it’s because of our tradition, and we want to continue to build on that.”
Josh Gray received his first start since the SEC opener against Auburn on Jan. 4. Gray scored five points and grabbed eight rebounds starting over Trent Pierce.
“When you see the difference of these games that we played, you saw Josh Gray’s presence early in the first five to 10 minutes with his defensive ability,” Gates said. “It may not show up in the stat sheet, but it shows up in presence. Obviously. That gives us a bigger lineup with Mark Mitchell at the four vs. Trent Pierce. Trent Pierce has been playing good basketball. He just has to take the next step.”
In Joe Lunardi’s Saturday morning Bracketology, the ESPN analyst had Missouri as a No. 5-seed playing Yale in the NCAA Tournament. That projection could take a hit following the Tigers’ loss to Kentucky.
The Tigers are locked in as the No. 7 seed in the SEC Tournament. Missouri will face the winner of No. 10 seed Mississippi State vs. No. 15 seed LSU in the second round of the tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
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This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Missouri’s recent slump comes down to this area, says head coach Dennis Gates."