Through the summer, I’ve been going through and ranking what I see as the top 10 wins of Dennis Gates’ time at the helm of the Missouri Tiger basketball team.
You can look back at what I’ve already ranked here:
No. 6: Beating Illinois for Braggin' Rights in 2022
Gates opened his first season in Columbia with a 9-0 record, but the first time he played a power-conference team, the Tigers were blown out.
The team responded with a two-point win against UCF, but then came a ranked matchup with No. 16 Illinois, trying to rebound from a 25-point loss in the rivalry matchup in 2021.
If Gates was going to prove that his fast-moving, transition- and 3-based offense was going to work against better teams, it had to show something against the Illini.
And the Tigers came out firing.
D’Moi Hodge hit a fastbreak layup, then Tre Gomillion hit a putback layup and Kobe Brown added a jumper to put the Tigers up 6-0.
Illinois came back to tie at 10 and take a 12-10 lead, but Noah Carter hit a putback layup to tie the game, then DeAndre Gholston assisted Brown for a 3 before hitting a layup off a Brown assist. Brown turned a steal into an East assist on a Hodge 3, then Brown hit a putback layup and Hodge turned a steal into a 3 as the Tigers ran away with a 15-0 run to go up 25-12.
The Tigers got jumpers from Brown and Gholston to go up 37-17 with 4:17 left in the first half, then a Brown steal turned into a Hodge 3 and a Ronnie DeGray defensive rebound turned into a DeGray 3 to give the Tigers their biggest lead at 49-23 with 1:11 left.
Missouri would take a 51-27 lead into halftime as the Tigers’ quick-hitting offense and harrying defense caught Illinois off guard early.
Illinois never got within 20 in the second half as the Tigers extended to a 30-point lead with a Brown free throw with 16:05 left, then built as far as a 35-point lead on a Gomillion dunk off a Brown assist.
Brown ended with 31 points, eight assists, five rebounds and four steals as he began his rise to becoming a true NBA prospect. He shot 10-of-15 from the field, 3-of-4 from 3 and 8-of-8 at the free-throw line.
Hodge added 20 points, four steals and three rebounds, shooting 8-of-13 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3. Gholston contibuted 15 points and three assists, DeGray had 10 points and four boards.
I do also forget how much the Tiger starting lineup would change throughout that season. Brown, Hodge, DeGray, Gomillion and Honor were the starting five with Brown, Hodge, DeGray and Honor all playing at least 30 minutes. Gholston and East both played 23 minutes off the bench, while Gomillion played 11.
Carter was on the court for 9 minutes and Aidan Shaw was out there for 4. That’s it. A much more concise rotation than we would see from Gates the next two seasons.
The Tigers shot 35-of-59 (59.3 percent) overall, 10-of-20 (50 percent) from 3 and 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Tigers forced 17 Illinois turnvoers, including 13 steals, and used those to score 33 points, that’s about as efficient as possible playing off turnovers.
Missouri won the points off turnovers 33-10 and didn’t allow a single point off a turnover in the first half. The Tigers won the second-chance points 13-11, points in the paint 42-36 and fast-break points 18-13.
For the first time, Gates had a power-conference win and a ranked win, he proved that the philosophy he uses to run his team could work against good teams and it led into another ranked win the following week as the Tigers beat Kentucky to open SEC play.
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