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. 7: Beating No. 17 Tennessee, 79-71, in quarterfinals of SEC Tournament, 2023
We’re back into 2022-23 and we’re looking into the first postseason game Gates coached in Columbia.
The Tigers entered the SEC Tournament at 23-8 and having won their final four games of the regular season.
Missouri entered as the No. 4 seed, the first time the Tigers had ever received a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.
The fourth-place finish was tied for the highest the Tigers had ever finished in conference play, matched by a 10-8 fourth-place tie in Cuonzo Martin’s first season in 2017-18, but the Tigers were the fifth seed in that year’s SEC Tournament.
And after No. 5 seed Tennessee beat Ole Miss, the game was set for a rematch of a Tiger road win from almost exactly a month earlier that we might talk about in a couple of weeks.
The Tigers entered looking for their first berth in the SEC Tournament semifinals in program history. And they had a challenge on their hands throughout.
Though they got a 26-point, four-rebounds, three-assist game from D’Moi Hodge (who shot 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3) and a 24-point, nine-rebound, three-assists game from Kobe Brown (who shot 9-of-13 overall and 3-of-6 from 3), the Tigers fell behind early.
The teams stayed incredibly close throughout the first half, with neither leading by more than three scores at any point.
Tennessee led 6-2 before Missouri tied it at 6, Tennessee led 16-9 before Missouri came back to tie at 16.
The Tigers took their first lead on a Hodge 3 to make it 21-20 with 6:15 left, but Tennessee retook the lead before a Hodge fastbreak dunk tied the game at 25 with 4:05 left.
Brown hit a layup to give the Tigers a 27-25 lead, then hit a 3 to tie the game at 30 with 9 seconds left before a Jahmai Mashack 3 at the buzzer put the Volunteers up 33-30 at halftime.
The battle didn’t stop in the second half as eight points was the biggest lead for either team.
Tennessee jumped out of the break to lead 38-30, but the Tigers fought back with a Hodge 3, a Nick Honor 3 and a Brown 3 off a Noah Carter board that turned into a Hodge assist.
The teams tied at 41, 44 and 46, then the Tigers jumped out to a 50-46 lead after a DeAndre Gholston jumper and a Sean East steal-turned-layup.
The teams tied again at 55, 58, 65, 66, 67 and 69, but it was all Tigers in the final two minutes.
Honor hit a 3 to give Missouri the lead for good with 1:45 left, then Hodge hit another 3 off an Honor assist with 1:25 to go. A Tennessee layup cut the lead to four, but Brown turned an offensive board into a layup, then Hodge hit two free throws to create the final margin.
Missouri dominated points in the paint 38-26, but lost points off turnovers 20-16 and second-chance points 13-4.
The teams tied 15 times and the lead changed hands another 13 times.
Gholston added 10 points as the Tigers shot 30-of-57 (52.6 percent) overall, 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) from 3 and just 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) at the free-throw line.
But the Tigers walked away with an SEC Tournament win and a chance to play in the SEC semifinals for the first time as Gates continued the seemingly-magical run of his first season.
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