For most of his first 20 months in Columbia, Dennis Gates seemed to have just about every answer. Well, the questions are a lot harder now.
After losses to Kansas and Seton Hall that were blowouts for much of the day before Mizzou made things respectable with a furious few minutes, the Tigers bottomed out at the Enterprise Center on Friday night. Or at least you hope they did.
Illinois 97, Mizzou 73.
Mizzou trailed by 25 at halftime. The Tigers were 1/17 from three-point range and 10/42 from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
“I think the game was over at halftime to be honest,” Illinois’ Quincy Guerrier said.
And the offense might not even have been the biggest problem.
Illinois had three players with a dozen points or more at halftime and two that ended up combining for 58. The Illini shot 50% in that first half and it seemed better, maybe because they went to the free throw line 18 times. A game after giving up 93 to Seton Hall, Missouri looked even more outmatched defensively on Friday.
It was the worst game in a season that sure seems--at least from where I sit, which on Friday night was on the baseline about 12 feet from Missouri's bench--to be headed nowhere. And saying anything other than a game in which you blew a six-point lead against a previously winless team is the worst game of the season should tell you just how bad this one was.
But if Gates shares my opinions, he’s sure not telling any of us.
“I truly believe we have been going in the right direction,” Gates said. “I’m not going to rip things apart or make these guys feel like something’s wrong with them.”
Asked again, Gates doubled down.
“We’re very, very close. Very close,” he said. “I’m excited about our trending because I think we’re trending in the right direction.”
Gates said he sees things internally that people outside might not see. Guilty as charged. I see a team that gave up 93 points in its last game and followed it up by giving up 97—the most in Gates’ Mizzou career.
I see an opposing coach (Brad Underwood) telling the media, "I was begging for the press" after his team had a 14-4 edge in transition points while committing just ten turnovers.
I see a team that was led in rebounding by a 6-foot-2 guard (Anthony Robinson II) that played 16 minutes.
I see a team that missed 16 of its 17 threes in the first half largely because a dozen of them were taken by four players who are a combined 24-for-97 this year from three-point range. Gates sees guys he wants to keep firing.
“We had the right shots going up in the first half,” Gates said. “They’re wide open. You can’t draw up an even better play for those wide open threes.”
A lot of them were wide open. I’m not going to argue that. But maybe there was a reason?
The most common thing Gates wanted to point to as a reason Missouri got blown out on Friday was free throws. Illinois shot 31 and Missouri 16. Gates seemed particularly interested in the 18 to 5 disparity in that lopsided first half. Asked what needed to be fixed defensively, Gates said “Free throw line. I wish we can call our own fouls. I think that would be a cool rule.”
I mean, it would be kind of cool, I guess. So would having a 10-point shot like the MTV Rock and Jock Game did. Maybe then Missouri could have made a game out of it.
One team had strong athletic wings attacking the rim at every opportunity. The other had two seven-footers and its starting power forward combining to go 0-for-9 from three point range in the first 20 minutes. Maybe that’s why the Illini made 15 more trips to the free throw line? Hell, Illinois even managed to make a shot on which Sean East was called for a flagrant foul. That turned into a six-point possession. On Missouri’s 16 free throws, the Tigers made only nine. A 56% clip doesn’t tell me going there more often would have made things more competitive.
Look, coaches don’t sit at the podium and tell us the truth. Especially after a 24-point loss that honestly didn’t even feel that close. I walked out of the press conference thinking I’ve watched two different games than Gates did this week. But I’ve got to assume he’s trying to build up a team whose confidence is probably teetering on the brink. Ranting and raving about everything that went wrong not only isn't his M.O., but it isn’t going to change the fact that it went wrong. Seeing and hearing tough love might make us feel better. But perhaps Gates just believes the right approach to this group is genuine love and positivity.
“They haven’t gotten deflated after any loss this season and I’m not going to ridicule or talk down to them,” he said.
The concern, of course, is that there are no answers because Gates just doesn’t have them on his roster.
The answers might be a year away. That’s a year of experience for Robinson, Trent Pierce and Jordan Butler. Tamar Bates and Aidan Shaw as upperclassmen. An incoming recruiting class that currently ranks in the top five. An offseason in the transfer portal to try to get what you didn’t get this year.
“The game’s about Jimmies and Joes and not overcomplicating it,” Illinois head coach Underwood said, after somewhat proudly noting he ran only two predetermined offensive sets against Mizzou.
After playing a dozen players and looking like a coach who was searching for anything he could hang his hat on for 40 minutes against the Illini, Gates certainly didn’t come across as someone who had any doubts after the game. I do. I think most others who have watched his team play the first 12 games do. Is he seeing something none of the rest of us see or is he just saying things to hope to artificially inflate the confidence of a roster that simply doesn’t have enough talent?
We’ll find out over the next three months. I walked out of the Enterprise Center on Sunday night wondering if Missouri's head coach and I have been watching the same team. But he’s the guy that’s getting paid four million bucks because he’s proven to be a hell of a basketball coach and I’m the one getting paid far less to ramble on analyzing his post-game press conference. I’ll certainly admit it’s possible he has answers I don’t because he is seeing things I can’t.
There were certainly no answers on Friday night. But they’ve got to start coming soon. Missouri’s next game won’t give us any. The Tigers play Central Arkansas a week from Saturday and that’s not an opponent that’s going to prove anything to anyone. A week after that, Missouri opens SEC play against Georgia and that’s when what Gates is telling us he sees that nobody else sees has to start being visible to those of us who only get to see his team during the games.
PowerMizzou.com is a proud game day partner of Yuengling Traditional Lager the taste of game-time @yuenglingbeer #LagerUp.
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