Dennis Gates had no shortage of options to turn to.

Missouri needed to find its footing. The team had been stifled in the second half of a rough 70-55 loss to Memphis last week. It also came out slow against SIU Edwardsville on Monday — five minutes into the first period, the Cougars led the Tigers 10-7.

Gates brought in several transfers this offseason, proven winners who’ve played at the highest levels in college basketball. But when his lineups filled with veterans couldn’t get going, he turned to his rookies instead.

Anthony Robinson II and Jordan Butler were inserted into game, and the pair of freshmen pulled Mizzou out of the mud, helping the Tigers earn a 68-50 win at home.

“(Robinson’s) an every day guy. And no matter what, every day guys are going to be rewarded with something. And in this case, he's led us with minutes coming off the bench this game,” Gates said. “Jordan Butler earned everything that he's received. And it hadn't been easy for him. He was just at prom a couple months ago.”

Robinson entered the game with the hosts trailing 10-9. He missed his first two shots, but handed out two assists and pulled down an offensive rebound before returning to the bench with MU gaining the lead at 18-14.

Gates put him back in less than two minutes later at the 9:23 mark. The Tallahassee, Fla. native drew a foul driving to the rim and split his free throws. He dropped a dime for graduate senior guard Sean East II, rejected a jumpshot from SIUE redshirt junior guard Ray’Sean Taylor, then dished another assist to East for a 3-pointer. He came up with another offensive rebound and returned to the stripe, making both his foul shots. Gates finally pulled Robinson back out with 1:44 remaining in the half — the rookie had played over seven consecutive minutes.

He finished the night tying or topping all of his season bests: five points, three rebounds, five assists, zero turnovers and two blocks in 19 minutes. He spent a lot of his time on the floor playing out of position in lineups alongside fellow point guards, East and graduate senior Nick Honor. Robinson found still found a way to impact the game. He ended up with a plus/minus of positive-five.

“Sean put him through the wringer this summer — through the wringer. When I say that's his freshman, Nick Honor, that's Nick Honor's freshman, they put him through the wringer and they tested him. And he did not back down one time and I appreciate that about our leaders,” Gates said. “He's a competitor by nature, he wants to do right. But more importantly, he's almost a 4.0 student. And when you have a complete kid like that in your program, his actions speak louder than his words.”

“I love Anthony Robinson. He's willing to learn, always, and always asking questions. But he just brings a spark every time he's in the game,’ East said. “He just always brings good energy and executes Coach's directions well. And as a freshman, that's good. He's always just ready to do whatever Coach and we say to him. And he's just happy to be out there, you know what I'm saying?”

Oral Roberts transfer big man Connor Vanover missed his third consecutive game, completing the suspension he received from the NCAA due to his participation in the Portsmouth Invitational this summer. Junior guard Kaleb Brown was also ruled out for the contest due to flu-like symptoms and a shin bruise.

The Cougars began the evening taking advantage of the Tigers’ lack of size in their absence. SIUE’s first 16 points of the game came from inside the arc or at the free throw line.

Butler helped change that. Less than a minute after the 7-footer was subbed into the game, he came up with his first career block. Two minutes later, he came up with his first career steal.

He added one more of each in the second half and ended the game pulling down three rebounds. Missouri held the visitors to just 3-24 from the field in the second period. Though he didn't score, Butler had a plus/minus of positive-eight in a season-high 15 minutes of action.

“His spirit, his heart has been in the right place in his development process,” Gates said. “He wants to be good, he wants to be great. And our guys continue to teach him, they have patience with him and he's earned, based off of what he's done, collectively, to get out there. I had an option, I could have put Jesus (Carralero Martin) in. I just chose not to because of the game, I didn't want to disrupt anything that was going on. Jesus is fine, I could have played him but I wanted to give these guys some experience and Jordan Butler has earned every bit of it.”

Gates spoke at length during the offseason about how much depth this year’s squad would have. He flexed it on Monday with Robinson and Butler.

It’s been a bumpy ride for Mizzou as the team tries to acclimate a high number of newcomers. The Tigers shot a below-average 43.4% from the floor in their win over the Cougars. But the team’s returners have largely kept the team buoyed during the transition.

East and graduate senior forward Noah Carter did so again on Monday. East had a game-high 20 points to go along with a rebound, an assist and a steal. Carter, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, posted his first double-double since transferring to MU last year, chipping in 15 points and 10 rebounds as well as an assist, a steal and three blocks.

The pair of returners said they’ve been enjoying the process of assimilating everyone into the system and stepping into bigger roles.

“You know, Sean and I are fifth-year guys, this isn't our first rodeo,” Carter said. “So just being able to kind of be going into the season and kind of get a flow, really understand the team, I'm very happy with what's going on. I'm really looking forward toward the future and looking forward to continuing to grow, continuing to be better, continue to learn. And I'm very excited for what's to come.”

“I'm still figuring everything out,” East said. “We're three games in, so I mean, it's gonna be a long season. I don't know how many games we've got, but we just take it game-by-game. And you know, the roles are gonna change, things are gonna be different every game. Whatever the game requires for us to do is what are we going to try to do. I mean, it's fun right now. We're just enjoying it and you know, just trying to have fun out there.”

Nick Honor appeared to hurt his left wrist after hitting the floor during the second half of Monday’s game. He exited the contest with 13:13 left on the clock and was tended to by trainers on the bench but never exited to the locker room.

Gates wasn’t too concerned afterward.

“As it relates to Nick, I mean, he could have went back in but he just said 'Coach, I'm good.' So I just went from there,” Gates said. “He took himself out and I think he just fell. So it was no prognosis where he was taken off the bench at all. So we'll see.”

The Tigers (2-1) head out for their first road game of the year, visiting Minnesota (2-0) on Thursday at 8 p.m., the game airing on the Big Ten Network.

Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription

Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair

Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage

Follow our entire staff on Twitter