One of the key parts of this year’s Missouri Tiger team is the players' clear relationships with each other.
It’s easy to see from the outside, the Tigers care about each other, they like being around each other and they are always rooting for each other.
“Being in the same locker room, same bus, same plane, same hotel since June, right, the season gets long for a lot of people and slowly but surely, because you’ve been around somebody for so long, you may show up a little bit later to practice or to something else just because you’re tired of the same people,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “Our guys aren’t like that. They show up early and then show up earlier because they can’t wait to see each other and they can’t wait to, obviously, continue to build what we’re building.”
And a big part of helping build those relationships early was having players who already knew each other in some way.
Coming from Kansas City, senior Tamar Bates and juniors Mark Mitchell and Aidan Shaw all grew up playing with or against each other. They’ve known each other for years and came in ready to be a part of something together this season.
“They’ve brought a level of continuity,” Gates said. “They’ve brought a level of talent and belief. They’re proud of what’s on the front of their jerseys. Their modeled relationship spills over into our team’s relationships with each other, because just as long as they’ve known each other, right, even Aidan Shaw, Mark Mitchell and Tamar Bates, it spills over into their other relationships and they welcome the other guys into the model of ‘This is how I’m gonna treat Mark, but I’m also going to treat you this way although I’ve known you for one month, two months, three months, four months.’ Right?
“It doesn’t matter. They’re just being good people, good teammates and they’re very unselfish and that’s the part that allows a team to grow.”
And two thirds of the trio have been key pieces throughout the season with Bates and Mitchell often playing as the Tigers’ leading scorers and playing in the starting lineup in every game this season.
But the longest tenured Tiger in the group, Shaw, hasn’t started a single game this season and hasn’t appeared at all in four of the team’s 27 matchups.
The first player Gates recruited, as he de-committed during the coaching search of 2022 and Gates had to reacquire his commitment, seemed to have lost his standing with the coach this year as his minutes continued to drop through the season after he averaged 16.1 minutes per game and even started 10 contests as a sophomore.
But Gates said Shaw’s standing hasn’t changed, he’s just had some struggles to go through in the past year.
“Big picture is, he had an off-season surgery and he could not practice all summer,” Gates said. “That’s all summer, he could not practice. What I’m proud of is what he’s been able to do once he got cleared by our doctors and ultimately being able to play through that injury last year. Because he could have had that surgery last year and it would have minimized his games played so he was playing with a surgically needed injury. Fast forward, no summer. That’s a lot of work. Fast forward to September, still not cleared. Now your first, your first glimpse of basketball as a junior was interrupted and now you have to just jump right on in. That is tough, that is tough to do on any level, professional, college, high school, whatever it is. He’s in great spirits as you can see. He’s just waiting on the opportunity and he’s going to maximize it once that opportunity comes.”
But while his impact on the court has been limited, Shaw has been part of a key group for the Tigers this season, helping the team build the camaraderie that has helped lead to 21 overall wins and 10 in SEC play after winning just eight total games without one in conference play last season.
Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription.
Talk about this story in the story thread and discuss so much more in The Tiger Walk.
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines.
