Over the next few weeks, we'll run a Q&A with every player on the Mizzou basketball roster for the 2023-24 season. We continue today with junior guard Tamar Bates, who transferred from Indiana.
Tell me just kind of how have your first couple of weeks at Mizzou gone so far?
TB: They're going really well. I would call Mizzou kind of like a cheat code in a way. Like just because the things that we learn on a day-to-day basis with basketball and how we play and just like the technicalities, especially how it translates to the next level, with that being somewhere that everybody wants to play, I just felt like how we play and what we're learning on day-to-day basis, it's been it's been great for me, for my development. I've seen myself improve over the last six to eight weeks. So I'm just excited to, you know, go out to Jamaica and play against somebody else because we've been playing against each other all summer. That can get a little redundant but you know, me personally, I mean, it's been really good. Just looking forward to getting back in the fall and just getting ready for the season.
Do you feel like it's been a tougher adjustment for you on the court or more of the off-the-court stuff, fitting into a new town, new school?
TB: I'm from Kansas City. So, my dad graduated from here, he got his doctorate from Mizzou. So I've always been familiar with Columbia, with the area. Again, I'm from Kansas City, I'm two hours down the road. So it hasn't been hard getting adjusted to a new city, new situation because, one, I'm a junior, so I've been in college for two years. I kind of understand how to move around or what to do to, you know, occupy myself. But now, at this point in my college career, it's all about what's going on inside the gym. So everything in the city and everything, it doesn't really catch my eye too much. I'm just trying to focus on getting adjusted and learning more about the system. Because you know, I have been in college but again, like I said, it is a cheat code but it's a process where I still have to learn and be able to execute what we want to do on the floor. So the transition has been really easy.
You mentioned you're from Kansas City. I remember you had Mizzou as one of your finalists coming out of high school. What made you want to come here after you hit the transfer portal?
TB: I just feel like, one, timing is everything. It was just the perfect time just because of the situation that Mizzou was in. Coach Cuonzo Martin, I still have a great relationship with him, good dude, great man. I would've loved to play for him, it just didn't work out that way at the time. But now, just with Coach (Dennis) Gates taking over and the success that the team had last year, I just felt like me, especially being closer to home, being closer to my daughter and closer to my family and then being able to come into a situation where I had the opportunity to play right away, be a veteran on the team and then the play style fits me like a glove, it was a no brainer.
For people who haven't seen the play before, how would you describe your game and how do you feel it fits in with what the team does?
TB: I would feel like I'm a two-way guard, two-way shooting guard who can play the point guard as well. So I would say a combo guard. But for me, you know, in terms of the play style, we like to get out in transition, shoot a lot of 3s and I'm a good shooter. Last year. I think I finished the year shooting about 39, 40%. With the development that we have here, I see that percentage going up about five, about 45%. So just, my play style, I just feel like with us having shooters all around, one of them being myself, and just being able to create off the dribble, create opportunities for other people to score off of my penetration and being able to attack different matchups and different sets, just the way that we play just really helps me. It helps everybody around me and around each other just to play a lot easier. Just because shots that you would think in another system or another school, it's a bad shot. Some schools will tell you not to take a transition 3 off of one pass. But that's what we want to do — that's one thing that we want to do. I just feel like again, like I said earlier when you asked about the play style and all that, just how we play, it's just easier for me to play my game.
Is there anything specific you're trying to improve on this summer?
TB: I would say being somebody that can lead the offense. So let's say Sean (East II), Nick (Honor) and Ant (Anthony Robinson) get in foul trouble and we need somebody else to run the one, just being able to improve my passing. I've always been a pretty good passer in my eyes. But just continuing to work on my passing, my ball-handling, being able to come off ball screens and make decisions as soon as I see them. And obviously catching and shooting, gotta be able to catch and shoot. And then shooting off the dribble, being able to create my own shot, late shot clock situations. But more so the biggest thing is just continuing working on my body of course and then, like I said, just being able to make quick decisions with the basketball, whether it's passing, shooting, dribbling, ball screens, coming off a screen, that's more so what I've been focusing on.
How excited are you about Jamaica?
TB: I'm really excited. This'll be my second foreign trip. My freshman year, I went to the Bahamas. We played BC Mega, a team from Serbia, out there. So it went really well. We played them twice, we won both the games, but it's just really good. And again, obviously, I feel like without the foreign trip, Mizzou's development and how we play is a cheat code. But with having a foreign trip, we get 10 official practices. So we get more hours on the court together, being able to do more stuff in the summer and then get to go out of the country, play and also bond. So I feel like it's a good opportunity for the team to come together a lot closer because I saw that my freshman year with our team. And this team is already really close and I just feel like going to Jamaica, going out of the country together and experiencing that will exceed that and speed that process up.
READ THE REST OF SUMMER SESSIONS
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