Over the next few weeks, PowerMizzou.com will take a look back at the season for each of the Tigers’ rotational players.
Dennis Gates needed a steady hand at point guard. The year before he took over as head coach, Missouri had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio, coughing the ball up 476 times while only handing out 399 dimes. Gates knew the ratio would need to be reversed for the Tigers to be successful this year. He needed someone who’d already proven he was capable of effectively facilitating the offense for a high-major program. Gates found his man in graduate senior Nick Honor.
The 5-foot-10, 200-pound point guard broke out as a true freshman at Fordham in 2018-19, starting in all 32 games and averaging 15.3 points and 3.0 assists per game. Honor transferred to Clemson the following offseason and redshirted the 2019-20 season due to the transfer rules in place at the time. In two years with Clemson, Honor played in 57 games, starting in 35.
Honor entered the transfer portal on March 22, 2022, and committed to Mizzou on April 19. He became one of the Tigers’ most consistent contributors when he arrived in Columbia, Mo. Honor joined D’Moi Hodge as the only two players on the roster to appear and start in all of the team’s 35 games this season.
The Orlando, Fla. native excelled in taking care of the ball. Despite leading the team with 1,048 minutes played, Honor logged just 33 turnovers on the year. Per KenPom, Honor gave the ball up on just 13.2% of possessions which ranked in the top 400 of all NCAA Division I players. Honor also dished out 103 assists, and his 3.1 assist-to-turnover ratio was tied for 14th-best in the nation.
Honor made strides in other areas of his game on both ends of the floor. He shot a career-high 39.9% from the 3-point line and was especially lethal in the corners, where he sank 45.5% of his looks according to CBB Analytics. Many of those triples came from several feet beyond the arc, including a game-winner in the team’s overtime victory over Mississippi State on Feb. 21.
Gates’ ball-pressuring defensive scheme also helped Honor produce more steals, as he averaged a career-high 1.5 per game. Honor swiped a steal on 3.0% of possessions per KenPom, which ranked No. 206 in the country.
The point guard did struggle to finish around the rim going up against SEC bigs this season, connecting on just 27 of his 63 shots attempted in the paint. But Gates always encouraged the team captain to feel comfortable taking more shots.
“He needs to be more selfish,” Gates said after a road win over Georgia on Feb. 25. “And sometimes the word selfish is a negative connotation, but in our program, if you're too unselfish, that turns the word into selfish. And Nick Honor needs to be able to play off the dribble how he has.”
Honor ended the season averaging 7.9 points and 2.9 assists. He has one more season of eligibility remaining and has not announced his plans for next year. If Honor returns to Mizzou, he should continue to be a leader for the Tigers, keeping the team under control.
Previous Tiger Season Reviews
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