What Missouri took away from its first loss
Dennis Gates didn’t want to talk about Missouri’s next opponent at Wednesday’s practice. Since his team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday to No. 6 Kansas, 95-67, the head coach has been locked in on what the Tigers can learn about themselves.
“I'm curious to see how we can bounce back,” Gates said. “And I think that's important to kind of see who we are as we continue to figure out our identity throughout this season.”
Gates thought Mizzou didn’t give itself a chance against the Jayhawks, allowing little mistakes to add up. He saw a few surges from his players, runs that would last two or three possessions. But the Tigers could never string together any more big plays than that, either committing a foul, giving up another bucket or committing a turnover. Gates expected better, especially with a sell-out crowd of 15,061 rooting for them.
He also didn’t think Mizzou’s transition defense was up to par. Kansas scored 28 points off of the Tigers’ 21 turnovers. Gates thought there were times his team pulled up too early in the shot clock, allowing the Jayhawks to score in transition — he considers those possessions turnovers, too.
“They capitalized, without a doubt,” Gates said. “I don't think we settled in defensively and kept guys in front of us, which speaks to your term, in terms of our rotations. And whether it was ball-screen defense, whether it was baseline seals and drives, whether it was middle drives, I don't think we settled down with our nerves enough to be able to provide the things that we needed to provide and the resistance.”
The team hasn’t seen its confidence waver this week. Gates has been pleased by the response from his players and noted they had a good practice on Monday. Graduate senior guard Tre Gomillion said they don’t believe in losses. If they don’t win a game, it’s a lesson. It humbles them and shows what they need to work on.
“We just learned that we're on the way to where we want to be. We're not there yet,” Gomillion said. “Just little details and stuff, staying disciplined over the course of 40 minutes, or more if needed, is really what we took from that game.”
Freshman forward Aidan Shaw said it’s been beneficial to have veterans to lean on. The upperclassmen have been through tough losses before and they know what it takes to come back from them.
Gates said there hasn’t been any finger-pointing among teammates. Most players wanted to take the brunt of the blame themselves — Gomillion admitted he had some slip-ups on defense that allowed Kansas to get into a rhythm.
Mizzou (9-1) will hope it leads to a better performance this Saturday when the team plays against UCF (8-2) at 11 a.m. CT in Sunrise, Fla.
The game is part of the AutoNation Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, which will also feature a matchup between St. John's and Florida State. Eight members of the Tigers’ staff have ties to the Seminoles and their head coach, Leonard Hamilton, Gates included. Gates said he can’t wait for Hamilton to watch Mizzou play and then give Gates any feedback he has.
That’s Gates’ main focus coming off his team’s first loss: Figuring out how the Tigers can be better?
“We know that we did not make the shots that we've normally made,” Gates said. “We know that we didn't defend how we have normally defended. We just have to go out there and see it and now learn from it and now apply it … You don't want a loss to turn into two or three losses because of something that is not being corrected from the previous game. You gotta make and be able to put yourself in a position where you play well and still, someone has to lose. And that's what our mindset is. You have to play well and we did not do that last game.”
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