COLUMBIA, Mo. — Dennis Gates could, and did, make the case for other programs. Jackson State was, in his words, the best 0-5 team in the country when it beat Missouri in November. Illinois was on a path to the Final Four when it dismantled the Tigers in December.
But after Arkansas, a team with one Southeastern Conference win, sent Mizzou crashing to 0-8 in SEC play with a 91-84 result that was much more lopsided than it looked, the second-year MU coach’s tone changed.
Gone was the stoic optimism, the relentless train of compliments. Instead, Gates spoke to reporters in much more of a stern reckoning.
“We came out flat to begin the game,†he said. “I take full responsibility as a head coach. We cannot come out that flat. Regardless of what I have to do as the leader of the team, I have to do it — home game, in front of a great crowd. I thank our crowd for coming out and I definitely apologize for that performance, especially in that first 10 minutes of the game.â€
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The Tigers lost by seven points thanks to the kind of garbage time grifting that’s possible against an opponent like the Razorbacks, which have lost five SEC games by double digits.
Arkansas led by 19 points at halftime after needing only the 10 minutes cited by Gates to open up a double-digit lead. At the break, the Hogs had more points in the paint than the Tigers did in total.
They finished with 56 points in the paint. Arkansas center Makhi Mitchell matched his career high in points with 19 and grabbed a season-high 14 boards. Many of those were related as he, at moments, seemed to be running his own Mikan Drill under the basket — putting up shots and grabbing rebounds on the other side of the hoop unperturbed.
“Credit Arkansas,†Gates said. “They scored 56 total points in the paint, 30 in the first half … Defensively, you can’t win games that way.â€
Piling onto Missouri’s other issues was a perpetual inability to hold onto the ball. The Tigers’ 18 turnovers far outweighed their 13 assists — Gates and basketball minds everywhere prefer that ratio be flipped — and led to 25 Arkansas points.
The stolen scores and paint buckets are connected.
“Those points in the paint also came from our turnovers,†Gates said. “Where they were able to extend those turnovers into 25 total points. It wasn’t them shooting 3s on the break — they were getting into the paint off those fastbreaks and executing off our turnovers.â€
That pattern wore on players like guard Tamar Bates, who finished with a game-high 29 points. He scored 23 of them in the second half, providing the lifeline that turned into a garbage time run. Bates was also, however, responsible for six turnovers — and admitted to the frustration of Mizzou’s stretch of ineptitude.
“We lost a good amount — not a good amount, all — of the 50-50 balls, and not finishing possessions and coming up with rebounds,†Bates said. “That led to them continuing to pour on that lead. It’s hard to recover from that, on top of myself turning the ball over and that leading to transition points that are uncontested. Those are just plays that are hard to get back, especially when we might get a few stops or we get them to take a shot that we want or where we should get the rebound or we should’ve scored on the offensive end. It’s just demoralizing.â€
Or, as reserve center Mabor Majak — who scored his first point of the season while playing eight minutes for the second time all year — put it: “We just needed a spark and we couldn’t get to it.â€
With 11 defeats in the last 12 games, Missouri is officially flailing. It will have another plausible chance at an SEC win on Saturday when it faces winless Vanderbilt on the road. After that, any conference victory is much more likely to be a significant upset.
Hence Gates’ reckoning.
A year ago, his maiden Mizzou team was 16-5 and laying the foundation for a fourth-place finish in the SEC and second-round NCAA Tournament run. Now, things just aren’t working for the Tigers — plain and simple.
“First is what I see in practice, right? I think our guys have given their very best,†Gates said. “(In practice) I see the ball going in. I see guys making plays. I see Nick Honor shooting the ball. I see Sean East being able to break down defenders and kicking. But when the game comes, we gotta just play that free. And I don’t think we are giving ourselves that opportunity to take the risk. We have to take the risk.â€
Gates mentioned passivity from Honor, who he wants to see taking 10 3-pointers a game now, as a “night in, night out†talking point. He also brought up the rebounding efforts, or lack thereof, of forward Noah Carter, who played three second-half minutes as the result of a coaching decision.
“There was opportunities for him to come away with a couple weak side rebounds that he didn’t come away with,†Gates said. “And at that point, that doesn’t allow us to win if he’s going to have one defensive rebound in 15 minutes of play. Same with Aidan Shaw. Aidan Shaw had one defensive rebound.â€
And then came the candor that had been stoppered so diligently through the previous dozen defeats.
“Those situations, when you look at our team, we’ve grown from the standpoint of being able to rebound or shrink the rebounding margin,†Gates continued. “The issue is coming away with the ones that matter, the ones that count. Mabor (Majak) came in and gave us unbelievable energy, but he was more physical when you saw him out there. And that’s the type of fight that I’ve witnessed from our guys in practice, but I’m not witnessing it in the game.
“We have to be participants in our own rescue. Referees aren’t going to bail us out. No one is going to feel sorry for us or have empathy because we haven’t won a conference game. We got to go out there and put 40 minutes of basketball together consistently. Some nights, we may hit 10 3s. Other nights, we may hit two. Some nights, we get to the line; some nights we don’t. Sometimes, we get (a) positive assist-to-turnover ratio. It’s just the inconsistency that is happening.
“We don’t know going into the game… what stats we can really count on, and what department we can get it. So it’s sort of like on the sideline, you’re trying to figure out which guys are ready to play, ready to produce at that moment. Again, no one’s gonna have sympathy or empathy for us. We gotta go out there and compete. We’re going to continue to practice. We’re going to continue to get better. As a staff, we’re going to continue to demand excellence. We’re gonna continue to grow, we’re gonna continue to develop. We’re gonna continue to do certain things.
“I’m not going to blink on that. I’m not going to shy away from it. But also, I’m going to be there to support our guys. What they’re going through is not easy. But again, we all have to look in the mirror and be participants in our own rescue. Ultimately, that’s what it’s about.
“We asked to play at this level,†Gates concluded. “We asked to put on a jersey. Well, there’s a responsibility when you put on a jersey: Go out there, give your very best and fight, no different than (Bates and Majak) fought today. No matter how many guys are out, you will never hear me make an excuse of how many bodies, but I can guarantee you this: No matter who’s playing, we have a responsibility to go out there and produce and do the things that we know can give us a win — and do it for 40 minutes.â€