This is the first three-game losing streak Dennis Gates has had since the opening of the 2020-21 season. In the pandemic-shortened slate, Gates’ Cleveland State squad dropped all three of its non-conference matchups, falling to Toledo, Ohio and Ohio State.
All three of those schools ended the year ranked inside the top 100 of KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin. All three of the matchups came on the road for the Vikings. It was by far the toughest part of the team’s schedule.
Cleveland State bounced back, rattling off a nine-game winning streak and later clinching the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships and earning the school’s first bid to the NCAA tournament since 2009. It would’ve been hard to envision that kind of turnaround when Gates suffered the biggest blowout loss of his career — a 101-46 manhandling against Ohio.
This is not to say you should expect the same kind of bounce back from Missouri this season. It’s more to say that’s the kind of reversal it’ll take to get the Tigers back on track.
It’s tough to envision it after the Braggin’ Rights loss. Mizzou looked listless. Illinois came like the grim reaper looking to collect a soul and MU just handed it over. The Tigers were Steve Rogers getting bullied in an alley before he became Captain America.
I kept wondering where the disconnect was between what the preseason expectations were for this team and what it’s been so far. And then it hit me when Illinois head coach Brad Underwood was asked about the physicality and mental maturity of his players during the postgame presser.
“I think it's pretty nice to have 23-year-olds that have been in the weight room for five years and have been through some things,” Underwood said. “And like I've said many times with this group, their attention to detail is really, really good. And I hope it relays to our fans, to all of you, our connectivity and our togetherness is pretty good.”
That’s what Gates was supposed to be able to say about his team this year. Missouri has six graduate seniors on its roster, plus Jesus Carralero Martin, who’s in his fifth year of college. According to KenPom, the average Tiger has 3.00 years of NCAA Division I experience, which ranks 11th in the country.
But Mizzou has rarely looked like a team that has that much seasoning. Underwood went on to say he’d made a wager with his players that they couldn’t make 50 in a shooting drill they were running — a number he thought would be impossible to get to. The players got it on their fourth try and Underwood canceled practice the next day to pay off the bet. Illinois’ athletic director showed up at the gym and no one was there. That’s how much confidence Underwood had in his team. It’s tough to think Gates would feel the same way about his right now.
To be completely fair, two of the black and gold’s seniors, Caleb Grill and John Tonje, have dealt with injuries. Grill’s absence has been felt since being sidelined after having surgery on his wrist, eliminating one of the team’s best defenders and rebounders from the perimeter. And Tonje hasn’t looked the same since hurting his ankle in the offseason — while he’s been available, it’s not crazy to wonder if he’s currently below 100%.
But you’d still expect a squad with as many veterans as Missouri has to show more poise than it has. It feels like the team panics when the other team goes on runs. The cold stretches lead to bad decisions, which lead to longer cold stretches. For a team that’s played as much college basketball as this team’s seniors have, you’d expect them to project a calmness in those moments. I felt that way all the time when Nick Honor was on the floor a year ago. It’s not like that anymore, though.
Some of the brightest moments of the Tigers’ games now often come from their freshmen. Gates has brought up a few times that his team sometimes tries to play “too perfect,” being unwilling to make mistakes, being overly cautious in how they play and killing the flow of the game. The rookies usually don’t have that same problem but it’s because they don’t know any better. They’re just out there playing ball and having fun. The upperclassmen seem to let the pressure weigh on them too much.
Part of the reason Mizzou scheduled as tough as it did was because it was banking on its experience to carry them past some of these high-major opponents. And granted, the games against Kansas and Illinois were scheduled before Gates joined the program. But the increase in difficulty of this year’s slate has come back to bite the team. Playing three consecutive games away from Mizzou Arena during finals seems like it’s taken a toll.
So while this upcoming matchup against Central Arkansas was supposed to be one of the most insignificant of the season, it’s going to end up serving an important function. It gives the Tigers a chance to end the losing streak this weekend and pivot in a new direction. After the loss to the Illini, Gates said the team was going into the holiday season looking to reflect on how this year has gone and how each individual can be better.
Maybe the game against the Bears ends up being the turning point for Missouri, just as Gates righted Cleveland State’s ship three seasons ago. But things can’t stay status quo for that to happen. The Tigers need their seniors to step up.
All three of those schools ended the year ranked inside the top 100 of KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin. All three of the matchups came on the road for the Vikings. It was by far the toughest part of the team’s schedule.
Cleveland State bounced back, rattling off a nine-game winning streak and later clinching the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships and earning the school’s first bid to the NCAA tournament since 2009. It would’ve been hard to envision that kind of turnaround when Gates suffered the biggest blowout loss of his career — a 101-46 manhandling against Ohio.
This is not to say you should expect the same kind of bounce back from Missouri this season. It’s more to say that’s the kind of reversal it’ll take to get the Tigers back on track.
It’s tough to envision it after the Braggin’ Rights loss. Mizzou looked listless. Illinois came like the grim reaper looking to collect a soul and MU just handed it over. The Tigers were Steve Rogers getting bullied in an alley before he became Captain America.
I kept wondering where the disconnect was between what the preseason expectations were for this team and what it’s been so far. And then it hit me when Illinois head coach Brad Underwood was asked about the physicality and mental maturity of his players during the postgame presser.
“I think it's pretty nice to have 23-year-olds that have been in the weight room for five years and have been through some things,” Underwood said. “And like I've said many times with this group, their attention to detail is really, really good. And I hope it relays to our fans, to all of you, our connectivity and our togetherness is pretty good.”
That’s what Gates was supposed to be able to say about his team this year. Missouri has six graduate seniors on its roster, plus Jesus Carralero Martin, who’s in his fifth year of college. According to KenPom, the average Tiger has 3.00 years of NCAA Division I experience, which ranks 11th in the country.
But Mizzou has rarely looked like a team that has that much seasoning. Underwood went on to say he’d made a wager with his players that they couldn’t make 50 in a shooting drill they were running — a number he thought would be impossible to get to. The players got it on their fourth try and Underwood canceled practice the next day to pay off the bet. Illinois’ athletic director showed up at the gym and no one was there. That’s how much confidence Underwood had in his team. It’s tough to think Gates would feel the same way about his right now.
To be completely fair, two of the black and gold’s seniors, Caleb Grill and John Tonje, have dealt with injuries. Grill’s absence has been felt since being sidelined after having surgery on his wrist, eliminating one of the team’s best defenders and rebounders from the perimeter. And Tonje hasn’t looked the same since hurting his ankle in the offseason — while he’s been available, it’s not crazy to wonder if he’s currently below 100%.
But you’d still expect a squad with as many veterans as Missouri has to show more poise than it has. It feels like the team panics when the other team goes on runs. The cold stretches lead to bad decisions, which lead to longer cold stretches. For a team that’s played as much college basketball as this team’s seniors have, you’d expect them to project a calmness in those moments. I felt that way all the time when Nick Honor was on the floor a year ago. It’s not like that anymore, though.
Some of the brightest moments of the Tigers’ games now often come from their freshmen. Gates has brought up a few times that his team sometimes tries to play “too perfect,” being unwilling to make mistakes, being overly cautious in how they play and killing the flow of the game. The rookies usually don’t have that same problem but it’s because they don’t know any better. They’re just out there playing ball and having fun. The upperclassmen seem to let the pressure weigh on them too much.
Part of the reason Mizzou scheduled as tough as it did was because it was banking on its experience to carry them past some of these high-major opponents. And granted, the games against Kansas and Illinois were scheduled before Gates joined the program. But the increase in difficulty of this year’s slate has come back to bite the team. Playing three consecutive games away from Mizzou Arena during finals seems like it’s taken a toll.
So while this upcoming matchup against Central Arkansas was supposed to be one of the most insignificant of the season, it’s going to end up serving an important function. It gives the Tigers a chance to end the losing streak this weekend and pivot in a new direction. After the loss to the Illini, Gates said the team was going into the holiday season looking to reflect on how this year has gone and how each individual can be better.
Maybe the game against the Bears ends up being the turning point for Missouri, just as Gates righted Cleveland State’s ship three seasons ago. But things can’t stay status quo for that to happen. The Tigers need their seniors to step up.
