Good? The heart. Love seeing a team seemingly gel in front of our very eyes. That has been something we haven't seen here in a long, long time. And the defense essentially won the game. Yes, I know. Lots of wide-open 3s. But when they needed it, they turned up the pressure successfully. What I maybe like the most is how active they are with both their hands AND feet. Impressive.

Bad? I really appreciate what I've seen from Coach Gates thus far. Seems to have genuine buy-in from a team that wasn't even acquainted with one another 6 months ago, and that's a real feat. But when Mizzou was busy giving up 12-2 and 16-0 runs, he seemed a little (dare I say it?) Roy Williams-ish with the unwillingness to call a TO.

More, when it was clear that 3s weren't falling, MU went into long stretches where, for the first time I've seen this season, they (not coincidentally) didn't really run an offense, but instead did the swing-the-perimeter-until-someone-misses-a-deep-shot thing of which I am decidedly not a fan. In fact, during portions of the 16-0 run, it was painfully reminiscent of (in name only) offenses run by the two previous staffs.

All's well that ends well, however. And the heart they showed more than overcame the shortcomings, all around.

The Ugly:


I mean, for the love of Bill Rasmussen and John Anderson, that feed as a clown car on fire.

NM

Sounds like Iowa State media/fans are pretty pessimistic about Caleb Grill playing tomorrow. Third leading scorer who is shooting 37% from three.

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Home teams have won most of the games that have finished so far and several upsets. Iowa state and Alabama didn’t look like conference champions today but I think it just shows how much parity there is in college basketball and how hard it is to win on the road.

Reverse the locations for todays big eight/sec challenge and the outcomes would be drastically different!

7'0 foot kid Mizzou had been mentioned with has committed to Maryland, seemed like a bit of project, not sure we ever offered

Haven’t seen him in a while

I could never root for kansas. I don't like Arkansas but would like to see them beat Baylor. Am I off base?

10th grade OT right in Mizzou's backyard just picked up an offer from Michigan St and previously Iowa St. Coached by former Mizzou OL Jonah Dubinski.

One to keep an eye on and hopefully Mizzou jumps in soon.

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Haven’t really been under the impression he was super accurate, but this would seem to say otherwise. Not a huge discrepancy between #10 and the bottom, but he’s in good company.

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let me know

Will there be a Live Postgame on the Youtube page?

A lot of ranked team carnage this week. Do we hop into the Top 20?

Per a source, 2024 guard Travis Perry will be on campus and at the game tomorrow

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Is finally a 3* Login to view embedded media

Gates, Hodge and Kobe Brown

-TJ Otzelberger: First of all, they were pressing which means we weren't playing very good defense ... They did a good job of not letting us get into a rhythm offensively.

-TJ on him and Dennis going up against each other for the first time after knowing each other for so long: "It wasn't very fun for me ... But I'm really proud of Dennis and all he's accomplished." He said he hopes they'll get an opportunity to run it back.

-Talking to Gates, Kobe and D'Moi now. Gates begins by thanking all the alumni who came back for this game.

-Gates said his guys were really well-prepared for this game. "Sometimes you can't control makes or misses, but you can have great shot selection and get back on defense and give your very best."

-Gates said he thinks the run to end the first half and begin the second opened up the game and ignited the crowd. He said to have a Q1 win in January is huge, both for Selection Sunday and for the confidence of the team.

-Gates said he still thinks his team didn't play very well. He said there were times Iowa State made some runs on them. He still wants to see them play a complete 40-minute game.

-I asked Kobe and D'Moi if this was the best game they've played so far this year. It took them a few seconds to answer - Gates laughed and said that's a trick question. Both players agreed that it's one of their better performances of the year but that there's still room for improvement.

-Kobe said they were at the alumni banquet last night and said it was really cool to meet the people who make up Mizzou's history.

-D'Moi said a big change for the team the past two games is that they aren't dwelling as much on mistakes. They're playing through them and having fun.

-Gates was really impressed they could announce that the Texas A&M game is a sell-out while they were playing in a sell-out against Iowa State. He said there's been times this year he pulls up to Mizzou Arena the night before the game and there are Antlers sleeping outside.

-Gates said he gives a lot of credit to DRF: "I am who I am because my boss lets me be."

-Kobe said the shots going in helped him on the boards today. He said even when the shots weren't going in, Iowa State thought they were and didn't go after the miss as hard.

-Kobe said the ankle is fine. Gates said he bossed him around on the sideline and told the coach he was going back in.

and fun to see the sold out atena…nough said

Love how people try to say Mizzou doesn’t belong in the SEC. Only win for the conference so far in the SEC/Big 12 challenge. Great win. MIZ!

-The good news: this is exactly the type of game Mizzou wanted to play. They are dictating the pace and the style of the game and keeping Iowa State uncomfortable. They are racking up turnovers and scoring in transition. They're on pace to score 70 points and are undefeated when that happens. Aside from a few times where they left shooters wide open, the defense has been suffocating.

-The bad news: they should be up by more, especially with the number of 3s they're draining (and the missed dunk that Mo Diarra had). A lot of Iowa State's points have come from putbacks. The Cyclones have cashed in seemingly every time the Tigers leave them open from outside - those treys have been costly. ISU is also doing a solid job of forcing Mizzou turnovers. Also, Kobe Brown may or may not be hurt pretty bad.

-Kobe was the best player on the court while he was out there. The Cyclones have no answers for him. It might be the most aggressive I've seen him all year. There was a play where he fought for an offensive rebound. Took a few dribbles across halfcourt and gave the ball up to Hodge on the left wing, who drove in and kicked it back out to Kobe for a 3. You just don't see guys his size play that way.

-Isiaih Mosley hasn't had his best game. But he's been helpful just by being on the floor. Iowa State can't leave him and Hodge open, so their defenders don't sag off to help when the ball gets inside. It's created a lot more space in the lane for Mizzou -- which especially helps Kobe.

-I normally don't think DeAndre Gholston deserves all the flak he gets. But I can't defend him today. He's been bad.

-The ball movement has been crucial for the Tigers -- 10 assists in the first half with four different players handing out two or three. )That's really hard to defend. My favorite was the moonball from Sean East to D'Moi Hodge for that triple from the left wing (East has also been good today, though I don't advise switching him onto the 6-foot-10 dudes on defense). They should have 11 assists, though. I'm still dumbfounded how Mo Diarra missed that dunk.

-Mizzou did a better of closing out the half than they have in previous games. They've got the momentum going into the second.

And his role is making sure Kobe returns for another year

@GabeD all of this favorable hype has to have you considering some logo/branding changes, no?