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What a difference in culture from last year to this year.

UNLV's new DC

Illinois and Kentucky wins aren’t looking as good as a week ago

Will we see any Bat Signal tweets from Drink this weekend?

I received this email more than an hour ago.

3-0 IN SEC PLAY MEANS $3 TICKETS!

Mizzou women’s basketball team is off to a hot start in conference play! After taking down Alabama on the road last night, your Tigers are now 3-0 in conference play! This Sunday January 8, your Mizzou Tigers are taking on the Arkansas Razorbacks at Mizzou Arena. We are calling all fans to come support the team as they attempt to keep the win streak going! Since the Tigers are 3-0, fans can purchase tickets to Sunday’s game for just $3! So, bring your family, friends, and all Tiger fans to come cheer our women’s team on!

Mizzou vs Arkansas

Sunday, January 8, 2:00p.m.

GOLD RUSH - Wear GOLD!

St. Louis Disc Dogs Half Time Performance

M-I-Z!

Sounded great, the last few games on tv. Been awhile for that

Either signees or targets.

The refs did a great job today 😂

Talking to Noah Carter, DeAndre Gholston and Dennis Gates

-Gates said he thought his team did a good job with preparation. He's got a lot of respect for Jerry Stackhouse. Said it was a game of runs. He's not happy about the end of the first half but was ecstatic about the end of the second half. Leonard Hamilton would've called it an "old-fashioned one-point ACC blowout."

-Gates is proud of how his team shot at the free throw line down the stretch. It allowed them to control the game in the final three minutes.

-Gates said he drove Dre Gholston to the arena right after they landed coming back from Fayetteville and had a two and a half hour conversation with him to let him know his worth. Gholston said he came in with a better mindset tonight and did what Coach asked of him.

-D'Moi Hodge is sick with the flu. Gates said he came in the locker room and started throwing up. He was impressed by Hodge tonight.

-Carter joked that the game starting at 11 a.m. contributed to the slow start. Him and Gholston both said it being an SEC game was the biggest reason -- everyone in the league is good. Gates noted there were 7 lead changes in the game.

-Gates loved the response from Kobe Brown in the second half. He didn't think Kobe gave himself a jump start in Arkansas. He made the adjustment today.

-Gates said they can survive losing the boards if that's their only negative. For instance, they had 16-6 assist-to-turnover ratio. If that was the reverse, they probably don't come out on top in this game.

Kentucky isn't that good... but my goodness, Alabama is absolutely handing it to them. I've watched Brandon Miller play 4-5 times this year...might be the best player in the Nation.

Why is there a totally empty section above the Vandy bench?

Mizzou will alegedly have two five star receivers on our football team this year?!?!
How did that happen?
Miz...

Is Isaiah Moseley on the bench today?

-I was thinking more about what I said about Mizzou possibly playing down to its competition at halftime. And I realized, it's actually something that's happened a lot with the team this year. Think about games like Mississippi Valley State, Wichita State and UCF -- all of them were close, at least for a little while. That's a red flag that goes right up there with the rebounding (Mizzou was, however, better on the glass in the second half).

-Welcome back, Kobe Brown. He didn't shoot the best percentage, but had some really timely baskets. And he got to the free throw line and knocked down his foul shots. He's not going to score 30 points every night, but Mizzou will usually be fine with just 18.

-I mentioned at halftime somebody other than Hodge had to step up. Kobe did, but so did DeAndre Gholston. He keeps it pretty loose, which can be an issue sometimes, but when he's on he's really good. When it gets bogged down in the halfcourt, he's one of the few guys that can go get his own shot. But woof, that missed dunk.

-Noah Carter also immediately made me eat my words when I said he was having a quiet night. This is only the fourth time this season that both him and Kobe have at least 10 points each.

-Definitely not Mizzou's best game defensively. The Tigers got bailed by some missed open shots from Vandy. And some missed free throws. And some bad calls from the refs. But it was good enough to come out on top.

That, plus Gomillion shooting majority of the shots and going 0 of 3 inside 6 feet

Productive DE from usc east just entered the portal…projected as a first rounder, I think we should kick the tires on this’n

-That was the worst start to a game Mizzou had since Kansas. It looked like the end of the Arkansas game carried over into this one. It might've had to do with playing down to the competition, but it took a long time for the Tigers to get back on track. I was pretty shocked they hadn't made a single field goal 5 minutes into the first half. If Vandy were a better team, the Tigers might've been down by a lot more.

-D'Moi Hodge put on the cape and came to the rescue. He can do that every now and then when Kobe doesn't have a good game. Watching him rip the ball away from other teams is a delight -- it reminds me of what Kawhi does in the NBA (not saying Hodge is as good defensively as Kawhi, just that they've both got a knack for picking up steals). The Tigers will need somebody to step up in the second half. Hodge can't do it all on his own.

-It's been a while since Noah Carter has had a really good game. I think losing his starting spot might've taken the wind out of his sails a little bit. @GabeD thinks he 's not quite athletic enough to be a high-impact player in this league. He's played a lot of minutes today and has been pretty quiet.

-Vanderbilt is up 25-11 on the boards. I don't know what the percentages are on the rebounds, but they're not good. Gates can't say it's because of missed free throws this time, either. Mizzou's just getting pummeled.

-Aidan Shaw alley-oops, forever
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Mizzou favored by 8.5

Not trying to be an Old shouting at the clouds, but I really miss the 80s when Mini Mizzou would play Birdland by Weather Report, and Norm had his team do a pregame weave of passes in the low and high post without the ball hitting the floor? Anybody else have a basketball memory to share?

-Gates said he's excited about their start of SEC play. Said they had a great experience at Arkansas, it was almost like a heavyweight fight. He's looking forward to seeing how the team learns from the loss. They're playing a balanced Vanderbilt team tomorrow, he's got a lot of respect for Jerry Stackhouse.

-Gates brought up how tough Bud Walton Arena is to play in. He thought his team responded in small sample sizes but not enough to come out with the win. He didn't think they got to the free throw line enough and weren't able to keep Ricky Council IV off the free throw line.

-Gates was asked if Arkansas' comeback was due to defensive lapses or if they just made tough shots: "They shot 80%."

-Gates said it's helpful to have experienced players like Mizzou does because they know the importance of recovery, especially with some quick turnarounds in SEC play.

-Gates didn't think the rebounding completely cost them in the Arkansas game. Some of the rebounds, in context, are somewhat negligible -- they missed seven free throws, which led to seven defensive rebounds, for instance.

-Gates said it's important for the team to debrief the game they just played before moving on to preparing the next opponent. He said losing inflicts a little bit of trauma on the team and he wants to make sure everyone properly heals from it before they move forward.

-Gates was asked for his reaction about Mizzou selling out four straight games. He flipped the question and asked the media members in attendance if we thought before the season they would sell out four straight games -- we all said no. He said it's outstanding and it says that Mizzou Arena is a special place.

-Gates was asked about the sets Vanderbilt runs. He credited Jerry Stackhouse for the job he's done and said they do run a lot of NBA-style sets that manipulate defenses.

-Gates was asked if there's been any change to Isiaih Mosley's situation since he did not travel with the team to Arkansas: "No, I'll say the same thing, I respect his privacy. I appreciate the question." (Mosley was in the gym getting shots up today, for the very little that that's worth).

-Gates said he hasn't really been surprised by anything he's seen in the SEC so far. He feels like he's seen a lot coaching at the different schools he's been at. His players have diverse backgrounds in their careers, too, so it hasn't been very surprising to them either.

The word is out now on the college basketball scene. Missouri has lost its element of surprise.

Gates made an important in-season adjustment by implementing zone defenses to combat bigger teams, starting at UCF. He got the Tigers to pick up their defensive intensity with better post-trap recoveries at the defensive end.

“Defensively, it's a little helter skelter. They mix up their traps and denials," an opposing coach said. "It's very random. It's organized chaos. When you're watching them, you're trying to find themes or what they're trying to do, and it's hard. They do some unique things. They'll trap out of a zone. They have freedom to trap. And with the press, because you have to spend eight seconds on the press, by the time you get your offense set, you only have time for one action. That's what can be difficult.

“It's not necessarily that you start turning the ball over every possession, but over the course of 40 minutes, holy (stuff). You have to work for every possession,” another coach said. “In some ways it's more mental than physical.”

It will be interesting to see if Missouri can sustain that pace and if SEC opponents can counteract it.

FULL ARTICLE: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/col...cle_933de54c-f79a-564e-9ca4-0596ef013740.html