Bill Self praises Dennis Gates for doing 'fantastic' job at Missouri

Bill Self decided to heap some praise on Missouri’s Dennis Gates following the Jayhawks’ 73-64 over the Tigers over the weekend.

According to Self, the difference between Missouri’s play this season as opposed to last season was noticeable, and he wanted to make sure he pointed out the positive coaching adjustments he saw from the Tigers.

“Coaches can’t comment really on other coaches unless they’re there, and they can watch, but from the outside looking in? Oh yeah, he’s doing a fantastic job,” Self said, following Kansas’ victory over the weekend. “Last year when we played them at their place, they tried to take us out by pressing. This year they pressured and didn’t press, which was a big difference. Last year, when you have shooters, you make the extra pass. … We shot it unbelievably well last year over there. This year, our team is different, so the pressure was probably more effective than pressing, because it didn’t allow us to get two-on-ones, three-on-twos and things like that. So I think that was a very good adjustment.

“He’s a terrific coach. The play he ran out of the timeout to get the backdoor, that was a great play. I mean, they’ve done a great job in a short amount of time, and they’re fast. We can’t simulate that in practice. It certainly bothered us. Their hands bothered us.”

Alas, the victory marked the third straight for Self’s team in their renewed rivalry against Missouri. However, when Kansas head coach  was asked about the significance of his team’s dominance in the series, he was brutally honest about the matchup’s recent history.

“I don’t even care about 3-0, I don’t care about what happened last year and the year before,” Self added. “I care about what’s gonna happen from this point forward with our team and I’m not gonna think about Missouri again unless we have an opportunity to play them in the postseason until next year.”

As you can see, it’s clear that Self’s focus is forward, not looking back on Saturday’s win or any previous wins over the Tigers from the past few seasons.

However, the Jayhawk’s most recent nine-point win was actually the closest the matchup has been in the three-year series, dominating Missouri in a 28-point win last year and a lopsided 37-point win during the 2021-2022 season. 

Missouri may be slowly but surely bridging the gap between themselves and Kansas, but Self and the Jayhawks are more concerned with continuing to separate themselves from the pack amongst college basketball’s elite.

“But I am happy that we’ve won, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that we’ve won. But that’s not something that I’m gonna hang my hat on leaving out of here thinking we’re 3-0. You know what, we’re 9-1, we play at Indiana, we gotta get better for Indiana,” Self stated.

Nevertheless, a win is a win, and Bill Self and Kansas can enjoy bragging rights over Missouri for at least another season, it seems.