Mark Mitchell injury update: Dennis Gates announces status vs. Florida in SEC tournament

Mark Mitchell will miss Friday night’s SEC tournament game against Florida, Missouri coach Dennis Gates confirmed. He is dealing with a right knee injury, but Gates said the program is erring on the side of caution.

Mitchell is an important piece for Mizzou this season after transferring from Duke. He entered Friday’s game leading the Tigers with 14.1 points and 0.8 block per game, helping the program to the SEC tournament quarterfinal.

Mark Mitchell played just 12 minutes in Missouri’s victory over Mississippi State in Thursday’s second-round game. He went through walk-through before the Florida matchup, but Gates said Mitchell will miss the game out of abundance of caution.

Mizzou is in the midst of an impressive bounce-back season under Gates. The Tigers went winless in SEC play last year while finishing with an 8-24 overall record, but completely flipped the script. They entered Friday’s game with a 22-10 overall record and a 10-8 mark in league action.

Missouri started tournament play with the game against Mississippi State after clinching a bye. There was some intrigue around the matchup, though. The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 88-61 in February, and while speaking with SEC Network on Wednesday, Chris Jans called it a “get-back” opportunity for MSU. However, it’s unclear if he meant getting back at Missouri or getting back on track after two straight losses to end the regular season.

Gates heard that interview, though. He said afterward he used it as bulletin-board material, making sure Missouri would be able to respond to any Mississippi State charge.

“I heard the interview last night that you guys had with [Josh] Hubbard and Jans, and they mentioned they want to get-back,” Gates said on the SEC Network after the win. “So I made sure our players understood what get-back meant, and we were ready to play. We knew the very beginning was going to be very physical, and we sort of used the term football, and our guys were ready for every every punch that they were going to be throwing.”

Friday’s game against Florida is also a rematch of a regular-season matchup. The Gators defeated the Tigers 81-68 at Mizzou Arena, and Gates called them a No. 1 seed in March Madness while speaking with the SEC Network postgame show on Thursday. In fact, he said Florida and Missouri should be among 14 SEC teams in the NCAA tournament as he defended the strength of the conference.