Dennis Gates explains Tamar Bates' shot attempts going down

Missouri junior Tamar Bates had been one of the go-to scorers for the Tigers in recent weeks entering Saturday’s game at Arkansas. However, that changed against the Razorbacks as Bates attempted only six shots in 35 minutes.

The six shot attempts was the lowest total for Tamar Bates since December and snapped a streak of nine consecutive games with double digit shot attempts.

Afterwards, Missouri head coach Dennis Gates explained why Bates received fewer opportunities against Arkansas.

“Well, I’ve seen defenses focus on him,” Dennis Gates said. “He’s been one of the hottest players in our conference. He’s still gotten double digits, but at that point, you need that fourth guy to step up, and Noah Carter wasn’t able to do that tonight. He was 0-for-4 from the 3 and missed some easy baskets in the paint.”

Tamar Bates scored 11 points against the Razorbacks, despite only making 2 of his 6 field goal attempts.

During a 13-game stretch from Dec. 17 through Feb. 7, Bates averaged nearly 20 points per game. However, over the past four games, he’s averaging 10 points.

Gates feels that the problem is that defenses are focusing more on Bates and others aren’t stepping up.

Noah Carter in particular was 3-for-14 from the field and 0-for-4 from 3-point range in the loss to Arkansas.

“I just think that fourth guy would’ve given us balance, and I credit Arkansas,” Gates said. “They had 22 points off the bench to our 7. But guys were able to get some easy baskets, whether it was layups or transition. And that’s how those guys were scoring.”

Dennis Gates shares if he is using losing streak as a motivating factor for Missouri

Missouri dropped to 0-14 in SEC play with Saturday’s loss to Arkansas. In total, the Tigers have dropped 14 consecutive games and 17 out of 18.

Following the game, a reporter asked head coach Dennis Gates if he is using the losing streak as motivational material. Gates didn’t hesitate to squash any confusion.

“I focus on one day at a time, one game at a time,” Gates said. “I’ve never done that in a winning streak and I definitely don’t count anything outside of that. I thought our guys mentally prepared in the right way. Our spirits are high. Our coaching staff is doing a great job. At the end of the day, what you see is a team playing hard and giving their very best no matter what our circumstances are, and there’s no excuses.”