Missouri trails Arkansas at half, Dennis Gates outlines key areas of emphasis

Missouri trails Arkansas by one at halftime on Wednesday night, falling behind late in the first half in a game that saw 12 lead changes in the first 20 minutes.

When the second half gets underway, Missouri will be working from behind, with the score at 35-34.

But coach Dennis Gates was mostly pleased with how his team responded after having only 12 points through the first 10 minutes in the game. The offense finally started clicking.

“We got off to a slow start,” Gates told the SEC Network broadcast crew at halftime. “I thought our guys settled into the gameplan. We were able to get some easy baskets. Mo Diarra was unbelievable coming off the bench, as well as Aidan Shaw. So those guys did a great job.”

They did well enough to keep the game close, even though Missouri trails an Arkansas team that has plenty of talent despite a relatively poor conference record so far.

Diarra had four points and two steals in the first half, while Shaw hit a pair of 3-pointers.

But there are other areas the Tigers need to clean up.

Missouri out to keep Arkansas off free-throw line

One area that Gates wasn’t particuarly thrilled with in the first half was the defensive fouls his team gave away. The Razorbacks got to the charity stripe 12 times in the first half.

“We just have to keep them off the free throw line,” Gates said. “I thought the ones that they got they didn’t earn.”

As far as general advice for his team in the second half?

“Keep playing hard,” Gates finished.