Missouri's Tre Gomillion questionable for NCAA Tournament game against Princeton with groin injury

One of Missouri‘s key contributors is questionable to participate in today’s NCAA Tournament game against Princeton, with guard Tre Gomillion dealing with a groin injury.

He will “warm up and see how it is,” according to a report from Jon Rothstein.

Gomillion has not played for the Tigers since March 4 against Ole Miss, with the injury keeping him out the last few games. Whether that changes looks like a game-time decision.

While he’s not a starter, Gomillion has been a key piece of coach Dennis Gates‘ squad. He averages 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game coming off the bench. His impact goes beyond just the numbers, though.

He transferred from Cleveland State to Missouri to join Gates after left Cleveland State for Missouri, which means he’s one of the players with the most understanding of what Gates is trying to accomplish on the floor.

As such, Gomillion has been a floor general of sorts for Missouri this season. He has been a double-figure scorer for the Tigers four times on the season.

Missouri’s success coming as no surprise

Perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising that Missouri has had so much success under Gates in his first season, given that he had players accompany him in the transition.

Still, ask LSU whether that’s a guarantee of success.

Gates has had his team playing at a high level all season, so he wasn’t surprised when his squad knocked off Utah State 76-59 on Wednesday to win its first NCAA Tournament game.

“I’m not impressed because we’ve done it all year long,” Gates said. “So I expected our guys to go out, perform, execute the game plan. And they did it.”

The Tigers were dominant all day. They were down briefly by two points in the second half, but went on a scoring surge that would carry them all the way to the win, up by as many as 15 points. Their win was highlighted by an excellent shooting performance by the entire team, ending the game making 50.9% of their shots from the field and 40% from three point range.

Per usual, D’Moi Hodge and Kobe Brown led the Tigers’ dominant offensive attack. Hodge led all scorers with 23 points in the game, recording his third 20-plus point performance in his last four games. Brown was a model of efficiency, scoring 19 points while only missing one of his eight shot attempts and hitting three big-time three-pointers.

Missouri also played stellar defense, especially down the stretch in the second half, forcing 15 turnovers and holding the Mountain West’s best three-point shooting team to just 16.7% from downtown.

It’ll be a challenge to replicate that success against Princeton, whether Tre Gomillion can give it a go or not.