Dennis Gates reacts to Kermit Davis firing, sends best wishes

Missouri head coach Dennis Gates only got to battle against Kermit Davis in SEC play once before Davis was fired from his post at Ole Miss. But after the two teams played Saturday to end the regular season, Gates talked about Davis and the difficult situation his firing put the Rebels in the last few weeks.

“Kermit got let go,” Gates said after his team’s victory. “My heart is with him and his family as they go through that transition but I’m sure he’ll land on his feet. You never want to see a fellow coach go through that, especially in the middle of the season, not given the opportunity to complete it. My hat’s off to him. Coach Case did a great job preparing his team to come in here.”

The Tigers won, 82-77, on Saturday behind an efficient scoring performance from its entire team. Missouri combined to shoot 55.2% from the field in the contest.

Kobe Brown and Noah Carter led the way with 17 points each. Brown also had seven rebounds while Carter added five rebounds and three assists.

“Our guys, they gave their very best man and that’s all I can continue to ask for: consistency, effort, enthusiasm, different things like that and all the cliches that coaches may have,” Gates said. “But the one thing I guarantee you that we can look at and examine is the fact that from day one, nine months ago, they gave us their hearts. I’m appreciative of this group for being able to give that.”

Buzz Williams, like Dennis Gates, discussed Kermit Davis after playing Ole Miss

After Ole Miss played Texas A&M earlier in the week, Aggies head coach Buzz Williams also addressed the firing of Kermit Davis.

He called Davis the best inside-the-lines coach in the conference.

“I think that the job that [Andy Kennedy] did here over 11 years was phenomenal,” Williams said. “In my opinion, I think on both sides of the ball, Kermit Davis was the best coach in this league. Inside the lines, the best coach. He’s had every bad job. He’s had every hard job. Been a head coach since he was 27 years old. I think a lot of what transpired in the five years here. Some of it was out of his control. The little guard that was a McDonald’s All American [Daeshun Ruffin] — from baseline to baseline is as fast as [Zakai Zeigler] at Tennessee — completely changes their team when he’s not healthy. I think a lot of the things that have transpired have been I don’t know if bad luck is the right word, but year number one, I think they went to the NCAA tournament.”