Best wins of the Dennis Gates era: No. 4
Through the summer, I’ve been going through and ranking what I see as the top 10 wins of Dennis Gates’ time at the helm of the Missouri Tiger basketball team. Now we’re onto No. 4 and one of the best games I’ve ever covered.
You can look back at what I’ve already ranked here:
No. 4: Beating Alabama, 110-98, in 2025
We’re pretty recent with this game, but it would be hard to rank anything as a better pure basketball game that I have covered.
The energy and excitement of the Border War win in 2024 is hard to beat as an overall experience, but purely on the basketball, I think the win against Alabama is the best I’ve ever covered.
The Tigers had rebounded from two consecutive losses to dominate Oklahoma and Georgia to rise back to No. 15 in the AP poll as they entered a matchup with No. 4 Alabama, which was coming off a loss to No. 1 Auburn in a fantastic game the weekend before.
The Tigers got out to a hot start with Trent Pierce and Anthony Robinson both hitting 3s, followed by a Robinson fast break layup, a Tamar Bates steal-turned layup and Pierce taking a defensive rebound coast-to-coast for a layup.
Less than 2:30 into the game, the Tigers led 12-0.
Alabama would chip away to get back within 10 points a couple of minutes later, but a Caleb Grill 3 and another from Bates off a Grill steal extended the lead to 15.
The Tigers maintained at least a nine-point lead throughout the rest of the first half and built as far as a 20-point lead after a Bates steal turned into a Robinson assist to Mark Mitchell for a dunk.
That slam made it 51-31 with 3:58 left before halftime.
Alabama fought back in the final four minutes to send the game into halftime with the Tigers up 59-46.
The teams combined to shoot 39-of-64 (60.9 percent) from the field and 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) from 3 in the first half.
Second half
The teams went back and forth through the early portions of the second half, continuing the hit shots at an incredible rate.
The Tigers maintained a double-digit lead through the first eight minutes and built as far as a 72-57 lead on a Grill jumper with 13:48 left.
Alabama got back within single digits when Labaron Philon hit a jumper to cut the lead to nine with 11:43 left, then a Mark Sears 3 made it 79-73 with 9:51 left.
But the Tigers quickly responded with a Pierce Layup, a Mitchell and-1 layup, two Grill free throws and a Grill jumper to go on a 9-0 run and extend back to a 15-point lead.
It took until the 2:02 mark for Alabama to get back within single digits as a Philon layup made it 99-91.
But the Tigers hit their free throws down the stretch, including Tony Perkins hitting two with 28 seconds left to get Missouri to 110 points, the most the Tigers had ever scored in an SEC game.
Stats
Mitchell led the Tigers with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting, while also dishing out three assists and pulling down three rebounds. Grill had a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, while also totaling three assists and three steals.
Robinson had 14 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists. Bates added 13 points and four steals and Perkins finished with 10 points, four assists and three rebounds. Pierce had eight points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The Tigers forced 12 steals among Alabama’s 14 turnovers, which led to 21 Missouri points.
Sears led Alabama with 35 points and five assists.
The Tigers shot 35-of-58 (60.3 percent) from the field, 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from 3 and an insane 31-of-47 (66 percent) from the free-throw line. Both Mitchell and Grill had more than 10 free-throw attempts.
Missouri won the points in the paint 40-38, the points off turnovers 21-12 and the fast break points 13-2.
The game was never tied after 0-0 and there were no lead changes as the Tigers carried the advantage throughout.
We don’t need to talk much about what happened after this game. But I don’t know if I’ve experienced a team flying as high as the Tigers were after this win.
You can discuss this story in the story thread.
