What head coach Dennis Gates said after No. 15 Missouri's 85-81 loss at No. 4 Tennessee

What head coach Dennis Gates said after No. 15 Missourri’s 85-81 loss at No. 4 Tennessee Wednesday night at Food City Center in Knoxville:

Opening Statement

“Great matchup. Great game. I thought our guys came out the first half, executed the game plan. We minimized our mistakes on the road. I’m proud of our guys for doing that. I’m proud of our guys for stepping up, those that played extra minutes. Ant Robinson was in foul trouble early, never really got going. But in the second half, that’s when Tennessee was able to execute. And I thought they ended up taking more risks behind the arc, taking quicker shots than they did in the first half. And when you shoot 60% from three in the second half, 50% from the field, that’s where they won that game in that, probably, first 10 minutes. I thought it took us too long to stabilize and ultimately we did fight back and that’s what I’m proud of the most. 

“I used the timeout late in the game not to do anything else. The ball was bouncing, they weren’t taking it out. So at that point I used the timeout. And we got a turnover, and I thought (Caleb) Grill got fouled, but I guess he didn’t. But we used it just for that situation, and I thought we were going to be able to get a turnover, which we did, and possibly a three or and-one three-point basket. So, great game. And we’ll look at the film and see what else we can do to improve.”

What adjustments he can make when a team like Tennessee gets hot against Missouri 

“So the adjustments when the team gets hot, you got to minimize their second-chance points, which we did not do. When they missed it, we did not recover the rebound. Then other part of it is their assist-to-turnover ratio was great, simply because out of 27 baskets, 21 was assisted. When you have that type of movement — and in addition to that, Zakai Ziegler is not shooting as well this season, he’s at 20-something percent from three, he went 4-for-4. Mashack ended up going 1-for-1 as well. Those are baskets that come back to haunt you, especially in those situations. So minimizing mistakes. And then the other part of it is executing in the 1-and-1 on our side when we get to the free-throw line. Tamar Bates, one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, wasn’t able to execute the front end of the bonus twice. So that’s four points possibly that was left on the board.”

Missouri’s turnaround after going 0-18 in the SEC season

“Well, I think when you look at our roster, our roster’s different. We’re going to continue to stay committed to our values and things that we believe in. But the players that have returned, they’ve gotten better through player development. Also the recruiting class that we had, top-three recruiting class in high school. And then obviously we did a good job in the portal. So I think the additions, in addition to that, our guys gelling and playing together is a result. And that’s what you see.”

The difficulty defending Tennessee with Zakai Zeigler, Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey on the floor together

“Well, they’re seasoned veterans. And when you have those three guys on the court — and at the end of the day, remember Gainey was able to knock down a corner three; I thought he got to the foul line as well — but the biggest thing is, though, that trio is a good trio. When you look across the conference, look across the country, those three are the reason, in addition to others, why they’re a top-five team, why they were No. 1 in the country for several weeks and things like that. And then you add a Hall of Fame head coach to the equation. Those guys did a great job.”

Missouri committing only three turnovers in 40 minutes on the road against Tennessee’s defense 

“Well, we knew that Tennessee was going to be quote-unquote disruptive, when it comes down to their defense. They’re one of the top teams in the country in defending, enforcing turnovers. But we’re very talented in our own right. We move the ball. I just thought the things that we made a mistake in didn’t come from turnovers. We didn’t make turnovers, but we still made mistakes. And I’ll go back and figure out what those collectively cost us. But I just think for us to come in on the road — we’ve been in different environments — to have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio is one of the reasons why we were leading in the first half and also why we were able to come back in the game.”

What makes Tennessee’s Igor Milicic difficult to defend  

“Well, time of possession, he’s a low time-of-possession guy. Doesn’t require the ball in his hands for multiple sections of a shot clock. He’s effective. He was 8-for-10 from the field, was able to knock down free throws, knock down threes. So he’s a three-level score, or a two-level scorer when it comes down to basket points, second-chance points, and also 3-point baskets. The other part of it is he’s a good passer — five assists, three turnovers — and then he ended up protecting the rim on some blocks. I think he had about three or four blocks. 

Missouri’s Caleb Grill only having three 3-point attempts after making 11 threes over his last two games 

“Well, I think ultimately when you look at the gravity, he still had points on the board because of the gravity at which he commits himself to the basketball. I thought the tough 3-point basket he had, we got to do a better job screening bodies off of them and I don’t think tonight we screened well enough. He drew two fouls. And I thought he was a he was moving without the basketball. Physical team. We didn’t screen bodies off of him and they did a good job.”

What changes Missouri has to make when Ant Robinson gets into early foul trouble 

“Well, Ant Robinson is very important to us. He picked up two fouls in the back court alone. And when you do that, that puts your team in a disadvantage. And he can’t take those risks that he’s taken in the back court to try to get a steal or the physicality or extra possession. And ultimately that’s what put us in, I think, in a disadvantage. But next man up. TO Barrett came in, played early minutes. I thought he did well. Marques Warrick did well. But Tony Perkins is a good guard. He played 30 minutes, 16 points, five assists, five rebounds, great stat line. I thought he did some wonderful things. But again, free-throw percentage, you got to be able to knock those free throws down and I thought he wasn’t able to do that.”

Tony Perkins scoring 11 points in the first nine minutes, going 3-for-3 from the 3-point line, then not taking another three the rest of the game

“He got really tired and he asked for a sub and I got him back in. But at the end of the day, I thought Tennessee made some adjustments, but also Tony Perkins made some adjustments because he just didn’t settle for 3-point baskets. I think one, the 3-point baskets he made was based off an extra pass. Mark Mitchell driving, a kickout and then a switch with the five man and he was able to raise up because there was enough cushion.” 

Missouri forcing 11 Tennessee turnovers, the defensive mentality

“Well, defensively, I think our guys did a great job. On paper, numerically, we lost the rebounding battle. When you look at their rebounds versus ours, we had 60 field goals, 25 makes. You look at that, that’s 35 opportunities for them to rebound. They got a good number of those, right? On the flip side of it, they ended up with 54 field goals (attempted). I thought we had opportunities to get (more) rebounds and we didn’t get those. Those are the ones we got us secure. And their rebounding percentage was very high from an offensive standpoint, when you force a team to 27 misses and they end up getting 11 offensive rebounds. They shot the basketball at a high percentage. So when you get those misses, you got to secure the misses. 

“And ultimately we’ll go back to the drawing board, see what we got to do. But a great game, 17 minutes with the lead on the road is very important. They only had the lead for 20 minutes of the game. So when you look at from that perspective, it was a good ball game tonight and my hat is off to Tennessee.”