‘Elite focus’ is the key to Mizzou MBB winning the SEC Tournament
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou men's basketball team will head into the SEC Tournament with the highest seeding in program history. As a No. 4 seed, the Tigers earned a double-bye, which puts them that much closer to the championship game.
Head coach Dennis Gates said the key to going to Nashville and winning the entire tournament is having elite focus.
"Two teams are going to play well and somebody has to come away with a loss," Gates said. "It's March. There's gonna be possession by possession, there's gonna be situations, you're gonna have circumstances, you just can't predict it all. You just hope, in that melting pot of a season from your non-conference all the way through to conference, that you have had enough expereinces that can help you."
Mizzou will either play No. 5 Tennessee or the winner of the No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 12 South Carolina game. Gates said, as far as scouting goes, that his staff will go back and watch every single game that they hadn't watched yet, based on the last time they've played each team.
It's been a historic season for Mizzou men's basketball. Gates hit the 20-win mark and finished near the top of the conference in his first season in Columbia. He said one of the keys to this group's success is the family atmosphere that he's established.
He said, to him, his players are more than just basketball players and, to the players, he's more than just a basketball coach. The Tigers have bought into that mentality.
"Our guys gave us their heart. They gave that transparency, that pathway to their heart," Gates said. "Vice versa, they saw me, as a leader, give it to this institution, give it to everything that I have shown, give it to them, give it to their parents, unconditionally."
Guard Nick Honor said the 2022-23 Mizzou team is the closest team he's ever been apart of.
"We're all a product of Coach Gates," he said. "I feel like I've known these guys my whole life and I've only known them for about, you know, seven or eight months, so it's just a product of us and our principles."
Watch the full press conference with Honor and forward Aidan Shaw in the video player below.
Mizzou will tip off on Friday, March 10 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
