Mizzou hoops prepares for ‘start of a new season’

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Mizzou men's basketball team isn't throwing out the record books, by any means. The Tigers are 8-5 headed into the start of conference play, however, the team does recognize an opportunity with that new start.

"To start SEC play, everybody's record is 0-0," guard Tamar Bates said. " It is a new season and that's gonna require a new focus and a higher level of focus. We've had that since the Central Arkansas game, since after that, every day we've been at practice."

You can watch the full press conference with Bates in the video player below.

MU will roll into Southeastern Conference action off of a win against Central Arkansas on Dec. 30. That 33-point victory was the boost Mizzou needed before heading into a tough SEC slate, as it snapped a three-game skid made up of losses to Kansas, Illinois and Seton Hall.

Head coach Dennis Gates said he is excited for the 'second season' to start against Georgia on Saturday, at Mizzou Arena. He said that, once conference play kicks off, it's a chance for some rediscovery.

"You don't eliminate your record from non-conference, but you can start a new season, 0-0, and that is a part of your growth and more a part of your postseason opportunities than anything out there," he said. "We let some games go, but we did win some good games. No different than last year, during this time, we let some games go, but I thought we didn't do that until conference play...Ultimately, we got into the NCAA Tournament last season because of our conference play and the wins on the road and the wins at home. That is what matters most."

You can watch the full press conference with Gates in the video player below.

Gates also pointed out that his team will be entering a much different, more open SEC than they did one season ago. He said anybody can win it this year, compared to in 2022 when Alabama ran the table.

The Tigers will hope to carry some lessons from the non-conference slate into a jam-packed conference schedule. Bates said one of the biggest takeaways he's had from the first few weeks of the season has been his team's resiliency.

"We saw when our back was against the wall in a lot of games, even the ones that we lost, when we were down we were always able to fight back. We never really quit. We learned a lot of lessons throughout the games that we won and lost, but most of the lessons that we learned weren't necessarily from a schematic standpoint...It's more so the psychological part of the game and just us maintaining our culture, winning the culture game."

Mizzou and Georgia will tip off SEC action at 12:00 p.m. at the Arena on Saturday, Jan. 6.