Mizzou hoops remains in Top-15 following a split week, as South Carolina comes to town
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou men's basketball team is still a Top-15 squad, following a split week that included a win over then-No. 4 Alabama and a loss at Arkansas over the weekend.
In the latest AP Poll, head coach Dennis Gates and company moved up one spot, to No. 14 in the nation. The Tigers also held steady at No. 16 in the latest coaches poll.
As of now, Mizzou is locked into in a three-way tie for the final double-bye in the SEC Tournament in Nashville, as well. Only the Top-4 teams in the conference will get that coveted rest day, as the Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers and Texas A&M Aggies all fight to sit alone at No. 4.
Despite that tough loss to the Razorbacks on Saturday, Mizzou still showed the nation that it is a team to contend with come March. Wednesday night's 110-98 victory over the Crimson Tide not only marked MU's third Top-5 win of the year, but also was a statement victory for Coach Gates and his team.
However, during Monday morning's press conference with Coach Gates, he spent time recapping Saturday's uncharacteristic loss at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, ahead of Mizzou's Tuesday night meeting with South Carolina at the Arena.
One of the most surprising parts of Mizzou's 92-85 loss to the Razorbacks was the sheer amount of turnovers that MU ended up with. Gates' team turned the ball over 18 times on Saturday, which is just two shy of matching the season high. Those mistakes led to 30 points for John Calipari's Arkansas team, as well.
Gates said he attributes that turnover margin to excitement, giddiness and, generally, guys not being solid in those situations.
"Just think about it. We had a turnover that we created, Mark Mitchell got a loose ball or a rebound and we turned it over in the backcourt and [Arkansas] scored a layup," he said. "Those are just plays that we can't afford to give our opponents, yet alone on the road. 18 turnovers, you're putting yourself in a bad spot...The other thing is we've got to lower our foul count, meaning we're too handsy. We're not playing with our bodies and we're out of position and that'll negate those two areas, specifically."
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Gates in the video player below.
Gates pointed out his team did still score 85 points, despite not getting charity stripe nearly as many times as the Razorbacks did on Saturday. Arkansas took 35 more free throws than Mizzou, which is usually a category MU is Top-3 in the nation in.
"When you're scoring like that you have to dial back and where I look at that as is that's what quick turnarounds do. You look at the flow of the game against Alabama, minimized practice time and now you've got to go on the road and defend. We just didn't snap back and recoil how we needed to in those moments to defend," Gates said. "I think our spacing defensively was a residue from, you know, last game a little bit."
Mizzou will now flip the page to a matchup against South Carolina at Mizzou Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The Tigers have only had one losing streak all year long, as the team has had an innate ability to bounce back from losses in the 2024-25 campaign.
The Gamecocks come into Tuesday night's game with an 11-16 overall record and a 1-13 mark in Southeastern Conference action. That first SEC victory came just on Saturday, with a dominant 15-point win over Texas.
MU forward Mark Mitchell noted that it'll be important to see past South Carolina's record and focus on their strengths.
"They're a scrappy team," he said. "They've been in a lot of games. They could easily have five wins at this point, so not overlooking them, at all. Just taking it game-by-game, day-by-day and just trying to respond like we have all season after losses."
You can watch the full press conference with Mitchell in the video player below.
Gates said that the Gamecocks will roll into Mizzou Arena with an All-SEC caliber player on the court, in forward Collin Murray-Boyles. He's No. 1 in the conference in field goal percentage, No. 3 in rebounding, No. 8 in blocks and No. 11 in scoring.
Th 6-foot-8 sophomore also attacks the paint, which is an area Mizzou is looking to improve upon after allowing the Razorbacks to out-score them 44-28 in the paint on Saturday.
"You can not foul guys and create and give up and-one's. You've got to be able to get early positioning. You have to be able to get deflections, you can't just allow certain things to happen, but more importantly, your offense can't put your defense in a disadvantage and your defense can't put your offense in a disadvantage. So, you've got to kind of create those things in silos," Gates said.
Mizzou and South Carolina will tip off at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night, as MU embarks on the final four games of the regular-season slate.
