Sunday Sit-down with Mizzou men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones sat down Mizzou men's basketball coach Dennis Gates in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down. You can watch the full interview on SportsZone at 10:30 on KMIZ.

The pair previewed Coach Gates' fourth season in Columbia, breaking down new additions, returning talent and where he feels like his program is on its way to his ultimate goal: reaching the Final Four and National Championship.

Take a look at the full transcript of the Sit-down with Coach Gates below.

Nathalie Jones: Welcome back everyone. You can see it as a special edition of Sunday Sit-down, joined by Mizzou men's basketball coach Dennis Gates. Dennis, thanks for joining us. Year four, can you believe we're already here?

Coach Dennis Gates: Time flies, but some great memories are being built. I'm excited to be here with you. Thanks for having me.

Nathalie: Yeah. Well, you know, i want to learn about this year's team. Obviously, lots of new faces. You have a great group of returning starters, as well. Tell me what you love about this year's group.

Coach Gates: Well, this group is a group of veterans that i believe have had different stories, different experiences. And to kind of see them in the locker room, they have great strength. They have great resolve and great abilities. Now we're combining ourselves in an assimilation to get on the same page. And what i see is our nucleus of returners putting their arms around the transfers. And and that group of experienced guys putting their arms around both Nicholas Randall and Aaron Rowe as they pursue their first years in college.

Nathalie: Well,, tell me about, i want to talk about that group of returning starters. Obviously, some guys we've seen a lot of growth in. You know, Anthony Robinson, Mark Mitchell, Jacob Crews returning, and Trent Pierce returning. What growth have you seen in those guys from one year to the next?

Coach Gates: well, I'll say this. Let's start with the sophomore class. When you have Trent burns, who will technically be a freshman, you see his growth. You see his physical maturation, but you see his mental maturity. Let's look at Annor Boateng. We can see how good he's gotten in this offseason. Whereas in the past, that freshman wall came came in a great way. T.O. Barrett, the same way. But we also look at the junior class, who were once freshmen become sophomores, [Anthony] Robinson. We've seen his growth. We've seen what Trent Pierce could do. Those guys are what it is when it comes down to developing your recruits. And that example is kind of what we look at when we look at a Tamar Bates, who came from the transfer portal, or Caleb Grill, and those guys being able to be here in this program for two years. I'm hoping Mark Mitchell can continue to make the jump.

Nathalie: Yeah. You know, when we talked to Mark Mitchell last year, when he was first coming into this program, he said he wanted to get back to playing, wanted to get back to playing like himself. What kind of growth did you see in that specific area?

Coach Gates: Yeah, he's not a one-dimensional player and we specifically made sure he was at every quadrant on this court, from the wings to the paint to the elbows to the top of the key, and in transition, when he got a rebound, we wanted him to dribble and push and almost serve as a punt returner in that situation. And you just see his development, right? I don't think he was able to do that in his last program. That's why a kid who was a McDonald's All-American would go into the portal. But he found a home that and a system that allows him to do it, and I'm just thankful he chose us too.

Nathalie: Well, gosh, Anthony Robinson's had such a journey. You know, in the black and gold, what kind of kid is Anthony Robinson? I mean, we've seen his growth from, like, talking to the media perspective. He's loosened up there. He goes to cp three camp this summer. I mean, what's it been like to watch his journey?

Coach Gates: Well, his journey is remarkable, to say the least. When you look at a kid who was the only sophomore on a five-man all-defensive team, in arguably the best conference ever assembled, that's remarkable for him and what he's been able to accomplish. It speaks for his support system. It speaks for his growth. It speaks for his development, mentally, physically and emotionally. He put in the time off the court. He watches film, he meets with coaches. Now we have to have his leadership become more verbal to his teammates, and I think that's the step he'll take, in addition to another basketball jump will be needed.

Nathalie: Well, you did add a lot of length and size. It's a big group this year. You know, two guys over seven foot, you have guys over 6’10”. You know, what do you like about the length? What does that do on the court for you guys?

Coach Gates: Well, size at every position. It does something for us. It's a model that we had at Florida State. We wanted to, may not get all the five-star kids, but we wanted to be able to contest every shot, contest every rebound, contest every layup, and even have a lower field goal percentage defense. So hopefully this size lowers our field goal percentage defense a little around the rim in addition to three pointers.

Nathalie: Yeah, it seems for you, obviously, it's important to have big guys that can also shoot from all around the floor. You know Shawn Phillips Jr., tell us about him. I mean, he's, he told us he's like, I'm an athletic guy for a big guy.

Coach Gates: Shawn is a remarkable young man who comes from Dayton, Ohio. He's a kid that i recruited and offered when i first got the job here, he decided to go to l-s-u, and then from there, he went to Arizona State. When you look at his numbers, while at Arizona State, when their starter, Jayden Quaintance, was out, Shawn Phillips was in that lineup. He averaged close to ten points, close to eight rebounds and two blocks during that time frame over a span. So if we can put that small sample size throughout a whole season and see the consistency, I think you will have a kid that can play at the next level for sure.

Nathalie: Well, it's fun to kind of see the additions you made from from Mid-Missouri, as well. You know, tolton alums, jevon porter and Aaron Rowe. And then you look at Luke Northweather from Blair Oaks. Having kids that are right in their backyard, I mean, coming to Mizzou, how special is that?

Coach Gates: Well, it's very special. I don't know the last time a roster has had four kids, possibly five kids, from Kansas City, Missouri, and St. Louis area. You look at Mark Mitchell, who's from the Kansas City area. You look at Luke Northweather. You look at Nicholas Randall from Vashon, right. And obviously the two Tolton high school graduates, Aaron Rowe and Jevon Porter. Those guys have a synergy. The funny thing is, Jevon and Luke Northweather played on this court against each other. The same with Trent Pierce played against Luke Northweather at his high school in Jeff City before. So when you have kids not only talk about their AAU experiences against each other, they talk about their high school games, their high school years, against each other. And that adds to the memories. It adds to the camaraderie in our locker room.

Nathalie: Yeah, we were talking to the veterans the other day. You know the returning guys is saying, you know, we're still going to play Mizzou basketball, but how do you feel like the new faces are going to change a little bit, maybe, what you guys do?

Coach Gates: I think the new faces will allow us to distribute our 3-pointers. We still want to get 700 to 800 attempts in a year up. So it'll just be distributed in a different way. We want Anthony Robinson to shoot a little bit more. We want you look at Luke Northweather. He had 74% of his shots were from behind the arc. You look at Jevon Porter, who attempted over 100 3-pointers. You look at Trent Pierce. You look at Jacob Crews, who we need to make over 100 on this season alone, so he may end up taking 200 but we'll have a sample size that's spread out. We have some great kids in Jayden Stone and Sebastian Mack. I want Annor Boateng to take that jump that Anthony Robinson took from freshman to sophomore year, in addition to T.O. Barrett. So, if we have those things, we have a great group that's matriculating, but also that's growing up right before our eyes, and game by game, they're going to get better.

Nathalie: I'm curious with the exit last year against Drake, what kind of fire do you see from these returners of you know, maybe we left a little bit out there? 

Coach Gates: Well, it's not just our exit against Drake. I think when you look at the last eight games of the season. I think we lost some, some close games that I wish we could get back, but we can't. The NCAA Tournament is about matchups, and when you can get the right matchups based off system, based off the contradicting of your defense, those things allow for runs to take place in March. And that's what we've not been on the other side of to have the best or the right matchups. It's always been a contradicting system to our own. And the preparation that takes place in getting to know that. Sometimes you don't see things in the SEC because the SEC play is what it is.

Nathalie: Gosh, I mean, we saw such a historic Southeastern Conference last year. I mean, how much do you feel like that, maybe prepared for what you're facing? 

Coach gates: I want you to think about something. If you look back on the beat roll of, or even the post game interview of the SEC Tournament, someone asked me what it is that Florida does that can put them into contention. I knew they would be a team in our conference that could win it. And I refused to give out the scouting report at that point, because i do want our SEC teams to be at the top. And I do think this year again, we'll have a SEC national champion. I just hope it's Missouri.

Nathalie: When you look at where you want this program to go, is it immediately off the bat, you talk to your players, Final Four, National Championship?

Coach Gates: First meeting, first meeting, I talk about the site, the date, and all of the above. So you know, our players know exactly what our goal is, and we do everything in mind. The program is more important than the individual, and we want our standards to always stand out, but that is the destination, and if you don't know the destination, how are you going to actually prepare or know what you're preparing for? So we want that in mind as we prepare every facet of team building, every facet of our challenges, ups and downs and practices, and also the journey. We want guys to understand the destination and what that looks like.

Nathalie: We talked about the journey and the steps you guys have taken to get to being a Final Four and a National Championship team. Where do you guys feel like you are on that journey?

Coach Gates: I feel that we're still in the infant stages of the program. I'm saying that not in a light term. I'm saying it because when you look at the history of our school, Norm Stewart has taken the program to a very good level. Quin followed him. Then we've had from Frank Haith to Mike Anderson to Kim Anderson to Cuonzo — all have done a great job. But from a tenure standpoint, Norm Stewart had had, has had the longest tenure. Yeah, and that tenure has allowed him to do great things. So unless I'm able to look at my career at Missouri and say that I'm going to be here as long as norm, it's always going to be in the infant stages, because ultimately, time allowed him to be the staple in this state, and that's what's needed here, now more than ever, to have one person here for a long period of time to push it where it needs to go.

Nathalie: Really quick, what stands out about the SEC slate? I mean, you guys are facing obviously, a bunch of tough teams up and down. This conference is tough.

Coach Gates: I think again this year that we'll have 14 teams. I wish we could have 16. You know, I'm a SEC advocate, right? I think there are so many great coaches in our conference, and so many different styles, but look at the players. Look at the path. Look at the cloth that the coaches are cut from. Everybody's done such a great job in our conference. Everybody can't win. But i want to be the first conference. Put this on paper. I want to be the first conference that has 100% NCAA participation all 16 teams.

Nathalie: We'll see if it can come to fruition.

Coach Gates: I hope so. I hope so. I hope so.

Nathalie: Dennis, i appreciate the time. We're looking forward to the season.

Coach gates: I appreciate you.

Nathalie: Awesome. For the rest of you guys, we'll be right back after the break.