Dennis Gates praises DeAndre Gholston after buzzer beater at Tennessee; looks ahead to Auburn
COLUMBIA, MO. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou men's basketball team is coming off of a big win Saturday in Knoxville knocking off No. 6 Tennessee, but the Tigers have a quick turn around as the group returns to the court Tuesday at Auburn.
"We did several great things, but also didn't play a complete game," said head coach Dennis Gates. "Whenever teams are on a run especially on the road you have to be able to negate not having field goal opportunities with free throw attempts to negate their pressure and slow down some runs and I don't think we did that well."
The game over Tennessee game down to the final second with graduate guard DeAndre Gholston nailing a shot near half court at the buzzer for the win. Gates said his connection with Gholston started long before this season at Mizzou.
"DeAndre Gholston was supposed to be at Cleveland State. I recruited him to come in with D'Moi Hodge as our wings and he decided to go elsewhere," Gates said. "He was a kid that one day I thought I would coach and the opportunity presented itself."
Gates said even before he got the job at Mizzou, Gholston had plans of using his final year of eligibility and transferring to Cleveland State.
"What I saw in him as a player is a kid that's very confident, a kid that does not lack character, is a great teammate and wanted to be the very best he could be," Gates said. "Dree has been counted out his entire life. His process is one that allowed him his own journey and he was able to evolve, grow and mature during the down times and become who he is now."
While Gholston had the game winner for Mizzou, Gates said after the win on Saturday, “Mabor Majak won us the ball game. The four minutes that he played were more impactful than any.”
In his four minutes of play, Majak held his own down low recording a big time block, a rebound and a key foul shot down the stretch. Before last week, Majak only saw the court for six total minutes this season in all non-conference games.
"I've heard it multiple times from all the coaches to stay positive and stay the course and your time will come so I've just kept that same attitude throughout the season and I'll keep doing it," Majak said. "When the guys see me putting in the work and staying positive even though I wasn't getting enough minutes, they sort of take on that same mentality of buying into the team."
Mizzou will play at Auburn Tuesday at 6 p.m.
