Mizzou hoops focuses on remaining consistent coming out of another Top-5 win
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
There are only two teams in the Southeastern Conference that have registered two Top-5 wins, so far, in the 2024-25 campaign. One of them is the No. 1 Auburn Tigers and the other is the Tiger team in the heart of Columbia, Missouri.
Mizzou men's basketball is getting set for another SEC matchup, following quite a road trip to Gainesville earlier in the week. On Tuesday, head coach Dennis Gates and company stunned the No. 5 Florida Gators on their home court with an 83-82 upset.
With the win, the Tigers grabbed their second Top-5 victory of the season, which includes the home win over then-No. 1 Kansas. The team also improved to 14-3 on the year and 3-1 in SEC play. However, the victory also gave Mizzou some national recognition. MU moved up from 38th to 33rd on Kenpom, which is tied for the highest the team has been in the Gates era.
All that being said, Gates said that MU is remaining in the moment as his team prepares for a home rivalry match with the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.
"Regardless of record, a Top-25 team is coming in our building and that's who they are," Gates said. "I'm not looking at it any other way, hadn't looked at it any other way. They are a great team, coached by a Hall of Fame coach, who's won national championships, who's been in this position before and he's always responded in a way to get his team back to playing."
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Gates in the video player below.
It will be the first time that Mizzou has faced an Arkansas team led by Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari, since he took over the program ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Coach Gates said this year's Arkansas team is very similar to the squads that Calipari assembled in his team at Kentucky in the fact that they are athletic, talented and its has some great individual players.
"They're a great team," he said. "When you look at rebounding, they have the size right. I think this is one of his bigger teams that he's had. When you look at the size down in the post, when you look at the individual play of guard, they have great guard play, they have wings with size, so it is right there and they've been in every game."
Following the thrilling win over Florida on Tuesday, this Tiger team has refocused and gotten back to 'square one.' Gates said that after his team took down No. 1 Kansas in Dec., he liked the maturity and humble approach that his guys took to getting back into practice. As this team continues to build its NCAA Tournament resume, he said you don't want to look too far ahead of behind you. The goal is to stay in the moment.
"Having those wins against some great programs allows us to build a resume," Gates said. "We're not done yet. We have to continue to focus in the moment and not think that our next opponent, which in this tough conference is the most important opponent and what our guys have been focusing on is the consistency part. That's what I've challenged them to focus on."
Tiger guard Caleb Grill said keeping that staying focused and in the moment and comes down to doing the same thing week-in and week-out.
"I wouldn't say we need to adjust. I mean, there will obviously be different strategies for each game, so there's going to be a little bit of adjustment. But, continuing what we've been doing every single day, leading up to every game throughout however many games we played this year. We just got to keep continuing to do what we do and continue to stick to our fundamentals of what we believe in and our beliefs as a team," he said.
You can watch the full press conference with Grill in the video player below.
Mizzou and Arkansas will tip off at 5 p.m. at Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Jan. 18.
