A team that finished last season on a 19-game losing streak and went winless in conference play for the first time in more than a century has started the 2024-25 campaign 10-1 with a win over the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Let that sink in.
Missouri heads into Braggin’ Rights, its annual rivalry game against Illinois, as one of the hottest programs in college basketball. After dropping its season opener to Memphis, 83-75, Missouri has won nine straight, including that upset over then-No. 1 Kansas on December 8. It has been a thrilling few months in Columbia, but the road is about to get a lot tougher, beginning with the Fighting Illini this weekend and continuing on to conference play in what is a historically good SEC.
“It’s important for our institution,” head coach Dennis Gates told Hoops HQ in reference to Braggin’ Rights, which is scheduled for Sunday at noon in St. Louis. “It’s important for us to try to control the other side of the border. In the border war, we’ve been able to get a win versus No. 1 Kansas and now we focus on Illinois on the other side of our border. We have to try to protect both sides.”
Missouri’s dramatic turnaround commenced well before the season tipped off. “My job was to do an ultimate reset mentally, physically and emotionally,” Gates said. “What I wanted to do was approach this year like I just got hired. I didn’t want to focus on last year. I wanted to rebuild our guys, reconstruct our guys in a way that allows them to have strength… I went back to the basics and reset our entire program to something that’s new, meaning this is year one for us.”
“I went back to the basics and reset our entire program to something that’s new, meaning this is year one for us.”
—Missouri coach Dennis Gates
As Gates saw it, there was no use in dwelling on the past. It was better to psychologically wipe the slate clean. While the program returned seven players and maintained its coaching staff (with the addition of assistant coach Rob Summers), the energy around the group has been that this is a fresh start. “We lost no belief in each other in terms of the guys who have returned,” senior guard Tamar Bates told Hoops HQ. “We just got straight to work. We put all that behind us.”
Gates also gives a lot of credit to sports psychologist Dr. Joe Carr, who has worked with the team. The two have been connected since Gates was a player at Cal-Berkeley from 1998-2002. Carr, who developed the NBA Rookie Orientation Program, has assisted countless college and professional teams throughout his career. The Missouri staff also works with Jon Oliver of JKO Solutions, a certified leadership coach. “He works with me on my professional development and different ways to manage,” explains Gates.
Part of Missouri’s struggles last season can be attributed to injuries. Guards John Tonje and Caleb Grill appeared in fewer than ten games each. Tonje transferred to Wisconsin during the offseason, but Grill, a sixth-year sharpshooter, is back. Missouri also received reinforcements in the form of highly-ranked recruiting and portal classes. In fact, the biggest strength of the team has been its depth.
The Tigers are fourth in the country in bench minutes, per KenPom, with 12 players logging between 10 and 25 minutes per game. Grill, the team’s top scorer, is averaging just 13.7 points, but the team as a whole is posting 88.7 points per contest, which ranks fourth in Division I. In Missouri’s 11 games, there have been eight different leading scorers.
Ken Pomeroy Crunched The Numbers And Changed The Game
Meet the man behind KenPom.com, college basketball’s premier analytics site“We’re 18 strong,” says Bates, who was the Tigers’ primary offensive weapon in the win over Kansas, dropping 29 points on 9 of 15 shooting. “We know that’s who we are and we don’t shy away from it. We can play in a lot of different ways, depending on whoever we’re matched up with. We feel like we match up with any team that we play because of our depth. We can guard in different ways. We can play offensively in different ways. We can do a lot of different things. No matter how you want it, we got it.”
Missouri’s offense has been tremendously efficient. The program relies heavily on analytics provided by HDI Intelligence to inform its approach. Based on the data, two significant points of emphasis are attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line. The Tigers have excelled at both, ranking seventh in the nation in two-point field goal percentage (61.8%) and first in free throws per game (21.1). Anthony Robinson II, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, and Duke transfer Mark Mitchell, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, have gotten to the stripe the most. “I wanted a level of understanding in our analytics,” Gates says, “which is what we educate our guys on with HDI. Shot selection, increasing volumes of shots in certain areas and the value of free throws.”
Defensively, Missouri has been disruptive because of its size and length. The team is averaging 10.5 steals per game, which is sixth in the country. Five rotation players are listed at 6-foot-9 or taller, led by starting center Josh Gray, a 7-foot senior transfer from South Carolina. According to KenPom, the Tigers have the 23rd tallest roster in Division I.
While the team has thrived, it has faced a relatively light schedule to date outside of Kansas and Memphis. Braggin’ Rights will be a major test in what promises to be a very raucous environment. “This game is never ever going to leave our schedule,” Gates says. “It’s historically one of the best college basketball neutral site rivalries there is.”
“It’s a great rivalry, great environment,” adds Bates. “Being able to play in it for a second year is a blessing for sure. I’m just excited for the opportunity to be on that stage once again and just have another shot at Illinois.”
The Fighting Illini are 7-3 with notable wins over Wisconsin and Arkansas. Last Saturday, they nearly toppled No. 1 Tennessee, losing at the buzzer on a layup from Jordan Gainey. Missouri will have its hands full trying to slow down point guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who has scored 20 or more points in five consecutive outings.
After Braggin’ Rights, Missouri will open conference play with No. 2 Auburn on January 4. There will be no easy games from then on. The SEC is a staggering 157-20 this season. Eight of its teams are currently ranked in the Top 25 and all 16 are in the top 68 in KenPom. “Every game is a quad one, quad two game moving forward,” says Gates. “This league should be in a 12 or 13-team NCAA Tournament bid situation.”
This time a year ago was when the Tigers’ season went south. They entered Braggin’ Rights at 7-4, got demolished by 24 points and then proceeded to lose all 18 of their SEC games. But that was last season. At Missouri, this is not just a new year. It is year one.
