Everything Dennis Gates said Friday: 'When you get kicked in the teeth, there's a level of response that takes place'
Mizzou coach Dennis Gates met with media Friday ahead of the Tigers’ matchup with Kansas for the Border War. Tipoff is set for noon Sunday at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Here is a full video and transcript.
Opening statement
Gates: “Well, first I want to say congratulations to Kellie Harper and her ladies on a great victory. It was an enthusiastic crowd, great game. You know, being able to see their growth and their success is a tremendous, tremendous thing for our institution. And I encourage everybody to come out and support those ladies out there as they continue to compete.
“The other thing is, at the end of the day, when it comes down to recruiting, oftentimes after games, you have a day off. You give your team a day off as it relates to the recruiting part, being able to fly out, whether it be private or in the airport from St. Louis or going to KC, you’re going thousands of miles away, thousands, thousands. So to be able to have a great class of kids, Toni Bryant, Aidan Chronister and Jason Crow, to be able to come in this city to play a high school game is a relief when it comes down to the thousands of miles.
“I got a lot of Delta points this offseason, and a lot of Southwest points from going to see these guys, and obviously some American points. But it’s tremendous when you can have a class like that of guys. Now there’s other players that’s going to be here, but it’s tremendous to be able to have these guys here being supported by the fans that they’ll be playing in front of. It’s great passion in our fan base, and it does not just stop with our team. It goes throughout the athletic department and obviously the future Tigers. So please support those young men.
“An opportunity to play against a branch of Leonard Hamilton’s tree. Hall of Fame coach Bill Self is someone that I’ve always respected. He was on first on Leonard Hamilton’s first staff at Oklahoma State, he along with Coach (Dickey) Nutt and Tim Carter. So to be able to do that, you know, that’s tremendous. That’s a testament to coach Ham and his tenure ship. Obviously, he’s retired. I’m sure he’ll be logged in watching the game.
“But as of, as it relates to this rivalry, it’s not it’s not just another game for anybody, it’s not just another game for Mizzou. It’s not just another game for our opponents. It’s a game that means something. This is a 272nd contest between the two programs, and I’m looking forward to this weekend. Last year’s recap, we were able to do some things, 76-67 was the win. You know, Tamar Bates became a legend in that game. And when you look each and every year, there is going to be someone of that character, arrive.
“Now at the end of the day, this is not a neutral site game. This is a home Kansas game. They have 99 percent of the tickets. We probably have .5 percent. At the end of the day, we have to go out and win a road game, a tough road game. This is the fifth year out of the six on our contract, it’s an unbelievable rivalry, a great contest that I hope can last, and we can renew that contract for the next 50 years. Because it means something to both fan base.
“I would love to just have it on a campus. Not a neutral site. I think the fans of Kansas deserves it. I think the fans here deserve it. So at the end of the day, that’s something that I hope to work on moving forward to get that done.
“I’m excited about where we are as a team. I’m excited about what we’ve done collectively, in terms of our guys responding. We left some things on the table in our last outing, at the end of the day, you have to give room. And I talked to our players about this, you have to give room for the sum of your mistakes and leave a little room for the referees to have human error. You have to do that on the road. You cannot leave no space for the referees to impact the game. They don’t bat 1,000 percent. It is a tough position that they’re in, and we didn’t leave enough room for whether it was Ant Robinson’s baseline foul on their best player, ball goes out of bounds, or Jacob Crew’s technical foul. Those things add up, and it put us in a bad position.
“Defensively, we got to do better. Our guys know that. We got to execute the game plan, not for 30 minutes, but the full 40 minutes. And we wasn’t able to do that. Our schedule has prepared us. Minnesota just defeated Indiana, I believe. So, when you look at our schedule, our schedule is right on course to what it’s been in the past. Especially when it comes to our NET ranking, is at the exact same place that it was in years past that it is now.
“At the end of the day, we have to do a great job pursuing excellence in performance. We can’t have a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. We can’t leave the matrix or gaps in the matrix when a selection committee, because all those things add up in NET rankings. So for us, being able to initial ranking of 51 our strength of schedule right now is 364, but it increases over time with games like Kansas, games like Minnesota, games like Illinois again, and our SEC opponents. That is where your strength of schedule increases, and I’m looking forward to adding those things to our plate. But we got to continue to get better as a unit, get better as a team. I’m excited to see what our guys have to offer.”
Question: When you look at last year’s game and the jumping off point it was for this team, what is it about this game that kind of allows it to be that jumping off point?
Gates: “Well, last year’s dead. There’s no life to last year. No different than when we were going into the game last year, there was no life to the game that happened before. Regardless of what the outcome was, this is a new game, and this is what we’re looking forward to. Our players will be prepared. It’s just a matter of being able to respond and react to where the ball is being bounced and how it’s ricocheting off the rim. But in addition knowing personnel, but on top of that, responding how the game is being called from a referee standpoint, and making the adjustments that we need to make.
“Again, no different than last game. On the road, if your best defender is guarding their best player and a foul is called on a drive, I’m not going to do what I did against Texas A&M and allow their best player to shoot that 3 on that right wing. I’m going to try to get the ball out their hand and obviously make someone else beat us. So those end-game adjustments are really crucial in the huddles and executing what we need to execute, and that’s what our guys have to continue to do.
“I wish I can play the games. But ultimately, you can’t prepare your team like how you scout them as a head coach. I scout from a different perspective, I can’t expect players to watch 200 games or episodes of something and then not think that that’s going to impact their instincts in a game. I don’t want my guys to be frozen, I want them to play with their instincts, I want to do what Missouri does. And ultimately, each and every day, our guys have to go out and perform.”
Question: What makes this Kansas defense so difficult to play against?
Gates: “Well, they do a great job changing their defense. They have great length, rim protection. They sometimes double. Sometimes they don’t. They play personnel base at the end of the day. They have really, really good instincts in terms of getting in the passing lanes and obviously chucking cutters. Physicality is important that they have been able to do. Bill Self has always been a great coach, but ultimately, being able to execute on both ends is going to be crucial.
“Our defense cannot overrun spots. We got to be there so that we can close out whether it’s the 3-point shooters or not, but in transition, that’s where they defend and try to manipulate the game, and they’ve done a great job getting out in transition.”
Question: How is your approach and maybe even understanding of this game changed since you first arrived in Columbia?
Gates: “It’s never changed. I think Norm Stewart did a good job of introducing me to what it means to be a head coach here at Missouri. But also one of the things that he always, constantly does, and it’s a reason why he’s a Hall of Fame coach, there’s no complacency, no settling, no matter what. I called myself again, responding to his challenge, you’re not a head coach here unless you beat Kansas. That’s what he said.
“So, we didn’t do it the first two years I was here, and obviously last season, we were able to get a win. And the next next morning, I caught myself, having breakfast with Norm, and he constantly pointed out the things we did wrong. So tell me if I’ve been indoctrinated into what it means to coach. I think Norm has really given me a resource in him, his vision on what this game means because of the duration that he’s been here as a coach.
“But also our fans do a great job of communicating with their passion and love. It always doesn’t come out correct, don’t get me wrong, but it shows passion, right? I can be the target at any day of the week, and I love our fans and their passion. They do a great job of showing it, and they, they are responsible for sharing the tradition, not just with coaches, but with the players of how much the game means to them, their families, their memories. When they talk about the former players, the former players add those memories to the list of things showing the exact same passion about this game, and I’m excited to be a part of it as the head coach.”
Question: Will you be in touch with Norm at all this week or going into the game?
Gates: “Yeah, I always talk to norm, and I’ll definitely be in contact with him. There’s no doubt about it. Norm has been available whenever I’ve needed him to just vent, or whenever I needed a sort of a real voice. He does not spare words at all. Does not spare them, and his vocabulary is very, very steep. He’s got a good vocabulary, so I appreciate Norm and his honesty, and, most importantly, his friendship.”
Question: And what do you remember about how or what he tried to get across in those early days, about Kansas in particular? What was it that resonated with you?
Gates: “What’s resonated is, is this. In terms of my relationship with Norm, and what I’ve, what I’ve taken away from it. In his career, he’s been able to do something for this city and for the conference, Big 8, Big 12, to put us in a position where we’ve been wanted in our basketball profile, to be in the SEC. He has done that with his years of sacrifice, his family’s years of sacrifice, so to see and meet his children, they are the ultimate sacrifice. His wife, the ultimate sacrifice to what time he’s put into this sport and to see how they’ve continued to build in their relationship is unbelievable.
“It is a great, a great example. The other parts of it is the tough situations that game-by-game has been displayed. No game has been the same. There’s elements that stands out for years from each game that a fan, a child who was last year in this arena will take something that will last for about 20-30, years, and they are going to share it with their children. So it’s a generational memory that’s being passed down and a passion that’s being passed down. And ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re stewards of the sport. The players are the ones that play. They produce memories, from Corey Tate to, you know, every All-American that has played here.
“They have a different perspective of what that game has meant. And for me, I get a passion of hearing about it. Trayon Bryant was on Cal’s women’s basketball staff yesterday. He came by the office, he came in the locker room and signed the board. He started talking about that Kansas game. Because as a fan, yeah, he works for Cal, Cal women’s basketball, but he is a Missouri Tiger through and through.
“And I was his host at Cal-Berkeley when he was coming out. And to have that communication of guys being able to communicate what it means is important.”
Question: Bill Self said today he expects Darryn Peterson to play in this game. What goes into preparing for the potential No. 1 pick in the draft?
Gates: “Well, I never looked at Darryn Peterson not playing, I’ll say that. I’ve always thought he would play. At the end of the day in preparation to any talented kid, first of all, he’s very, very talented. He will be the first or second pick in the NBA Draft. I’ve seen him play since I was at Cleveland State. He was in Toledo. I’ve seen him play in grassroots, some of our guys have played against him in AAU, so there’s familiarity.
“He is a talented young man, and his teammates thrive, even when he was out. They were able to build isolated confidence in different roles. And now you add that piece back to the puzzle and keep those other guys as aggressive as they needed to be. They’re a really good team, really good ball club.
“So we we’re going to treat it no different than we treat any scouting report. The ball is the thing that scores. Now we have to be able to defend with all five. We got to minimize second-chance points, we got to be able to minimize our turnovers and have more assist. We have to be able to impact their team. He’s not the only player on the team. There is no doubt about that. They are very, very, very talented. And the pieces I’m more impressed with Flory (Bidunga’s) growth because I’ve seen him play out often in the Adidas circuit because of our recruitment of Annor Boateng and different guys.
“But his growth has been good. You have a young man who transferred in from Illinois and Tre White. There’s familiarity there with him. You look at the freshman, whether it’s (Kohl) Rosario or otherwise, guys who have impacted the game in a certain way. It’s a balanced team and real, and well coached. I think they have gone through what we’ve gone through being able to play for the first time and practice for the first time with your entire team, and neither team has been able to do that leading into this game.”
Question: In regard to your non-conference scheduling, you consistently emphasize wanting to give your team time to grow and mesh. Now that you’re through a lot of that schedule, how do you think your team has grown and meshed?
Gates: “I’ll be able to give you all that once I get all the data. I look at it in phases. That’s a great question, because when you have transfer portal, freshmen and returners, there’s one thing to practice. There’s another thing to have an exhibition game, but when they start counting, you’re putting your team in a new situation, mentally, physically and emotionally.
“So thus far, being able to get through a tough SEMO team, being able to get through Minnesota. Those are tough teams. Minnesota just beat Indiana. Now you’re able to see how valuable certain wins were at home while protecting home court. The other thing is other teams causes chain reaction of scouting, but also a chain reaction of who you are as a player, who you are as a team because of the resistance. I think we’ve done a great job of scheduling, not just the style of plays, but the days in between, recovery, rest, relaxation, and our guys haven’t gotten it. So it takes a toll on the mental.
“Now in December, we have more space in between games. You can practice more. Well, we weren’t able to practice as much in November. Here in December, hey, we lost to Notre Dame, tough, tough game, tough game. But there was some self infliction that took place as well that I want to see that be eradicated coming up. So our guys do a great job of scheduling it and responding. My job now is to slowly but surely take the transition into conference and all these games allow that to happen.
“And you see the growth, you see the responses. We’ve had two, two great days of practice that I’m impressed with, and we didn’t get those same, same type of days. When you get kicked in the teeth, there’s a level of response that takes place. So for us being able to now gradually, without panicking, have an 8-1, 8-1 record going into Kansas game. We would love to be 9-0, but we’re not. We still have responses per person, that has been tremendous. And I think that’s the growth and the lessons that we learned.”
Question: Is there any update on Trent Pierce and kind of where he’s at in his recovery?
Gates: “Yeah, I’m just following doctors’ leads with Trent Pierce right now. He’s not, he hasn’t practiced. So he’s where he is. I’m excited about Jayden Stone’s progress. He almost looked like a football safety with a cast and a big pad around it, running, making sure he doesn’t hurt anybody. So he’s doing his cardio to make sure he gets back. But great to see Annor Boateng, great to see Trent Burns back at it.
“I think making sure guys get through the bumps and bruises, there’s no such thing as pain-free athletics. You got to play through some of the hurt and the pain. But an injury is something that we treat differently, and right now, injury is Trent, so we’re going to follow the doctor’s rules.”