Missouri head basketball coach Dennis Gates is proud of how his team handled Tennessee's physicality to pull off another upset victory at home.
The Tigers have been a fringe NCAA Tournament team throughout conference play, but they have ramped up their intensity late in February to secure a pair of big wins over Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Gates believes Missouri's physicality has been the difference, particularly in the win over the Volunteers.
“I think our guys got distracted with the physicality and the non-whistles early,” Gates said after the game, via Eye of the Tigers on YouTube. “They fought through it. They were able to calibrate their senses and understand you're only as physical as the game is allowed… Once they got through that shock, they were able to slowly get back in the game, and did so with their defense and their IQs.”
After absorbing Tennessee's opening blows, Gates praised his team for not “complaining one time” about anything the Volunteers had to offer. Gates said physicality is what has enabled Rick Barnes' team to win 20 games, which is why he stressed its importance beforehand.
“I thought, from a physicality standpoint, we fought through screens and didn't complain one time about an illegal screen. That's how Tennessee gets you. They Jab, jab, jab, with all the physicality, rebound and every little detail of it. I thought our guys were just resilient from the very beginning to the very end of the game. They fed off each other, fed off the crowd, they fed off the environment and didn't panic.”
Missouri building NCAA Tournament case down the stretch
The win moved Missouri to 19-9 on the year and 9-6 in the SEC. The Tigers sandwiched a pair of ranked wins over Vanderbilt and Tennessee around a loss to No. 20 Arkansas.
Missouri's last two wins were huge boosters for its resume, but the Tigers are still struggling to string together victories. Despite owning three big wins over ranked opponents, they have not won more than three consecutive games since the start of conference play.
As one of the top NCAA Tournament “bubble teams,” Gates' team looks to carry the momentum onto the road ahead of two must-win games against Mississippi State and Oklahoma. Missouri can ill afford to lose either contest before ending the college basketball regular season with an Arkansas rematch.
