How Dennis Gates is Preparing Mizzou Basketball for the Last Half of SEC Play

Missouri Tigers men's basketball head coach Dennis Gates spoke to the media ahead of the team's matchup against Texas A&M.

Though Missouri Tigers men's basketball team is yet to find a single win through nine SEC games, head coach Dennis Gates has seen positive signs in many performances. There's plenty of areas to improve in but the second-year head coach also sees effective play that just needs to be sustained longer.

The Tigers' last performance against Texas A&M on January 23 was no different. Gates was pleased with how the team jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the early minutes but thinks they quickly lost sight of the game plan once met with a strong response from the Aggies.

"We got out to a great start, had stops," Gates said on Tuesday. "the ball can bounce another direction but continue to stay with our game plan for our 40 minutes. We just want to give ourselves a chance to win a game. We got to do that not looking at the last two minutes but looking at every possession that's in front of us"

Despite a valiant comeback effort in the final minutes, the Tigers fell 63-57 to the Aggies. This Wednesday, Missouri will look for revenge as they host Texas A&M at Mizzou Arena. Halfway through the SEC slate, the Tigers are still searching for their first conference win. Following a loss to Vanderbilt, Gates has redirected his teams focus on the final nine games instead of mulling over the past.

"Today I spoke about going 9-9," Gates said. "How do we want this second half to go? You cant control certain things that has already happened but how can you move forward but you just cant get 9 wins you have to start with one you have to start with winning each practice each day and obviously looking in the mirror first so that's what our guys are going to do. That's what were accustomed to doing."

When asked the issues that Gates thinks his team needs to improve on in order to find a way out of this rut, Gates highlighted a need to improve in the assist-to-turnover ratio, making the most of open shots and limiting turnovers.

"We want to stay in the single digit in turnovers," Gates said. "I'd love to see us go under seven turnovers in the game, I think that's when were playing pretty well and were knocking down some shots. I want to see us close to 20 assists a game, I think when we looked at our stats and we've done that we've created ourselves a great advantage. We got to be able to get that free-throw line, we're one of the best free throw shooting teams in our conference were just not able to get to there enough"

The team has been playing through the absence of transfer guard Caleb Grill, who suffered a wrist injury in December. On top of 8.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, the tenacious graduate also brought a grit and energy to the lineup before his injury. The former Iowa State player seems to be near the end of recovery. However, there's still some time before fans should expect to see him back on the court.

"He's out of the window where the scar is healed and everything else but the range of motion where its a tough thing to provide (playing time)," Gates said. "I think when you have a lack of range of motion, whether its in your ankle or any other extremity, you have to be careful because the game is impactful, he can fall and he if he fell again, without the right range of motion, it can cause stress on another part of his arm and now we've got another problem."

Gates and Grill have both been following the advice of team doctors. Even though Grill isn't able to play, Gates is appreciative of the impact his experience and influence has had on the rest of the team throughout his injury.

"He's been able to bring his basketball IQ, his communication," Gates said. "He's been able to consistently do weight training things and thats still modified because of the amount of weight that he can endure with his weight training"

But, as Gates has emphasized, the Tigers no longer have time to look back on the past by making excuses on their nine-straight losses. 

"Were coming in with a new mindset," freshman Anthony Robinson II said of the next nine games. "We feel confident we can win every single game were in"

How to Watch: Mizzou Men's Basketball at Texas A&M