'I Can't Be Anything But Proud': Mizzou Players Reflect on Season After Drake Loss

The NCAA Tournament run for the Missouri Tigers was cut shorter than they hoped, but it was a season for this group of players to remember moving far beyond the present.

Chase Gemes | Mar 21, 2025

Mar 20, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Caleb Grill (31) reacts after losing to the Drake Bulldogs in a first round men’s NCAA Tournament game at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Missouri Tigers

WICHITA, Kan. — Back in October, Missouri Tigers' coach Dennis Gates made it clear that the goal for his program was to reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio.

That might've been a bold statement at the time after Missouri lost all 18 of its games in the Southeastern Conference the previous year, but as it kept winning through the months, that possibility started to feel more real. Even when it lost four of its last five regular season games, there was still confidence in a deep run for March.

Far sooner than they had planned to exit, the No. 6-seeded Tigers fell in the first round to the No. 11-seeded Drake Bulldogs Thursday night. A return to the promise land after the lowest of lows, still ended in disappointment.

The road wasn't supposed to end here. Not yet.

Despite that, a somber Missouri locker room still found the light inside of the moment. This season was a special one for all of the men involved — regardless of the outcome.

"I love these guys. They're my brothers, lifelong relationships," Marques Warrick told Missouri On SI following the loss. "The goal was Final Four, sometimes you don't get there, and that's okay ... the way we fought all season, very memorable. All of the emotion hasn't hit me yet, because I'm not out of here yet."

This season's Tigers were a cast of different characters. They kept their fair share of returners, but added five freshman and five transfers from the portal. There were plenty of different personalities to go around, but they all came together to create an infectious energy.

The bonds made within the roster — even for those who could only spend one year at Missouri — will go far beyond a loss to Drake. It didn't reach the desired destination, but it accomplished a bounce back that is only comparable to a couple of other teams in college basketball history.

"We turned the team around (from) 0-18 to 20 wins," Anthony Robinson II said. "It was a great season. Made a lot of memories."

Reaching the NCAA Tournament was a shock to many itself for the Tigers before the season began. They didn't receive a single vote in the AP Preseason Top 25 poll, nor did many national outlets place them in the top half of the SEC leader.

The respect of the college basketball landscape wasn't there at the start, but over the course of the season, the program became talked about far more. Getting to that point was part of the fuel that drove many of Missouri's players.

"Preseason, where they had us, they didn't have us making it to the tournament," Pierce said. "We proved them wrong."

The Tigers may not have proved that they were the Final Four caliber team they believed they could be, but this season did prove the program has hope restored. Sitting at the bottom of the conference didn't remain their reality.

All in all, a first round exit in March Madness is better than no entry at all.

"It hurts. We lost. We left a lot on the table," Jacob Crews said. "But again, we put Mizzou basketball where it deserves to be."

Missouri Tigers bench reacts in the first round men’s NCAA Tournament game against the Drake Bulldogs at Intrust Bank Arena.

Mar 20, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Missouri Tigers bench reacts in the second half of a first round men’s NCAA Tournament game against the Drake Bulldogs at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The disappointment of Thursday will come and go in the months of the offseason. It'll sting for awhile, and Missouri will have to take a backseat and watch for how the rest of the tournament plays out. However, basketball seasons to come will keep rolling on as long as the sport lives.

What won't? The memories the 2024-25 Tigers made in less than a year. The developments they made not only on the court, but in their personal lives. The grueling journey climbing back from the pitfalls of the season before.

Missouri's players will have those memories to relive and will use those developments in the future, but the past year was time in a bottle. There will only be one season where all 18 players share the same locker room — everything won't be the same in a year's time. This was it.

All this to say, one game won't define this group of Tigers.

"I would say we accomplished a lot of things this year, and it didn't finish how we wanted to," Caleb Grill said in the postgame press conference. "It was just a grueling season, and the fact that we
were able to make it to where we're at, I just couldn't be more appreciative looking back at it."

Fellow departing senior, Tamar Bates, echoed a similar sentiment.

"At the end of the day, I'll always remember this team," Tamar Bates said. "I'll remember this season, and I can't be anything but proud of what we were able to do just given the fact that nobody believed in us but us."

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