Mizzou Basketball Shows Off Depth and Unselfishness in Season Debut

In the Missouri Tigers men's basketball 2023 season opener, 12 different players received playing time, and five scored double digit points.

There are very few instances where a coach of any sport would urge one of his players to be more selfish. It's even more unlikely to hear it from a college basketball coach, a sport where selfishness can so often be at the root of dysfunctional teams. 

But that's what Missouri Tigers head coach Dennis Gates said about graduate guard Nick Honor after the Tigers' 101-79 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday. Don't get it twisted though, he wants an unselfish team. One where the players always put the team over themselves. 

However, sometimes the best thing for the team is players recognizing when they are the one with the hot hand.

Gates sometimes "yells under his breath" when some of the team's veteran leaders don't take enough shots. Or when Honor missed a layup in Monday's game because he was looking for anyone of his teammates who might have been open.

Honor not only led the Tigers with four assists, but was also the team's second-leading scorer on Monday with 18 points, 12 coming from his four makes on ten shots behind the three-point line.

"I'm excited that he shot ten threes," Gates said. "It's what my demands are. We're a better team with him shooting ten three's. I don't want him to take his foot off the gas at all."

Honor is one of three Missouri's starters along with forward Noah Carter and guard Sean East II. This season, Gates' expects these three players to take on increased roles in leadership and production.

"Our team revolves around those three," Gates said. "But they are so unselfish that they'll take a step back and allow someone else to be able to lead. They'll always find the hot hand even if it's not theres, they'll always try to make the extra pass, they'll always try to be so unselfish."

With five new transfers and five freshmen, Gates' has relied on the three veterans to help the new faces assimilate into the team's culture.

"He's been on us for that since really March Madness was over last year," East said. "That we was going to have to build this culture up with the new guys that was going to come in ... We was going to have to, along with the staff, just come in and push the culture on everybody"

Some of those new faces instantly made an impact in their first game at Missouri, as seven of the 10 new players saw playing time on Monday — a testament to the team's depth.

"We knew we we're going to have a fight," Gates said. "I just thought our guys, our depth, did it by committee. It's the fortunate part of having unselfishness in your program. I think this season we'll have multiple guys lead us."

The depth of the roster allowed players to not only stay fresh with frequent substitutions, but also for multiple players to exchange momentum building runs. East was hot out of the gates, scoring 12 points in the first 10 minutes. When East subbed out with four minutes remaining in the half, Tamar Bates would go on a 10-point run, giving the Tigers a substantial lead and momentum heading into the half. 

"We can sub in the game and play as hard as possible," Bates said. "If you get tired, you go sit down. And we just always got fresh legs out there ... that's what the coaches preach and they always tell us that our depth is one of our biggest strengths."

Missouri is currently a myriad of varying skill sets that might take some time to mesh together. Whether it's the shifty physicality of the lanky Jesus Carralero Martin, or the athleticism of freshman Anthony Robinson, the team has a diversely skilled roster that will have to work to find it's identity. For Gates, the early returns seem to be promising.

"Being able to respond to adversity, respond to runs, not panic, not point fingers is essential to growth but is also essential to our development as a team," Gates said. "I want to continue to get better game by game, week by week, day by day.

"Our internal competition, in a healthy way, does not have envy, does not have jealously, it has absolute support," Gates added. "I think we have a great personality in our program where guy's are going to always give their very best."

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