What Missouri coach Dennis Gates said about Auburn basketball, Johni Broome and the SEC

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After No. 2 Auburn basketball’s win over Monmouth on Monday, coach Bruce Pearl said the keys to success in handling the upcoming SEC schedule would be about being humble, hungry and healthy.

On Friday, Pearl said he was mostly wrong about that.

“There’s going to be so much losing that there will be enough humility,” Pearl said. “No one’s going to have to worry about being humble. I think healthy is still a factor. The league is so physical, so athletic that there are going to be more injuries than we had in the non-conference. That’s something I’m predicting. I don’t want it. It’s just that the reality is that benches are gonna become even more valuable. So, healthy, yes. Still that. And I think hunger is not gonna be a factor, either. So I was wrong two out of the three, because I think everybody’s gonna be hungry.”

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN: Looking at Auburn basketball’s 2024-25 SEC slate

One of those 16 hungry teams comes to Neville Arena on Saturday in the Missouri Tigers, who started the season 11-2, which included a win over then-No. 1 Kansas. That all came after not winning an SEC game last season.

“Missouri is looking for its first conference win a while,” Pearl said. “I want to tell you, Dennis Gates’ team last year — in all my years of coaching, I have never seen a team that struggled to win in conference that played as hard and as well and as together as Dennis Gates’ Missouri team did a year ago. They didn’t quit. They played for 40 minutes. They played the right way, in spite of not having success. To me, that’s the mark of a great coach and a great program.”

With that in mind, here’s everything Gates said before Saturday’s SEC-opener:

Why Dennis Gates sees some Virginia in Auburn basketball

Mar 30, 2019; Louisville, KY, United States; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett reacts during the net cutting ceremony after the championship game against the Purdue Boilermakers of the south regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at KFC Yum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie…

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Author : The Montgomery Advertiser

Publish date : 2025-01-03 21:45:00

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