What Dennis Gates said Missouri basketball must do to fix defensive backslide

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Missouri basketball isn’t going to make any sweeping changes at this juncture of the season.

The No. 19/15-ranked Tigers have hit an untimely slump, losing three of their past four games and allowing 90 or more points in four of their past five contests.

Tack on that time is running out before each of MU’s games become elimination affairs, and there’s some reasonable anxiety about the finish to this season. After the Tigers close the regular season Saturday morning against No. 24/19 Kentucky, Mizzou heads to the second round of the SEC Tournament. After that, it’s all Madness.

So, what’s the fix?

“Stop fouling,” Dennis Gates said Friday. “Stop fouling. You don’t give yourselves a chance to defend if you’re just allowing free throws.”

That’s the coach’s diagnosis of a gruesome run that has caused his team to slip out of the race for a top-four spot in the SEC standings and drop to a 5-seed in the latest NCAA Tournament bracket projections.

More: Here is how far Missouri basketball fell in March Madness seeding projections after OU loss

Mizzou has a number of concerning defensive trends over the past five games.

According to CBB Analytics, 48.5% of the 90 points per game that the Tigers have allowed since a Feb. 19 win over Alabama have come in the paint, which is in the bottom 5% in Division I. Missouri is allowing teams to grab 37.7% of available offensive boards, and it’s allowing 18.2 points per game off of turnovers. Both of those are in the bottom 1% in the country.

Perhaps worst of all, the Tigers have compounded all of that by committing 22 fouls per game. That, per CBB Analytics, is the worst mark among 364 Division I teams.

“So, we’ve got to be able to not foul in certain situations. Especially when it comes down to a high-percentage shooting team, we just gave up too many,” Gates said. “If you look at the common denominator, we gave up too many free throws, and that’s part of points in the paint, in my eyes, no different than 2-point field…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/dennis-gates-said-missouri-basketball-231752361.html

Author : Columbia Daily Tribune

Publish date : 2025-03-07 23:17:00

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