How has Missouri basketball’s season changed after stunning Florida?

Dennis Gates’ appreciation bordered on an apology.

It was pretty clear he’d heard the backlash. The Tigers’ season was on life support and the Missouri basketball coach, if you read between the lines, had dialed up the heat behind the scenes of a rare winter break.

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So, after a season-altering win over the reigning national champions, as Mizzou beat No. 22-ranked Florida 76-74 on Saturday in Columbia, he made sure to acknowledge the painful process.

“I want to publicly thank our guys,” Gates started his postgame press conference Saturday, “for allowing me to be the biggest asshole known to man in the last week.”

There was no hiding from a dismal start, and the Tigers, it seems, didn’t try. After a disastrous 43-point loss to Illinois, three losses in three marquee games and no wins over a top-100-in-the-NET opponent in November or December, the season was slipping away from the Tigers.

So, ahead of the Tigers’ SEC opener, the coaching made the players group up for some midseason team bonding.

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“I think one of the biggest things that I took away was Coach had sat us down, we kind of talked to each other, and then he made each player partner up and go get lunch together,” MU combo forward Trent Pierce said. “And I think that just really helped us stay connected and allowed us just to grow closer to each other more up there.”

And whaddaya know?

Missouri (11-3, 1-0 SEC) got its 2025-26 season back on the rails in its SEC opener.

Florida (9-5, 0-1) has been far from perfect this year, but this will go down as a much-needed marquee win for Gates and his crew.

It was Mizzou’s first game since its blowout loss in Braggin’ Rights on Dec. 22, a game that, at the time, looked like a death notice on the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament chances. In the 12 days in between, the Tigers seemingly went into hard-reset mode.

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Gates and star forward Mark Mitchell alluded to it in a pregame press conference before facing Florida, which Mizzou…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/missouri-basketball-season-changed-stunning-090123688.html

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Publish date : 2026-01-04 09:01:00

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