Missouri HC Dennis Gates on Pitt: ‘That’s a Great Basketball Team’

 Coming into Tuesday night’s ACC/SEC Challenge matchup between Pitt and Missouri, not many people predicted the Tigers coming out with a win.

Dennis Gates’ squad was a seven-point underdog coming in and was ranked nearly 50 spots lower than the Panthers according to Kenpom.com. However, Gates’ team came into the Petersen Events Center and completely froze the Panthers — holding Pitt scoreless for a near-nine-minute stretch in the second half and closing out a seven-point lead.

Gates’ team has faced plenty of adversity in the early season. After making the NCAA Tournament in year one of his tenure at the helm, the Tigers — with a new group of leaders — lost two of their first four home games this season, falling to Memphis by 15 and falling to previously 0-5 Jackson State in shocking fashion.

But the Tigers have bounced back with this big win over the previously 5-1 Panthers. How?

After the game, Gates offered high praise towards Pitt’s environment, as well as Jeff Capel, Blake Hinson, and the rest of the team.

“Outstanding environment here at Pitt,” Gates said. “College basketball tradition. I truly believe that this place is a special place. I have so much respect for Coach Capel and what he’s been able to do. That’s a great basketball team he’s put together. Unbelievable team, great players, possibly the ACC Player of the Year.”

Gates’ team held the Panthers to a season-low 47 field-goal attempts (13 shots away from previous low). Freshman standout Bub Carrington went just 4 for 14 from the field, while veteran guard Ishmael Leggett went 1 for 8. So what was the key for Missouri against Pitt’s back court?

“Pressure them,” guard Sean East II — Missouri’s leading scorer, said after the game. “Make them make decisions with pressure. Stay solid on them, but disciplined pressure. We watched film on them, and they kind of struggled a little bit with pressure, so we wanted to bring our pressure that we bring every day to them and see how they would handle it.”

“We executed some of it [the scouting report on Pitt’s guards],” Gates added. “I think when you hold a team to ten field goals in the first half and then six field goals in the second half, free throws matter, but that becomes a little bit more stress on any ball club to see field goals not being able to be established. They got to the foul line, yes. Carrington, Hinson, they’re good players, they’re great players, but we just wanted to play how we play, and see what the results would be.”

Missouri’s Noah Carter, Tamar Bates, and Caleb Grill followed East with double-digit scoring performances of their own. In addition, the Tigers received important contributions from big man Connor Vanover (6 points and 7 rebounds), Anthony Robinson II (5 points), and Aidan Shaw (four points).

In the final three minutes, Hinson snapped Pitt’s field-goal drought, hitting two huge three pointers, including one from the edge of the Pitt logo. However, the threes were too little, too late as Missouri held strong and closed out the win.

“We’re able to get Aidan Shaw, Noah Carter, and our guards in there to contest shots, by way of three pointers,” Gates continued. “I thought they got us out of rhythm defensively with shot fakes and was able to drive and get some open looks. Toward the end, Hinson really brought them back with some tough shots that we knew he would be able to capitalize on. But our size was great for us, but our positioning is more important.”