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 has now knocked off in consecutive regular-season games. The coach joked that he “had amnesia” about MU’s nonconference results and called it a potential reset in which he tried to “get those kinks out during scrimmages.”
That, like an impromptu buddy system and lunch trips, is all fairly tame stuff.
But there was a new revelation Saturday night, after a stunning, potentially season-altering win.
Mizzou certainly appeared to lean in — or at the very least did not try to block out — any backlash or criticism from a frustrated fanbase, of which there quite fairly has been plenty.
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“Our guys settled in, we played with confidence, we executed the game plan, and at the end of the day our guys did not get discouraged,” Gates said postgame. “They were encouraged, and they allowed failure to get them better. They allowed public ridicule to get them better. They allowed Christmas break to get them better. They allowed me to get them better, and at that point, we took a step.”
“I think it just kind of helped us reset and focus on the little things,” Pierce said. “We showed signs in some of the games, against KU and Illinois and Notre Dame, we showed signs that we were a good team. But I think just having that time just to reflect and look back on, ‘what is it that we’re missing?’ That really helped us go into practice and just really focus on those things and just elevate our game.”
Jan 3, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Anthony Robinson II (0) celebrates after defeating the Florida Gators at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Now, the year looks a whole lot different.
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Mizzou had careened down the NET rankings (to No. 94 in the nation) without a Quad 1 or 2 win in nonconference play. Those are the games that the committee will look at when deciding on its 68-team in March, and Mizzou’s résumé was awfully barren.
Until now.
The Tigers are almost certainly in for a jump when the NET rankings update. Missouri got a five-spot bump at KenPom to No. 60 on Saturday after the win and could be in for a bigger leap in the NET.
“Now, where we go from here? We’ll see, and ultimately, it’ll be on the shoulders of our leadership,” Gates said. “It’ll be on the shoulders of each player in that locker room. And I’ll do my job. I’ll continue to do the best that I can to continue to get our guys prepared for games.”
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Missouri, for the first time against premier opposition this year, looked ready. Capable. Like, frankly, it belonged on the same floor.
And it’s a small sample size, but Gates can also claim a 1-0 mark on being right about Mizzou needing its injured players back. Pierce and shooting guard Jayden Stone, who missed all of December, instantly changed the way the Tigers operated on both ends of the floor.
Where Mizzou’s offense had been one-dimensional, it was multiple against the Gators. The Tigers were longer, faster and more aggressive defensively than they had been against any high-major team this season.
Stone sprinted out the gate with eight points and instantly commanded massive attention from the Gators. Pierce is a 6-foot-10 combo forward who can stretch the floor, which he proved as he bagged a massively important triple in the closing stretch of a tight second half.
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Florida had to respect the perimeter. For the first time this season, Missouri ran lineups with three, four, even five players who you wouldn’t shudder at the thought of taking an important 3-pointer.
That’s vital for this Tigers team.
Jan 3, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Dennis Gates calls a play during the second half against the Florida Gators at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
It’s no coincidence that point guard Anthony Robinson II looked like his 2024-25 self getting to the rim and paint for a 19-point, eight-rebound night — comfortably his best performance of the season.
It shouldn’t be a shock that traditional sharpshooter Jacob Crews put up 13 points while only taking — and missing — one deep shot.
Mizzou looked multiple. It had options.
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That performance looked like it had staying power.
The Tigers may just have an NCAA Tournament pulse.
More: Missouri basketball stuns reigning national champion Florida in SEC opener
More: Missouri basketball’s Big Dance bid is on thin ice. Is a turnaround possible?
There’s a long way to go and the road doesn’t immediately get easier. The Tigers have back-to-back road games with Kentucky on Wednesday in Lexington and then Ole Miss on Saturday, Jan. 10, in Oxford.
Mizzou isn’t fixed.
But it has a heartbeat.
“With everyone being healthy, we saw potential (of) what we could do,” Robinson said. “And with just having everybody out there, I think we made a little noise tonight, but we’re not satisfied with this.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How Missouri basketball season changed with massive win over Florida
