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Head coach Dennis Gates and senior wing Jacob Crews talked to the media Thursday ahead of the team’s first two home games of the 2025-26 season.
Gates began the presser by shouting out the other Mizzou squads in action this weekend, especially Dawn Sullivan and Mizzou Volleyball ahead of their matchup with second-ranked Kentucky tonight: “We’ve got to go out and support volleyball. They’re in their last home game of the season against a tough opponent, and our presence has to be felt in the Hearnes
Center.”
He followed by providing a few injury updates, noting that Trent Pierce did not practice today and will miss Friday’s game against Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) after practicing the previous two days. Annor Boateng will also miss the contest and is currently considered “day-to-day,” and Trent Burns has not yet been fully cleared to play.
Here’s the rest of what they had to say the day before Mizzou’s home opener against Southeast Missouri State:
Dennis Gates
- On SEMO: “This team has some unfinished business. They have eight returners and a great culture, returning one of the great mid major coaches. So when you look at the prospects of SEMO this season, I believe they’ll contend for a regular season title in addition to contending for a tournament title [in the Ohio Valley Conference.] So in my eyes, we’re facing that caliber of a program, that caliber of a team, and I’m definitely excited to see where our player are in our home opener.”
- On SEMO head coach Brad Korn: “I don’t think he’s a mid major coach, he’s a high major coach. He’s a great coach: great tactician, he’s a great situational guy.”
- On facing a smaller in-state school: “We’ve played them before, and it’s not ironic that this will be a Super Bowl for SEMO. They’re going to be excited to play us; we can’t allow their passion to outmatch ours.”
- On his takeaways from the season opening win at Howard: “Our guys were able to show some resolve on the road. It’s not an easy task to start on the road, at all, and the score is not indicative of how tough of a game that was for us from a mental and emotional standpoint. So I thought our guys did do some great things.”
- Continued: “We turned the ball over. It put us in a great learning environment, a great situation to figure out how to dig ourselves out of it. And obviously we’ve got to execute free throws, and we didn’t do a great job in our free throws. Against Kansas State, I think we were 26 for 31, and then on the road, which is what that environment does, we’ve just got to concentrate and execute on the free throw line.”
- On the cause of the turnover issues: “Ultimately, when we look at the game, it’s just early jitters. Early on, I thought, you look at Shawn Phillips’ numbers, he had five or six turnovers. He was just dribbling the ball too much and not allowing it to be moved. And I want him to be maybe a step closer in his post feeding opportunities versus a step off the block, and our players have got to understand and put him in the right situations. We’ve got to be able to meet every pass, play in a fundamental triple threat position, and those things will limit [the issues.]”
- On the three point shooting from Crews, Luke Northweather and Jayden Stone: “All three, they had great shot preparation. They were ready to shoot when that ball was delivered, and our guys were able to throw them strikes where they [weren’t] picking bad passes and trying to turn those into shots. It was right there in the pockets, it was off maybe the third or second side rotation, and they were wide open. And I though those guys did a great job of executing the gameplan.”
- On Stone’s performance in his first collegiate action since the 2023-24 season: “He was able to get and sign his shot from an execution standpoint, hold his follow through. He gives us an edge, and I’m thankful that he’s here with us. And his teammates, they love him. He’s a great teammate, and he plays the game the right way, he plays very hard.”
- On starting the non conference schedule with a row of mid major opponents: “This phase is about getting better. We transition from our fight and focus thing, and now we’re in that rhythm and resilience thing that our team is really taking a liking to. And I’m excited to see what results, not just in a game, but through the process, week by week, day by day, it brings to our growth. And our growth is going to be the most important thing in this juncture of the season.”
- On the home opener and the athletics atmosphere in Columbia this weekend: “I’m excited about being here at Mizzou Arena. I believe it’s going to be a great environment because of where our department is. To have a home game against Texas A&M on Saturday, that’s going to bring people to the city. And being able on a Friday to have a great dinner in this great community and then come to a basketball game, that is what a heck of a weekend looks like to me, that’s what it looks like to our fans and our supporters, and our student section. So I’m excited to be home.”
Jacob Crews
- On his performance against Howard: “I think in the 12 minutes I played, I contributed on both ends. I believe I was an energy guy, too, on the bench. I don’t think I ever dipped, I don’t think I had any lows; I think I just stayed pretty much high on the whole game.”
- On what he’s seen from SEMO: “They’re physical on defense, for sure. I think they have an identity that they live by: I think they have each other’s back, they like to dig at the ball, not allowing any easy drives, no straight lane drives or anything like that. So I think they’re a physical team.”
- On where he has grown the most since last season: “I’d say mental, for sure. As far as off the court, on the court, I’m blessed to have a second year under Gates and his system. Just understanding the plays, the flow of the game at this level, my teammates that returned; you know, it’s just a whole different feel this year. You’re comfortable; there’s no what ifs, there’s no guessing. You’re like, ‘Alright, I know what’s coming, I know what to expect, and just being ready.‘”
- On handling mid major competition during the nonconference slate: “I was a mid major player: I know what it was like to come and play a high major team. I wanted to beat them, knock them off. You know, that post after, that social media storm that happens when you knock off a team, it’s a big accomplishment for mid majors. So just understanding every opponent is going to come in, especially in the non conference, to knock us off.”
- On the mentality of being a role player: “Last year was kind of tough, coming from a mid major, averaging 20 points. I mean, I struggled [with] that mentally. I had a little bit of a bump in the road last year, early in the non conference. Understanding that and accepting it, and then learning from it and growing from it, I’m fine with whatever I have to play. Understanding that I trust my teammates, I know how good they are, and I know the work they put in. And like you said, we’re deep. So it’s just understanding that everybody’s gonna have their night.”
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