Missouri’s Dennis Gates praises Kentucky basketball, and Rob Dillingham in particular

What a difference a year makes.

In December 2022, Dennis Gates stormed into the SEC with his Missouri Tigers. Gates’ first conference game as Missouri head coach was a rocking 89-75 win over Kentucky in Columbia, Missouri, that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated.

On Tuesday night inside Rupp Arena, that result was flipped on its head.

Kentucky defeated Missouri 90-77 to drop the Tigers to 8-7 overall and 0-2 in SEC play this season. The Tigers were on the periphery of the game for most of the second half, and Mizzou only made one field goal in the final 10:19.

Postgame, Gates met with reporters inside Rupp Arena to detail the defeat, and his impressions of this year’s Kentucky squad.

Here’s everything Gates said:

Opening statement:

Basketball is a game of runs. Credit Kentucky, they made some really tough shots in that first half and obviously were able to convert our turnovers, which were 11 turnovers, into 16 points. And (add) 27 free throws. That’s a sum of 43 points.

Whereas we turned (UK) over 13 times, converted only four points out of that and (had) 17 points from the free-throw line. The disparity of 43 and 21, that’s the ball game.

Thought our guys fought, but in that one stretch we weren’t able to get a basket. We had the looks, the same looks we got in the first half, the first 10 minutes of the second half.

But those last 10 minutes from the 10:20 mark to 40 seconds (left), we missed about 13 straight shots. But we did get to the free-throw line which allowed us to stay within the distance that we did.

Question about what’s different with this Kentucky team compared to last season’s UK team.

What I see is this, I see some great one-on-one players who can make shots. And we start with Rob Dillingham, who’s probably the best iso player in college basketball. That’s what I believe.

You have Reed (Sheppard) coming off the bench, but he’s capable of getting double digits as well. You look at Tre Mitchell who is a stretch 4, stretch 5, he can make shots.

You look at Justin Edwards, his best basketball is obviously in front of him. But he’s just an athletic, great player, seen him play a lot in high school.

But really, Antonio Reeves is the heart and soul of this team. And he’s well connected with each player, and when you look at his emotional intelligence, although he had nine field goal attempts, he was probably cheering louder for Rob than anybody.

And when you have that connectivity, and you’re able to play a style that opens the court up a little bit. Oscar Tshiebwe is a dominant player, but he also requires the ability to take up the space in the middle.

Now they’re five out, you have (Aaron) Bradshaw with the ability to make a jump shot. But they have versatility, they take care of the basketball, they are a 3-point threat.

Question about Missouri struggling to score down the stretch in SEC games.

We’ve got to make the open shots and when you look at the shots that we got, and I’ll have to watch the film to get the chronological order of it, I probably would do the same (thing).

But I’m happy that in that stretch we were able to get to the free-throw line a little bit. Last game we didn’t. We only shot seven free throws against Georgia, and Georgia shot 21.

Tonight we gave up 27 points on the free-throw line, but we got more free throws. The game is won and lost when you can see the ball go in that many times, that gets you a rhythm.

I’m just glad we were able to stay in a little rhythm. We’ve got to be able to close the gap, get to those tough baskets in the paint, but our shooters were able to shoot. Maybe at that point and time we’ve got to concentrate a little bit more.

Question about substitution patterns.

Well, one of our freshmen is out. Didn’t make the trip due to medical, sickness, etc.

You know, just a decision. Those guys were playing well. I think John Tonje was a +10 in that first half. Mabor Majak was a +14 I want to say in the first half. Those guys ended up being the only two guys in the positive.

This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 11:00 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription