Hear from Dennis Gates and Josh Gray ahead of Mizzou’s trip to Starkville.
After the only week-long break of the SEC slate, Mizzou men’s basketball will return to the hardwood this Saturday against No. 14 Mississippi State.
Yet again, the Bulldogs present a tough challenge, as they have three ranked wins while almost knocking off No. 4 Alabama and No. 12 Kentucky at home. They’re difficult to match up with on the glass, and sophomore guard Josh Hubbard is one of the best scorers in the conference, having scored 38 points against the Crimson Tide on Tuesday.
Here’s what Dennis Gates and Josh Gray told reporters ahead of Saturday’s matchup:
Dennis Gates | Head coach
On getting a whole week between games during conference play: “It‘s timely. Whenever you look at being able to get into a new month of basketball in your conference, that means that teams are starting to break down a little bit, as you can see. I think with us, it gives us a time to recoup, focus on what we’ve done right, focus on what we’ve done wrong, and correct those wrongs. We haven’t played the best basketball on the road, and that’s something we got to get to.”
On playing in SEC road atmospheres: “The big picture in scheduling is this: you still have the same amount of road games as you do home games. What you cannot do is allow yourself to lose focus of the lesson that you need to learn, and through the obstacles, regardless of where you play and who you play, it’s still one of those things where they have an advantage they’re at home. We have to go out focus how we need to focus and just play a complete ball game from beginning to the end and whatever that entails. I want us to not have self-infliction in that process. I thought we had self-infliction before, and I think our guys corrected it in our home games. But, you know, there’s no doubt about it, our crowd is a part of that correction. They’ve helped.”
On battling Mississippi State on the glass: “I can’t control how the ball bounce, and our guys can’t, but we have to pursue the basketball. The other thing is, when it comes down to their defense, they have a great defense. So do we. And ultimately, both teams are going to go out and give their very best. That’s what makes the strength of the SEC…a lot of teams, a lot of great teams. I just hope the committee understands, meaning the NCAA committee, understands that the strength of our conference is in our teams, in our coaches, in our players, and our teams are playing well, and they still may not win games, and that’s ultimately where, do you penalize those teams or not? I just think for us, we’re in our own race, and our race is how much more can we improve weekly, how much more we can improve individually, and how much better we can get each game. And ultimately, no matter where it’s played at, we have a style of basketball that we have to execute.”
On Josh Hubbard: “He’s one of the best scorers in our conference, and I think when they look, when you look at what he’s done, not just this year, but over his career, he’s a scorer. He’s a multi-level scorer. He’s not a guy that just settles for all threes, but he’s a guy that can make threes. He’s a guy that can finish in a paint. He’s athletic. Don’t look at his stature at all. He’s a talented, talented player, but they have a ton of talent on their team. It’s not just one-dimensional.”
On what makes Caleb Grill and elite shooter: “Who he’s on the court with. I think that that helps making extra passes. He has a quick release. Now, let’s take nothing away from Caleb Grill. His talent is his talent, but his toughness mentally, he has a mental toughness about him, a belief and confidence about him that resonates no matter the situation. I give all our guys green lights to make plays, so I want our guys to be aggressive on that side. And ultimately, he’s a kid that can move without the ball, and his game isn’t just on the offensive end. He rebounds, he gets extra basketball opportunities, he throws his body around, and he’s just as physical as he is from his position. I’m just thankful he’s representing us and we’re not playing against a kid like that, but he’s a talented young man, and I’m thankful he’s in our lives.”
On guarding players like Hubbard: “You just got to get a hand up. In those situations you can’t foul. He’s drawn a lot of fouls from behind the arc as well. He does a little side twist, and sometimes defenders clip his legs, and we have to give him space while also being vertical and contesting the right way without following his lower body. So we got to do a great job of that and making sure that we try to get deflections on the passers that’s trying to get the ball to him. And when you can disrupt things with a fingernail on the ball, it also disrupts a shooter or the rhythm of a shooter. Sometimes (we) can’t give them easy looks from the free throw line. So if they’re in the bonus, we can’t we can’t have fouls that they hadn’t earned, and we got to be able to keep ourselves in position and just make sure that in transition, we don’t lose them, but also we don’t foul them at the rim and different things like that.”
Josh Gray | Center
On Peyton Marshall’s growth as a vocal leader and player: “At the beginning (of the season), he was always outspoken, maybe just in, like, the wrong things. But Coach Gates could attest to this: when we lost on the road to Texas, he was the first one to speak in the locker room. He was very vocal. He was expressing our faults, that we need to do better as a team. And he said that now that we lost the first time in like two weeks … We have to stay together. And so he’s really grown in that aspect, as far as a leader. And then, you guys know, Peyton Marshall is always physical. When he gets in the game, brings a lot of energy, puts a lot of strain on the person that that’s guarding him. They have to waste a lot of energy. And also, he’s a real tough dude to block out. So his physicality and his voice. It’s really, it’s really improved as the season progressed.”
“It’s a testament to the environment that Mizzou brings. I remember being a freshman all those years ago, I wouldn’t even think of saying that, expressing my feelings like that after a loss. To have the comfortability, the togetherness as a team to understand and listen to each other. This means a lot to me.”
On saying he wishes he was at Mizzou two years ago: “The environment that I’m in now, it’s such a different environment than what I’m used to. It took a while for me to adjust. For example, I was used to practices in the afternoon, and now, we practice in the morning. So that was a small adjustment. But everything that I’ve absorbed here, that I’ve got to witness and be a part of, it’s been great.”
On how Gates has changed him on and off the court: “He’s always challenged me to use my voice, talk on the court, sometimes even defensively when I’m doing the right things. The fact that I’m not talking and I’m being silent hinders the team, because you can’t really expect everyone to know what I’m thinking or make it as seamless as I make it sometimes. So sometimes you have to talk and lead your teammates through certain defensive schemes and certain sets on the court.
And then, off the court, he’s just been talking about, me doing things 100%, being more punctual with things, being a leader. Stop being like so standoff-ish, be with the team and stuff like that, because I do like my privacy. But this is a family. That’s just another thing. Back to the previous question … I didn’t really have a family vibe, like a real-world family vibe, from when it comes to the coaching staff all the way down to the players. It’s a real tight group here. Now that I have that, it’s like trying to adjust to letting my guard down a little bit, trusting people more.”
On what he’s watching from the bench before he checks into a game for the first time: The sets are the sets, right? We can run offense. I got all the plays up here (points to his head), so I’m not really worried about how they guard us. I’m more so worried about how we’re guarding them, which players getting most of the shots, how they’re crashing, if they’re sending three guys, if there’s just one guy on the offensive board, and then when I come in the game, just bring a lot of energy. Can’t come off the bench and just be silent and not bring any energy at all.”
On rebounding against Mississippi State: “I would definitely say I block Cam Matthews out. He’s a five-year SEC guy like myself, if I’m not mistaken. So he’s been down there last year he’s there with Tolu Smith, and now he’s there by himself, and he’s basically the x-factor. We talk about Hubbard a lot, but (Matthews) really gets the team going. He’s taking more responsibilities in terms of making and seeing where the ball goes, and definitely crashing a lot. So he’s going to be a tough cover that we got to keep off the glass. KeShawn Murphy, we gotta block him out as well.”
“Those two guys, they’ve been at Mississippi State for a long time, played against those guys for a long time. So those are one of the teams that I feel like can match our physicality in the SEC. So it’s just going to be a game of punches and counter-punches.”
On if he’s ok going scoreless in a game as long as he gets rebounds: “ We talk about egos and individual goals and stuff like that. I’m a pretty selfless person, but I feel like now, as the seasons progress, we’ve started to get into like, I’m doing all the hard, the dirty work that no one else wants to do. Maybe reward me a little bit here and there, and that’s what we’re focusing on a little bit more now. But if I go scoreless. I go scoreless. I don’t think I even put a shot up in some of those games where I went scoreless. So I was just really keying in on being locked in on the defensive side, running our stuff right and getting people open with my screens.”