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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Just about everything that occurred in the 40 minutes the Missouri Tigers and No. 19 Vanderbilt Commodores squared off was unpredictable.
The scorched-earth run the Tigers went on early in the second half. The nearly converted half-court shot attempt by Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner. This matchup had everything a basketball fan could ever desire.
To add to that, Dennis Gates and the Tigers received some unexpected aid from a freshman off the bench. The enigma that is 7-foot-5 big man Trent Burns was forced onto the court earlier than usual because of typical foul trouble from senior big man Shawn Phillips Jr.
Gates has been calling for one of Missouri's three bigs off the bench to make an impact. Finally, he got that in Burns in an 81-80 win over Vanderbilt.
"We need somebody to step up, especially at the five spot, and tonight it was Trent Burns," Gates told the media following the win. "His teammates did a great job of pushing him through and demanding of him as well, and that was the response that we needed."
Gates went as far as to name Burns as Missouri's player of the game in the postgame press conference. His impacts on and off the statsheet were noticeable and were a key reason for a potentially season-defining win over a ranked opponent.
Burns finished the game with three points, seven rebounds and a block with a career-high 18 minutes played.
This performance stemmed from recent practices, including the one on Tuesday before playing the Commodores. The tone he set for himself and others allowed him to earn the minutes he did on Wednesday and play as well as he did.
"Our player of the game was Trent Burns," Gates said. "I thought he did a tremendous job in practice. And what he did in practice showed up in the game. And whatever that was, it was more so toward me because I told him, I'm not going to play you ever again if you don't earn it in practice."
During that practice on Tuesday, Gates was highly critical of Burns. As a result of that, it became clear to Gates and others that Burns' teammates would come to his side when needed. Veterans on the team even defended Burns to Gates as a result of his coaching.
“During our practice yesterday, I heard guys stick up for him and say, leave him alone. Leave him alone," Gates said. "He got it. … and the biggest voice was Jacob Crews.”
The response to his tough coaching didn't bother Gates one bit. In fact, it only reinforced the idea that he has a connected group of players who would do anything for each other, even if that meant talking back to their head coach.
"(He) had a great practice, and it comes from the support of the team and the connectivity of the team and the relationship that these guys have not only with the coaching staff, but with each other," Gates said.
Other veterans on the team, including graduate guard Jayden Stone, have been impressed with how Burns carries himself. Burns is not a player who's received much run this season because of the impact Phillips has had, but it seems as if Burns may be set for more playing time.
Burns did an excellent job of staying ready when his name was called, as well. His previous career-high in minutes was 11 against South Carolina State on Nov. 25. He's shown a lot of growth since then and it's starting to unfold on the floor.
"I just noticed, with Burns, the tremendous character that he has," graduate guard Jayden Stone said. "Even when coach sometimes gets on him, … he's always even keeled. Never gets too high, never gets too low and he just stayed ready."
It's very possible that the Commodores were not ready for 18 minutes of Trent Burns. To be fair, most people probably weren't.
That's like a reason for the impact he made on the game. From Vanderbilt's perspective, it was dealing with a gigantic space eater on defense and a fluid lob-threat on offense. Though he only finished with three points, he was able to create space by using his body alone. That was his biggest asset in this game and was the thing that was the most challenging for Vanderbilt.
"I think he held it down for them. He is a big body, and he made a couple of nice plays there," Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said. "We thought we might be able to exploit him on defense a little bit and he did a good job recovering. We really couldn't take advantage of him."
Burns and the Tigers will have a chance at another win at 3 p.m. on Saturday against the No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Michael Stamps is attending the University of Missouri pursuing a degree in journalism. He joined Missouri Tigers On SI as a recruiting writer in 2023, but his beats have subsequently included football and basketball, plus recruiting. Michael is from Papillion, Neb.
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