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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Dennis Gates felt the need to remind everyone in his post-game press conference that Missouri had actually won its game against No. 19 Vanderbilt.
“This is not a loss,” Gates said, after several of the first few questions asked in the press conference were focused on the collapse the Tigers had, where what was once a 21-point lead led to a one-point finish. “This is a win. Let me remind everybody, this is a win“
The ball was inches away from being a possible season-ending loss for the Tigers, with Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner intercepting an in-bound pass from Missouri forward Mark Mitchell, allowing Tanner to toss up a half-court heave at the buzzer that bounced off the inside of the rim, allowing the Tigers to escape with a 81-80 win.
“Well, first I said ‘Oh s—,’ because Mark threw the ball short,” Gates said of his reaction to the play.
Missouri’s SEC season has lived on dozens of moments that invoke that same phrase. For feelings of shockingly good, shockingly bad, confusing or thrilling.
It’s put the Tigers at 8-5 in SEC play, tied for third place in a conference that is concentrated near the top, with a combined eight teams tied for either second or third place.
Missouri is one of the most unique teams of the bunch though. It's won against the team currently in first place (Florida), along with three of the teams it's currently tied with in third place (Kentucky, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt).
But, its also suffered losses to teams in 15th (LSU)and 14th (Ole Miss) place. It needed a buzzer-beater first in regulation, then in overtime, to take down another team tied at 14th (Oklahoma).
The last seven days, including a road victory over Texas A&M that was followed by a blowout loss to Texas, have shown why this Missouri team is like a box of chocolates. Every game will fall somewhere in the range of an expected close showing, a blowout loss worse than expected, or a surprising upset. The Tigers seem to find a new point of that spectrum to strike in each game.
Even within three minutes of the same game, this team can look completely unrecognizable from one point to another.
Against Vanderbilt, Missouri steadily held a lead of 15 or more points for over four minutes in the middle of the second half, looking as if they were set to coast to victory.
But after Vanderbilt turned up the pressure on defense, a 19-point Missouri lead was cut to just 10 in 39 seconds. The Commodores stuck to aggressive defense and execution on 3-point shots to make a tight finish for what, with eight minutes remaining, looked as it would be close to a blowout.
“We were in a situation where we had to kind of throw anything out there, and hopefully it worked,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said of Vanderbilt’s press defense overwhelming Missouri.
Missouri gave up nine turnovers in the final 8:33 of the game after not giving up any in the first 11 minutes of the half. The Tigers also allowed the Commodores to shoot 5 for 7 from the 3-point line in the final seven minutes.
“We got to do a better job of protecting the 3-point line and giving up and-ones,” Gates said. “But more importantly, taking care of the basketball.”
A jumper from Vanderbilt’s Chandler Bing and a 3 from Tyler Nickel within five seconds of play put the Commodores down by one with a second remaining, leading to Tanner nearly landing what would’ve been a heartbreaker for the Tigers.
"It credits the fight that our guys have, the resilience," Gates said of Missouri managing to hold on. "We did not break. And that's the most important part when you're in games one possession at a time. … Our guys had resilience. So I'm proud of them. This is a win. I'll remind you again."
Considering the Tigers were one more allowed make away from this game going down as a remarkably bad collapse, a bad aftertaste is reasonable. It certainly exploited yet another time this season the vulnerabilities Missouri has against pressure defense and allowing late runs.
And the appreciation of the fact that the Tigers played some of their best basketball of the season for about 25 minutes of this game are muddied by the fact that it was another showing of the team failing to put together a complete 40 minutes.
But, this win was a clear building on of what the Tigers have established through its best moments. A righting of the trajectory that was on display in the win at Texas A&M. Most importantly, the Tigers simply needed this win. And for the first 30 minutes, they again looked like a team capable of beating the best in the conference.
“For us to be able to get that on our resume is very important there,” Gates said.
The unpredictability of this team where nothing is guaranteed has harmed them at moments. But it’s also led to their best moments yet. Ones that could lead them to the postseason.
There’s been several moments where Missouri’s season very well could’ve ended. None more striking than the buzzer-beater shots that went in against Oklahoma and the one that didn’t for Vanderbilt.
But somehow, the Tigers have made it to late February still within reach of a NCAA Tournament bid.
The postseason format of possibly several games within multiple days will be an incredibly interesting fit for the Tigers, whether that's just in the SEC Tournament, or also in the NCAA Tournament. An underwhelming first-round loss, or a pile of impressive wins would make perfect sense for this team.
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Joey Van Zummeren is the lead writer for Missouri Tigers on SI, covering the Tigers since 2023. He also has experience reporting on the Green Bay Packers and high school sports. A Belleville, Ill., native, he joined Missouri Tigers On SI as an intern in 2023.
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