Jordan Butler and Dennis Gates’ opinions on Thursday, January 25, 2024

For the second time this season, Missouri (8-11, 0-6 Southeastern Conference) plays on the road when it visits South Carolina (16-3, 4-2). Missouri lost for the sixth time in a row on Tuesday in College Station, falling short against Texas A&M 63-57. When the Tigers and Gamecocks last played on January 13, MU lost in overtime despite having a five-point lead late in regulation. Dennis Gates was accessible to the media as usual, while Jordan Butler—who earned his first career start on Tuesday—was this week’s featured player.

Regarding the Texas A&M game: “It’s unlikely that a team will ever shoot 27% from field goals and 22% from three and win the game or not even trail at halftime.” We placed ourselves in a strong defensive position, but we need to reset and head back to South Carolina this weekend for a difficult road game.

Regarding South Carolina: “One of our conference’s toughest defensive teams.” In year two, Lamont Paris has performed admirably. Without a doubt, in my opinion, the conference’s coach of the year.

The lesson learned from the Tigers’ most recent encounter with the Gamecocks is that “you have to take everything.” It must be taken in its entirety.

Anthony Robinson was 0-3 on Anthony Robinson II. Though he’s now handling some family matters, we still value him.

Regarding the freshmen class as a whole: “Those guys are experiencing the challenges that life hands them because we have all been there before, and now it’s about processing, growing, and embarking on their own journey.” Additionally, you must use various paintbrushes to paint them. Everyone has a unique journey, so you can’t paint them all with the same brush.

“My takeaways are to play really hard,” he said. The most important thing is to play hard, attempt to grab offensive rebounds, and get as close to the free throw line as you can.

Regarding what he believes has been causing close defeats: “I believe a lot of it; in the last game, it was undoubtedly the free throw line.” There was a significant disparity between our 10 and their 37 free throws, particularly while facing A&M.

Regarding his perceived areas of growth, he says, “I feel like I’ve gotten a lot stronger.” I’ve become much faster, stronger, and capable of competing with bigger guys.

“When I first got here, it was challenging to learn all the different concepts, so it’s just been something I’ve been trying to focus more and more on the past couple weeks,” he said, describing how his defensiveness has grown.

Regarding his shot: “After high school, there has been an adjustment. I tried to get out of my little rut, but I only hit 40% from 3-point range.

Regarding Trent Pierce and Anthony Robinson II: “It seems like everyone is getting worse.” We are all just putting in a lot of effort and improving as a team, so I would say that we are heading upward.