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Saturday, November 23, 2024

Mizzou basketball coach Gates following NCAA victory: 'We have a group of guys that BELIEVE in the Mizzou tradition as well as each other!'

Gates

Dennis Gates of the University of Missouri Tigers has been named the SEC men's basketball Coach of the Year. | Dennis Gates/Twitter

Dennis Gates of the University of Missouri Tigers has been named the SEC men's basketball Coach of the Year. | Dennis Gates/Twitter

University of Missouri basketball coach Dennis Gates celebrated the Missouri Tiger's men's basketball team's first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament victory since 2010 in a tweet published on Thursday.

"(BELIEVE = F.L.A.T D.U.E.T) Thanks to those who continue to have our backs!" Gates wrote. "The road is not easy, the road is not fair but we have a group of guys that BELIEVE in the @Mizzou tradition as well as each other! #MarchMadness #MIZ"

According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, Mizzou beat Utah State 76-65 in a game on Thursday. D'Moi led the team in scoring 23 points, but Mizzou needed an offensive boost when Utah State began leading in the second half. Gates relied on Kobe Brown, who scored 13 points and helped to secure a 19-point lead that Utah State couldn't beat before the game ended.

Gates, who is originally from Chicago's Garfield Park neighborhood, completed his elementary schooling at Daniel Webster and graduated from Whitney Young High School. He played for the school's winning basketball team in 1998 alongside future college and National Basketball Association (NBA) players Quentin Richardson (DePaul), Cordell Henry (Marquette) and Najeeb Echols (Missouri). The team defeated Galesburg to secure the state championship and maintained an applauded 27-1 win record.

According to a press release published by Mizzou on March 10, Gates had a stellar run as a head coach in his debut season by guiding his team to 24 wins, the second-highest win total for a first-year coach. USA Today also named him the "2023 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year". Despite being ranked 11th in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) preseason poll, Mizzou was able to achieve a laudable 11-7 record, tying their best record since joining the conference in the 2012-13 season.

Missouri is set to face the Princeton Tigers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, according to the Maneater.

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