Gates continues to resort to the bench in search of a spark
Mizzou earned his fourth straight victory Saturday by beating Ole Miss in the regular season finale, 82-77. He did it by taking four players off the bench in a combined 64 minutes.
The Tigers’ reserves played a large role in the team’s victory over the Rebels. Missouri had 29 bench points to Ole Miss’s 12. In a game decided by five points, he made the difference. senior striker Noah Carter and freshman ahead Aidan Shaw both ended up closing out the game for MU, with the head coach dennis gates replacing Carter for offensive possessions and Shaw for defense in the final minutes.
Gates was especially proud of what he saw of Carter.
“I want him to play with confidence, that’s the most important thing,” Gates said. “I don’t like when he gets frustrated, I don’t like when he tries to be perfect because that’s not the game of basketball. I want the guys to go out there and have fun, but also to read the game the right way. And he read the game the right way.”
Mizzou reserves against Ole Miss
The ability to lean off the bench speaks to the depth the Tigers have. Eleven different players have cracked the starting eleven this season. According to KenPom, reservations consume 33.4% of available minutes, which ranks it 112th in the country. It’s been particularly important to play in the SEC, where several teams go deep on the bench; despite being in the top third of the country in bench minutes, Mizzou ranks eighth in the conference.
Percentage of bank minutes in the SEC (according to KenPom)
Missouri expects its bookings to continue to build going into the postseason, beginning with a quarterfinal matchup in the SEC tournament on Friday at 2:30 pm CT in Nashville, Tennessee.
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