Dennis Gates Diagnoses Mizzou's Free-Throw Shooting Issues

Missouri has left too many free points on the table this season.

The Tigers currently rank at No. 338 in the country and last in the SEC in free-throw percentage at 66.3%.

"The in-game variables are always different," Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said in a press conference Tuesday. "You can't predict what they will be. Sometimes it's fatigue, sometimes it's road, sometimes it's knick-knack, or sometimes it's lack of concentration. We can't afford to have it be lack of concentration. We got to go up and knock 'em down."

Missouri did lose four of its five top free-throw shooters from last season. In that year, Missouri's worst game of free-throw percentage was 61%. In the 2025-26 season, the Tigers have already had four games below that mark.

But this season has also included significant drop offs from the line for what should be some of the team's most reliable free-throw shooters.

Especially from the guards. The top-three guards have seen a combined drop off off 28.5% from the charity stripe.

"Our guards have to do a better job," Gates said. "And that's well-documented."

Here's a look at how every Missouri player who has taken at least 15 free throws this season is doing at the line compared to last season.

Player	2025-26 FTs made,-attempted, %	Change from previous season
F Jacob Crews	30-37, 81.1%	+7.4
G Jayden Stone	23-33, 69.7%	-9.7
F Mark Mitchell	78-113, 69%	+2
G Anthony Robinson II	41-62, 66.1%	-10
G Sebastian Mack	19-29, 65.5%	-8.8
F Jevon Porter	11-17, 64.7%	-3.4
C Shawn Phillips Jr.	12-30, 40%	-20

The current marks would be career lows for Stone, Robinson and Mack. For Stone, he believes he's over-complicated the mental process.

"I think I'm thinking about it too much, so hopefully I can just settle myself and knock 'em down," Stone said in a press conference Tuesday. "... I think it's the looming thoughts of, like we really have to make free throws instead of just taking time and making the shot."

Missouri has been in high-pressure situations in each of its first three SEC games, with all coming down to the final minutes.

Against Florida, the Tigers were able to hold on to late lead. Against Kentucky, the Tigers outscored the Wildcats 15-2 in the final stretch to forge a comeback. But against Ole Miss, Missouri was unable to overcome what was as small as a three-point deficit with 1:26 remaining.

The Tigers failed to make the big shots that they were in the two wins, but arguably more importantly, Missouri had a poor day from the free-throw line that separated it from Ole Miss.

"As we found out with Ole Miss, just the lack of knocking down the free throws really hurt us," Stone said.

Missouri shot 50% from the line compared to 78.9 for Ole Miss.

"You can't win games not executing at the free-throw line," Gates said. "It's one thing to get there. It's another thing to be able to knock down those free throws."

Gates has previously said that a benchmark for where he wants to be with free throws is for his team to make more free throws than the opponent attempts. Through the first SEC games, Missouri has fell significantly short of that, making 43 free throws and allowing 63 attempts.

As the Ole Miss loss showed, the little moments of the game can make all the difference.

But the little moments of the process of a free-throw attempt can also make a difference, according to Stone. Things as simple as the pre-shot routine.

"I was doing a different routine every time I was shooting the free throws," Stone said. "So sometimes I'd spin the ball to me. Sometimes I take two dribbles instead of just my usual routine, which is a long breath and then knock it down."

Those routines are established in practice, where Missouri has consistently emphasized shooting from the line, according to Gates. But no practice setting can simulate the situations of a game. But the routine and movement can become muscle memory.

"It's not a matter of shooting free throws when your pulse rate is at a zero, it's shooting them when you have stress and being able to replicate the stress," Gates said. "So in practice, replicating the stress, the guys have to knock 'em down and get into that meditation on that line."

On top of the pressure of the moment, Gates believes Missouri's players are multiplying the pressure by still worrying about the last missed one.

"We can't allow missing a free throw to impact the next one," Gates said. "So we got to have short-term memory. We have to be able to understand the routine, execute the routine, and just make sure we're getting there, because that's where the game can possibly make a difference."

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