Everything Dennis Gates Said Following Mizzou's Loss to Kentucky

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Missouri's SEC Tournament ended on its first day, suffering a 78-72 loss to Kentucky to end its pitch to the selection committee for the NCAA Tournament.

Head coach Dennis Gates, looking to send his third Missouri team to postseason play in March, believes the Tigers' resume speaks to their worthiness of a bid.

Gates spoke about his belief in his team's resume, along with what went wrong against the Wildcats, in his press conference following the loss. Here's a full transcript of what he had to say.

Opening statement:

Obviously, Kentucky had a home-court advantage here in the conference tournament, but their fans showed up, creating an environment where we had to kind of get through the little wrinkles that stopped us, turnovers being the most important. And once we got settled into the game, I thought we were able to get some things going. Shawn Phillips' intensity, Mark Mitchell's intensity, T.O. Barrett's intensity is what led us. Would love to have some possessions back, but you can't. And obviously, here we are. We'll be waiting our fate to see what the selection committee says."

On what happened in the final minutes of the games:

"Well, just walking you through it, I'll have to look at the film to kind of be accurate, it went so fast. But I do know, once we got the lead, we can't put ourselves in a situation where the next possession, or whichever possession they earn is a foul shot away from the rim, and that is where I think that was the last time we had the lead. And we didn't win the game, but you can't fault our guys, they did a great job fighting back to be able to be in this environment and be down, but also show the poise that they've shown to catch the lead again, I wish we would have had the lead for more duration of the game than just 45 seconds. And hard-fought game on both sides. I just hope players continue to be allowed to make plays. I thought that foul call, but the other one, Mark can't put his shoulder in somebody's chest, I guess."

On what was different about Kentucky in this game compared to when they played in January:

"Well, at the end of the day, they were able to make some plays late, once we got the lead, again, self infliction. We didn't make the same mistakes that they made (in the game) at home (Rupp Arena). I think we forced them into three turnovers in that last three or four minutes (in the game in January, and then now (the SEC Tournament game), the foul is a turnover where we ended up giving them or gifting them two free throws, and I think we had another turnover in that. So ultimately, you got to protect the basketball, no self infliction, and be able to execute down the stretch."

On the pace of the game shifting back and forth:

"The game actually did. I mean, that's a good point you bring out, and you have to look into the plays that actually allowed them to shift, so to speak. So when it shifted back to Kentucky, what play was it that allowed it to shift? You guys know you guys were there. You got to check it out and be able to write about it. But it was definitely a shift, so to speak."

On if it is "frustrating" to not be able to win even with Mark Mitchell scoring 32 points in each of the last two games:

"It's the journey of it. First of all, Mark is very unselfish. He would rather score zero points and get the win. So, I'll just start with that right away. That is what it's about. We have a great player on our roster, he does what he needs to do to put his team in position. The individual performances, Mark doesn't care about it at all. I thought he did what he had to do, ultimately. And there's still some baskets that were I guess not counted in that 32."

On what he believes led to the slower start:

"The slow offensive first half? Turnovers. When you have four turnovers that early in the game, that leads to baskets for the opposing team. They only had probably in that first seven or eight minutes, two or three baskets in the half court. But we gifted some points in the paint based off our turnovers. We gifted fast-break points. And obviously, you can't put yourself in a situation like that where they're unearned opportunities. So that's the obvious score. So it seems just because they scored, that our offense wasn't excellent. Our offense was okay. Our mistakes came from the points off turnovers that they earned. So ultimately, we got to the foul line a little bit. Mark ended up shooting only seven in a very physical game. He's one of the best in the country at drawing fouls, and seven is definitely not up to his standard or up to my standard. And he wasn't able to get to the line early on in that game to sort of seal some of those possessions for us."

On Missouri's case for the NCAA Tournament:

"Well, it's not an elevator pitch, it's just facts. We're in one of the best conferences in basketball,, one of 36 teams with five Quad-1 wins. We don't have a bad loss at all — there's no bad loss on our record, meaning Quad 3s and, I guess, 4s. We have some great wins at home and on the road. We just lost to a top-25, 30 team or NET and whatnot. But the NET doesn't look at where our team is. The NET doesn't say Trent Pierce was out and Jayden stone was out (in December). It doesn't say that. So we're a completely different team than what, whatever the NET is talking about. That's why the committee doesn't focus on the net. Wins above bubble is there. Our style of play is there. I think we're a completely different team, just because of the fact that we are a little bit more healthy when you add Trent Pierce, our matrix is completely different than when you take him out, and the same with Jayden stone. The Torvik rating, I think we're 36 and that 35, 36 in that. So ultimately, they got the job to do. I'm not on a committee. Everything that's been published right now in media is not accurate information based off of inside that room, so they're educated guess based off the history. I hope we have a shot, but we'll see."

On Shawn Phillips Jr.'s performance:

"Shawn Phillips got in foul trouble in the first two minutes of the game. He still played some major minutes for us, specifically 18, and when he was on the court, you guys saw the domination. You guys saw it. He was behind us emotionally. He was behind us mentally, and he challenged his team in a huddle, and they responded a certain way. Now, I would have loved the fact that he never got that last one (foul). But do you pull a guy back and say, 'don't play with the passion that you're playing with, because everyone else plays the game at a lower passion than you do.' or do you let that kid just try to will his team to victory. I am absolutely proud of Shawn Phillips, his impact, his leadership. I am thankful that he chose me as his coach. I am thankful of his teammates accepting who he is as a young man, as a brother, as a as a peer, but there is no doubt in my mind not having him in the first half impacted the game greatly. I even played him with two fouls, so we just got to look and see if those were actual fouls And I don't know, you can't go back and change them. So referees saw something."

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