How 12-Day Break Inspired Mizzou's Turnaround from Crushing Loss to Ranked Win

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri entered SEC play coming off a December to forget. The Tigers' last performance of the 2025 calendar year was a humiliating 43-point loss to Illinois.

Missouri went 2-3 in December, only taking wins over two SWAC teams. It was a stretch Missouri would like people to forget about. Coach Dennis Gates even joked that he had.

"I have amnesia," Gates said sarcastically when asked about the stretch in a press conference Friday. "I don't know what you're talking about."

But the Missouri team that showed up Saturday night against No. 22 Florida was completely unrecognizable from the one that played in St. Louis on Dec. 22. The Tigers of 2026 made it easy to forget about the Tigers that showed up at the end of 2025.

Though Gates was up for jokes about his memory in the press conference, he made sure in the 12 days between the loss against Illinois to the matchup against the Gators that his players would not forget everything they needed to fix from the loss to the Fighting Illini.

"I want to publicly thank our guys for allowing me to be the biggest a**hole known to man in the last week," Gates said of his attitude in practice. "They took ownership and established their own identity."

"All the coaches have really been on us," guard Anthony Robinson II said of the time in practice leading up to the Florida game.

After the loss to Illinois, Gates plead his case that injuries were a significant factor holding Missouri back, a. claim that's difficult to hold space for after a performance that was bad all-around.

“I can't wait to get healthy as a team," Gates said after the loss. "...You cannot ask our players to do more than what they've done. I take it on my shoulders, as the leader, as the head coach. It's on me. This game is on me. I told my players that in the locker room, it's on me. Do not feel bad about it. Respond to it, but don't feel bad about it."

Missouri Tigers forward Mark Mitchell looks on from the bench in the first half of Missouri's loss to Illinois. | Sam Simon/MissouriOnSI

The injuries were certainly considerable, though. Missouri had been without guard Jayden Stone for a month as he dealt with a hand injury. Forward Trent Pierce had missed every game in the season leading up to that point with an injury. Forward Jevon Porter also missed the Illinois game with a leg injury.

But, injuries or not, the season was at the risk of getting late early. The Tigers entered SEC play with its only power-conference win being over Minnesota, which is currently ranked at No. 95 in KenPom. All of the resume building for the Tigers would have to happen in SEC play, and it would take a vast improvement.

But that process of improvement was also something Gates found difficult to do with the three injured players.

"Being able to get better through a season has been interrupted for us. We look at games, but look at practices. How many practices has Jayden Stone missed? Has Annor Boateng missed, or Jevon Porter, Trent Pierce and even Trent Burns. You don't allow your team to get better, because that's when the galvanizing, that's when the camaraderie, that's when the timing and the confidence happens. So ultimately, we've been able to get better, but not good enough to defeat teams that we should have defeated."

So, with Pierce and Stone back practicing, Gates focused in making up for building that confidence and camaraderie he thought the team had been behind in building. He did that by being harsh, but also by making the players figure out how to re-gain confidence between themselves.

"Coach had sat us down, we talked to each other and then he made each player partner up and go get lunch together," Pierce said. "And I think that just really helped us stay connected and allowed us just to grow closer to each other and trust each other more out there."

Gates had the players spend several days doing exercises to build chemistry with their selected teammate. The players also sat down to hear from the team's sports psychologist, Dr. Joe Carr.

Missouri was able to fit this in due to the prolonged break without any games since the Illinois loss, a period Gates viewed as a chance to reset.

"Being able to have the amount of days off that we had was very instrumental to these guys," Gates said. "Trent and Jayden Stone to get more reps, whether it was through scrimmaging, whether it's through drills, and what they bring is confidence on both sides."

So, Saturday night when the players took the court at Mizzou Arena for the first time since Dec. 14, the Tigers had a new-found confidence and a boost from Pierce from Stone being back in the lineup.

Jan 3, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Jayden Stone (17) celebrates during the first half of a game against the Florida Gators at Mizzou Arena. | Sam Simon/MissouriOnSI

Both of those were needed when Missouri was needing a response in the first half after Florida had taken a 19-11 lead after going on a 10-3 scoring run. The Tigers had kept up in the first three minutes, holding a 9-8 lead with 17:04 remaining in the half. But the Tigers were falling behind quickly.

In losses to both Illinois and Kansas, Missouri had kept up for the early minutes before a bad few minutes unraveled into the rest of the game.

Against Kansas, Missouri held a 23-21 lead with 4:29 remaining in the first half. But then seven unanswered points from the Jayhawks at the end of the half quickly turned into a 23-3 run for Kansas in the middle eight minutes of the game that Missouri was unable to recover from.

Against Illinois, Missouri tied the game at 14-14 with 11:36 remaining, but a 7-2 run for Illinois snowballed into a 41-25 lead for the Fighting Illini by the end of the half.

But, when Florida punched, Missouri fought back. The Tigers sawed down separate leads of nine, seven and five points throughout the half. The first half ended with 7-foot-5 center Trent Burns nailing a 3 to tie the game at 39.

It was the first 3-point make of Burns' career, but Grill had made Burns drill into 3-point shooting during the week of practice.

"It got to a point in practice where I used some profanity, cursed him out and said 'Just shoot 3s. Just shoot 3s all practice for the next 3 days. Don't do nothing in the block,'" Gates recalled saying.

The 3 from Pierce set Missouri off to a 17-7 run to open the second half. In the losses on the season, the middle parts of the game had been a trouble area where Missouri had been sent spiraling. Burns' 3 sent Missouri in the opposite direction.

"The last previous games, where we we're not poised enough to execute in the last two minutes, and sometimes those games got away from us," Gates said.

Missouri then had poise in the final two minutes of the game. Nine unanswered points from Florida turned a comfortable Missouri lead to a 65-64 Florida lead with 3:37 remaining. The Gators took the lead with forward Thomas Haugh sinking a 3.

But Missouri responded with Pierce making a 3 of his own, plus quickly improving its defense. to take a 71-67 lead with 58 seconds remaining.

"I thought we got a little frozen, and they took the lead, but we didn't break," Gates said. "We may have bent, but we didn't break. And our guys showed character in that moment when they knocked down the 3 to go up one, and we were able to reestablish the lead the way that we did."

But Missouri needed one last shot to secure it after Florida was again within two points.

During a conversation on the sideline, Robinson looked at Gates "I was like, What do you want me to do?" Robinson recalled.

"Nobody else is shooting that shot but you, and you need to make the play," Gates recalled saying back.

Robinson did exactly that, leaping up to make the 3 that secured the win for the Tigers.

In the previous losses, Robinson or any other Missouri player didn't even have the chance to make a clutch shot late. The Tigers lost those games far earlier.

Jan 3, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Anthony Robinson II (0) celebrates after defeating the Florida Gators at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

But after 12 days of harsh practices and lunches with teammates, this team is 1-0 in SEC play and has its first ranked win of the season. Gates' claim that the team would look improved with the return of Pierce and Stone was proven right in the win.

The win could be a significant confidence boost for Missouri. The Tigers certainly proved more than they have in any other game this season. But it's just the first of a long SEC slate to come.

"With everyone being healthy we saw potential," Robinson said. "I think we made a little noise tonight, but we're not satisfied."

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