Why Dennis Gates’ first Missouri basketball team is a special one: Senior day preview

Dennis Gates knows the college basketball landscape is different. Senior day carries a much different look than what it used to.

The transfer portal means honoring seniors who spent their careers multiple years elsewhere, or giving players their due if a team doesn’t know if they’ll stick around in the coming weeks.

“I’ve had kids go through a senior day three times before,” Gates said Friday. “NCAA rules don’t allow you to get the jersey and plaque right, but it allows you to still recognize these guys for their hard work and dedication and I think you’ll see more of it in this new wave of transfer portal and movement.”

MU said it would honor a host of players earlier this week. Noah Carter, Sean East, Kobe Brown, Isiaih Mosley and Nick Honor are all upperclassmen that are listed as seniors or graduate students who had extra years of eligibility. They could all return, or they could opt for a different scene.

Gates is cognizant that it’s up to them. He also wants to honor the team that’s special to him.

“Every team is different no matter who comes and goes, but this is this team,” Gates said. “I’ve only had, and only will have, one first team that I’ve coached here at Mizzou and this is it for that team.”

On that team, four players are without any years of eligibility remaining. D’Moi Hodge, Tre Gomillion, Ben Sternberg and DeAndre Gholston will depart the program at year’s end.

All have made irreplaceable contributions to a team that will play in the NCAA Tournament in Gates’ first year. All mean more to Gates on a personal level.

Hodge is in MU’s record book as the team’s single-season steals record holder. Gholston’s two buzzer-beaters will be remembered as potentially two of the most iconic moments in Gates’ early tenure. Sternberg’s story from manager to walk-on, to MU captain, is something Gates preaches is bigger than just basketball. Gomillion will eventually be on Gates’ staff, Gates said, as a cerebral part of the team who understands what the staff wants to run.

“The first kid I ever signed as a head coach, and nobody can ever replace that,” Gates said of Gomillion. “He’s a young man that I truly believe will be on a staff one day when the ball stops bouncing. He’s great at leading men, and I couldn’t imagine being on this journey without him.”

Gates said Sternberg is a person who doesn’t get enough credit.

“He really defines our team with his mentality and characteristics,” Gates said. “He’s an underdog, not given some of the opportunities in life, but the path that he’s been able to pave and earn himself is remarkable.”

Gates said he knew his path would cross with Gholston. He recruited Gholston to Cleveland State and carried that relationship to Missouri.

“He’s a tough-minded kid, one of the biggest shot-makers on this team as we have seen this season,” Gates said. “He’s impacted the uniform that he’s put on.”

D’Moi Hodge was a player Gates recruited to Florida State before Gates brought him to Cleveland State and, eventually, MU.

“I couldn’t imagine him being anywhere else,” Gates said.

MU will honor those four departees against Ole Miss this Saturday. Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised on the SEC Network.

Scouting Ole Miss

Rebels at a glance: 11-19 overall, 3-14 in SEC play

A few things have happened since the Tigers first played Ole Miss in January.

Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis has been fired, but the Rebels will have Matthew Murrell for this Saturday’s game. MU has bolstered its NCAA Tournament resume while seeing the emergence of players like Mohamed Diarra and the improved health of Tre Gomillion.

Gomillion missed the game against Ole Miss in January but remembers the outcome, an 89-77 win in Oxford.

“All I remember is us shooting the piss out of the ball,” Gomillion said.

The key to Saturday, Gates said, is MU’s connectivity.

“I think that has become a cliche word, but it means something different to us,” Gates said. “We always used it in different environments, but more importantly with each other.”

Gates said that connectivity is what links MU together as a team beyond basketball, which Gates hopes keeps the players and coaches in each other’s lives forever. That connectivity is also why the Tigers are averaging 77 points per game at home since the beginning of conference play, including the Iowa State game.

With a win, Missouri puts itself in a position to potentially clinch a top-three seed in the SEC Tournament next week, although Gates isn’t thinking that far ahead,

“We’re just waiting patiently to see where and where dominoes fall,” Gates said.

This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Why Dennis Gates’ first Missouri basketball team is a special one: Senior day preview."