The 2023-24 Missouri men’s basketball season has been one of constant disappointment.

It started with the second half collapse against Memphis. Then a loss at Mizzou Arena to 0-5 Jackson State. Now the Tigers are on a nine-game losing streak. Seemingly every week the Tigers hit a new rock bottom.

The trend continued in their games against Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

The Tigers entered the week full of optimism once again. It began at home against an undermanned Arkansas Razorback squad in a contest that saw Missouri favored for the first time in SEC play. 

Mizzou Arena was occupied by fans hoping to see MU defeat their rivals, but that excitement seemingly did not carry over to the players. The Tigers fell flat in a loss that was much worse than the scoreboard showed. 

Next up for the Tigers was Vanderbilt, the only team on the same level as Missouri in terms of success in conference play. Their best win of the year was a 4-point victory over UNC Greensboro out of the Southern Conference. 

Besides, what power-six team loses to Vanderbilt?

Forty minutes after tip-off at Memorial Gymnasium, that question has been answered and replaced with a new question: Will Missouri win a game in the SEC? 

Four months ago, asking this question would’ve been absurd. In 2022-23, head coach Dennis Gates turned a ragtag group made up of mid-major transfers and current Los Angeles Clippers forward Kobe Brown to the promised land that was March Madness. Just imagine the success he can have with proven power-conference veterans such as graduate Caleb Grill, graduate Connor Vanover and junior Tamar Bates.

But these dreams of success that Missouri entered the season with have not been fulfilled, as the Tigers currently sit 8-14 on the year, and are the only team in the SEC yet to secure a conference victory. These losses are not at the fault of Bates, who along with graduate Sean East II, have blown expectations out of the water. The two are averaging a combined 33 points per game in conference play, which accounts for 48% of Missouri’s total scoring 

But aside from the two Tigers who have exceeded expectations, there is a roster full of players who have fallen short of their potential. 

The two returning starters from a year ago were graduates Nick Honor and Noah Carter. Both players were crucial on last year’s team. The hope was that the duo would be able to step into the leadership roles that were left behind by last season’s departures. That has not been the case. 

Honor has seen his two-point percentage fall 9% this season as well as career-lows in rebounds, assists and steals despite seeing his highest minutes per game since his freshman year. 

Carter has seen his efficiency plummet, shooting 40% from the field and 28% from the three, both the worst of his career. 

Sophomore Aidan Shaw also returned, seemingly primed to make a jump that hasn’t happened. The former four-star recruit has increased his rebounding by 1.8 boards per game and is blocking one more shot per game, but his offensive game has plateaued. He is averaging 3.3 points a game, which is less than a point more per game than he scored a year ago. 

Shaw shot 28% from three a year ago, and there was hope to see his game grow offensively. But Shaw’s shooting has not just stagnated, it has completely been taken out of his game. The forward attempted just two 3-pointers all season long, and typically doesn’t even look to score on the perimeter. 

The transfer class hasn’t been much better.

The 7-foot-5-inch Vanover was brought in through the portal to help improve the rebounding issues that plagued Missouri throughout all of last season, highlighted in the Tigers’ March Madness loss to 15-seed Princeton. 

However, the rebounding issue is still prominent for Missouri as they rank dead last in the SEC in rebounds per game. This is the case for a second-straight season with Vanover adding just 2.7 rebounds a game. 

The center was also advertised as a shooter, but that hasn’t come to fruition either. Vanover is shooting 21%, helping him to a career-worst 4.2 points per game. 

Senior Jesus Carralero Martin opened the season in the starting line-up, but was quickly removed. Carralero was later removed from the rotation entirely for a stretch in December. He returned to the starting five for two games but saw his minutes drop back to zero against Vanderbilt.

Junior Curt Lewis returned to the Division I level following a stint in the JUCO program at John A. Logan Community College, but has failed to make an impact. Lewis is averaging career-lows in points, rebounds and assists on the worst efficiency of his career. 

Grill has only played in nine games due to a wrist injury he suffered in Missouri’s victory over Wichita State, but was on pace to have his worst shooting season since his freshman year at Iowa State. 

Graduate John Tonje, who averaged 14.6 points per game in his senior year at Colorado State, only appeared in eight of Missouri’s first 16 games before being shut down for the remainder of the year with a lingering foot injury 

There is a consistent trend between all of these players. They have all noticeably regressed in their scoring ability. 

The playstyle that Gates implemented last year and tried to use at the beginning of this year is based on a heavy reliance on the 3-pointer. This works when you have shooters at the level of Kobe Brown and current Los Angeles Laker D’Moi Hodge. But when you have players who are not exceptional shooters, percentages are bound to drop. 

The good news is it seems as though Gates is trying to adjust to his team’s shooting ability. The Tigers are attempting on average 5.5 less 3-pointers per game since conference play began, highlighted by a season-low eight attempts against South Carolina. But the change in play style has not yet translated to a win.  

Looking ahead, what adjustments could be made to help this team’s chances to win? That’s something that will be revealed in the next few weeks as Gates and his staff’s coaching ability is tested. 

One thing that’s certain: time is running out and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Missouri still has to see Texas A&M, Florida and Arkansas, all teams who have already handed the Tigers a loss. They also still have matchups with No. 5 Tennessee and No. 16 Auburn. The threat of a 0-18 conference record is very real. 

An 0-18 record is a feat that has happened just once since Missouri moved to the SEC in the 2012-13 season. Vanderbilt accomplished this most recently in 2018-19. 

MU has been in this situation once before. In 2016-17, Kim Anderson’s squad lost their first nine conference games before their first victory came against Arkansas. 

At this point, all fans can do is hope for one upset to happen to avoid the dreaded winless season, and then wait for the No. 4 ranked recruiting class to get to campus and hope that with the infusion of talent, Gates can right the ship. 

247Sports composite five-star recruit Annor Boateng and four-star recruits Peyton Marshall, Trent Burns, Marcus Allen and T.O. Barrett make up Missouri’s best class since 2017, which was led by the highest-rated recruit in Missouri’s history, Michael Porter Jr.

With these five recruits, the current freshman class of Anthony Robinson II, Trent Pierce and Jordan Butler, along with the continued development of Bates and Shaw who are eligible to return next season, the future is not without hope for Missouri. 

Edited by Michael Stamps

Copy edited by Hannah Taylor and Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com 

Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com