Seeded No. 6 for the NCAA Tournament, the Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team garnered some additional awards ahead of Thursday’s first-round game against 11th-seeded Drake in Wichita. Mizzou, which plays the Bulldogs in a 6:35 p.m. game Thursday at InTrust Arena, collected the hardware from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Recognized as the NABC Central Region Coach of the Year is MU head coach Dennis Gates. Junior forward Mark Mitchell, graduate guard Caleb Grill and senior guard Tamar Bates were named to the NABC All-Central Region second team.
Selections for the awards were made by the coaches within the NABC Central Region, which consists of all programs from the states of Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Iowa and Nebraska. Gates earned his second NCAA Tournament berth in three seasons with Mizzou, currently 22-11.
He completed a turnaround from a 2023-24 season that saw the Tigers go 8-24, 0-18 in Southeastern Conference play. Mitchell is averaging a team-leading 14.1 points per game to go with 4.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 steals. The Duke transfer is one of 13 players nationally to record at least 450 points, 125 rebounds, 60 assists, 30 steals and 25 blocks in the 2024-25 campaign.
Mitchell adds the accolade to his All-SEC third-team and The Associated Press All-SEC second-team selections this season. Grill earns the honor after averaging 13.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.6 steals in 28 games for MU.
The SEC Sixth Man of the Year ranks 39th in the country in 3-point percentage with a 40.53% (77-for-190) clip. Bates ranks third in points per game this season for the Tigers, posting averages of 13.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.3 steals.
The Kansas City, Kansas, product is on pace to become the first player in program history to join the 50-40-90 club, shooting 50.8% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 94.3% from the free-throw line.
Missouri and Kentucky were the only two schools in the Central Region to garner three all-district athletes. Mitchell, Grill and Bates join Creighton senior guard Steven Ashworth, Kentucky graduate guard Lamont Butler, Vanderbilt junior guard Jason Edwards, Iowa State senior guard Keshon Gilbert, Kansas State senior guard David N’Guessan, Lipscomb senior forward Jacob Ognacevic and Kentucky graduate center Amari Williams.
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