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Even in Missouri’s 9-1 start, Dennis Gates has not stopped preaching improvement to his fast-rising squad.

Just five days on the heels of a 76-67 upset over top-ranked Kansas, Missouri’s head coach was asked about areas for continued development. He mentioned taking care of the ball. In that, he pointed out a desire to bolster the Tigers’ assist-to-turnover ratio, moving the ball better to produce quality offense.

“When I say, ‘Take care of the basketball,’ I want to see a bigger deviation between assists and turnovers,” Gates said. “I want to see 18, 19 assists.”

The Tigers took that to heart, dishing out 20 in Saturday’s 88-61 win over Long Island University. Now, Missouri seeks a 10-1 start for the second time in three seasons on Tuesday, hosting Jacksonville State (6-4), with a marquee matchup against visiting Illinois awaiting on the other side, on Sunday. Jacksonville State opens a two-game road swing this week, looking to improve its 1-2 road record.

Missouri has been short-handed since Nov. 27, when guard Caleb Grill suffered an injury to his “head and neck” area while going up for a rebound against Lindenwood. Grill was averaging 15.5 points per game entering that contest. He remains “day-to-day,” Gates said on Friday.

In Grill’s absence, several of Missouri’s guards have stepped up off the bench, including Marques Warrick, who had 12 points in Missouri’s 98-93 victory over Cal on Dec. 3, and Anthony Robinson II, who averaged 16 points in the wins over Cal, Kansas and LIU. Graduate student Tony Perkins has started each of the Tigers’ last two games, notably playing 30 minutes in the massive win over Kansas.

“He’s stringing along some great days and great weeks,” Gates said of Perkins on Friday. “He has enough experience to be able to lend a hand to his teammates, give great advice to young people, but also galvanize our unit.”

Jacksonville State has also found its main source of consistency in the backcourt, with guards Jaron Pierre Jr. and Jamar Franklin starting all 10 games. Pierre Jr. is amongst the nation’s most explosive scorers, averaging 23.2 ppg, No. 4 in Division I entering Monday. The New Orleans native also leads the Gamecocks with 4.5 assists per game.

“(Pierre) can give you whatever you want,” Franklin told the Anniston Star after Jacksonville State’s 70-66 win over Utah Valley last Saturday. “He can score at all three levels.”

–Field Level Media