Mizzou basketball heads to Kansas City, for first time since 2019, with tough Seton Hall on deck

Like most actions when it comes to Dennis Gates, Mizzou men’s basketball’s upcoming game against Seton Hall in Kansas City came to fruition by way of a coaching connection.

During COVID, Gates said during a press conference Friday, Loyola-Maryland coach Tavaras Hardy started a Zoom meeting with then-first-time head coaches Shaheen Hollaway at Saint Peter’s and Gates at Cleveland State. Although they’d long known each other and dueled on the recruiting trail as assistant coaches, Gates said his friendship with Holloway developed during that period of time.

So, when Holloway returned to Seton Hall to become the head coach of his alma mater in 2022, opportunity arose.

“One of those calls, whether it's us needing a game, us asking each other about different X's and O's, … whether we're going over practice plans and whatnot, it led to scheduling and scheduling opportunity with the dates that we provided or had, giving us the opportunity to play a team in the Big East,” Gates said. “And Shaheen Holloway was looking for the same day against a quality opponent.”

So, for the first time since 2019, the MU men will compete on the court in Kansas City, where the Tigers will face the Pirates on Sunday at the T-Mobile Center.

And for the first time since the 1992 NCAA Tournament, the Tigers (7-3) are playing the Pirates (6-4).

Storylines come with the territory.

Mizzou has two players — sophomore forward Aidan Shaw and transfer guard Tamar Bates — who hail from the Kansas City area. Shaw hasn’t played in the downtown arena before, but he has been several times.

He watched Joel Embiid and JJ Reddick and the Sixers play there once.

Shaw has also seen the circus at T-Mobile Center, he joked.

“I've been up there a lot,” Shaw said. “It's a very nice arena, and I'm excited to go back to my hometown and play in there.”

There’s also the benefit of recruiting in-state. The Tigers landed a hometown prospect in Tolton’s Aaron Rowe, a four-star point guard in the Class of 2025, on Wednesday. Gates brought up his coaching staff re-recruiting Shaw out of Kansas City when he first took over at MU, and he now wants to figure out who will be “the next ones” to come from that area.

Tack on the fact that a KC matchup allows the Tigers to take their team to their fans. The Tigers already play Braggin’ Rights against Illinois in St. Louis. Now they’re heading west of Columbia.

The Pirates will be no slouch of a neutral-site opponent, either.

Gates has spoken at length about testing his Tigers through their nonconference slate, which has just three games remaining.

That test took MU to Lawrence, Kansas, last Saturday, and Gates’ side put up more of a battle in the Border War than at any point since the rivalry was revived in 2021. Enough so that the coach still has a lingering what-coulda-been outlook on the game against the nation’s No. 2-ranked team.

“We let one get away,” Gates said. “There's no doubt about it.”

Seton Hall, meanwhile, has lost four of its past six games, with two coming against ranked opponents USC and Baylor and the others against the Big Ten’s Rutgers and Iowa.

But they do plenty that could be cause for concern for Missouri.

Gates praised Pirates point guard Kadary Richmond. The head coach said that Seton Hall won’t live and die by the 3 but noted that the Pirates have capable shooters.

But it’s up close is where the Pirates are at their strongest.

“Their job and what they do is getting to that free-throw line (with) a physical presence and also being able to get in that paint,” Gates said. “You're going to see guys being able to crash the glass as well, trying to generate second-chance points. It’s a tremendous style of basketball.”

Missouri will have to defend that without Caleb Grill, who was ruled out for 5-7 weeks with a wrist injury before the KU game.

Gates was encouraged by the minutes and experience gained by the Tigers’ younger corps in the loss in Allen Fieldhouse. The coach still says he’s challenging his veterans to give him more. Consistency throughout games, getting to the free-throw line and capitalizing on forced turnovers continue to be high on the list of Gates’ priorities.

It didn’t all quite come together at KU. But Seton Hall, in Kansas City, gives Missouri another shot to show it has taken a step.

“(Seton Hall) did defeat last year's national champion (UConn) last season, one of few teams to do so in conference play,” Gates said. “But for us — it's another opportunity for us to get to Kansas City and play in front of our fans in this great state, but also play another basketball game.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou heads to Kansas City, for first time since 2019, with Seton Hall on deck