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Dennis Gates grabs mic, tells Mizzou fans not to rush the court after Alabama upset
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Dennis Gates gave Mizzou fans another reason to storm the court on Wednesday night. Only this time he pleaded with fans ahead of time to remain in their seats.
Led by a career-high 31 points from Mark Mitchell, Mizzou put forth a dizzying offensive performance and beat No. 4 Alabama 110-98. As the clock wound down, Gates called a timeout with 1.5 seconds left and grabbed the public address mic to ask fans to stay off the court.
“Please do not rush the court,” he said.
When Mizzou knocked off then-No. 1 Kansas on Dec. 8, Gates called a late timeout to give the Jayhawks’ bench time to safely leave the court before fans inside Mizzou Arena poured onto the court.
But the SEC slapped Mizzou with a $250,000 fine for that on-court celebration. Another offense would have brought about a $500,000 fine from the conference. “We need that money to go to NIL,” Gates said, per the Associated Press.
And Mizzou (20-6, 9-4 SEC) might be able to go shopping in some expensive places given what Gates has done this season. The win over Kansas was nice. Since conference play began, Mizzou has also beaten 2 teams that currently rank in KenPom’s top 10. The Tigers also beat Florida 83-83 on the road on Jan. 14.
Powered by a top-10 offense, Gates’ group is barreling toward the postseason with a ton of momentum. The Tigers have won 3 straight — all of them by double-digits — and are starting to assert themselves as a real threat to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. At bet365, Mizzou is +1000 to make the Final Four.
Related: Sports betting launches in the state of Missouri later this year. Keep this bet365 Missouri bonus code handy, it’ll land new users bonus bets when the state goes live.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
