NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - PRINCETON VS MISSOURI

March 17, 2023

Dennis Gates

Noah Carter

DeAndre Gholston

Nick Honor

Aidan Shaw

Golden 1 Center

Missouri Tigers

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Happy to introduce our guests from the University of Missouri. Noah Carter, DeAndre Gholston, Nick Honor, and Aidan Shaw.

Initial impressions of your opponent?

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: They're a great team. Beat a very tough Arizona team. Watching those guys play, realizing we have to come ready to play tomorrow and get a win.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. For any of you guys. We know you've played up all year the disrespect card and nobody thought we were going to be here. Everybody understands why. You're going to be favored. You're not going to be an underdog tomorrow. Is there a mindset flip in how you have to handle that?

NICK HONOR: Funny you said that. Some people out there think we'll lose tomorrow. I know we may be favored, but we're always going to carry that chip on our shoulder because of all the work we put in. At the end of the day it's March Madness, so everyone, you know what I'm saying, in the tournament deserving to be here. We're just going to play our game and just do what we do.

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: I'm with Nick on that one. Every game we believe we can win. We never go into the game thinking we're the underdogs. We always believe we can compete with anybody and win. Nothing different.

Q. Just want to get your thoughts on what it takes to win this particular game. The first round is over. Competition tightens a little bit. What is it going to take for you guys to pull this out knowing what they did in the first round?

NICK HONOR: I would say as each round goes on, you need a lot more discipline in your game. Princeton is a great team. They're very well-coached, very disciplined.

We're going to just have to read the scouting report, do our homework, then just play our game really. But just a very disciplined team, so we're going to have to be disciplined as well to make it a good game, for sure.

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: Just playing to the level we know we can play to, matching their effort and exceeding it as well. Bring the intensity tomorrow. Show that we belong, we believe, we're coming to win.

Q. Noah, I think it was two or three weeks ago after a game, going inside a little bit more and scoring down low. You said that's something you should have been doing all year. Was there a conversation or a mindset flip with you here this last three weeks or so?

NOAH CARTER: I wouldn't say it was something specifically. I think it was just a flow of our offense just realizing what was working for us. Obviously it was making a positive impact, so continuing to go to it. Just in practice working on it, it continuing to excel my game. I think it was just positive for the team.

Q. For any of the other guys, has what Noah has done the last couple weeks taken this team a step above where you were?

NICK HONOR: Most definitely. Noah is my roommate, so we all know what he can do. But, I mean, he's stepping up at the right time, which is big for us. So I'm really just proud of him. We want him to keep going and keep being consistent because we know what he's capable of.

Q. Question for anyone. Can you comment on the ability of Gomillion playing off the bench. What does he bring to the table as a player?

NOAH CARTER: I'd like to say obviously you want him out there on the court. His leadership role, his presence has always been there on and off the court, just as a brother, as a coach, as a leader.

Very sad not to have him out there on the court. But his presence on the bench, it really uplifts us. He's definitely a difference maker.

Q. I've got to ask you this. Not so much X's and O's type of question. Dennis, leadership, his coaching style, how would you describe it? His relationship off the court with you guys, how that is? Yesterday he told us he has a psychologist that work with you guys. Talk about discipline, Nick. That's part of it. How is Dennis as far as that leadership role as a coach?

AIDAN SHAW: If I just be on it. Coach Dennis Gates, he's a great guy on and off the court. He likes to build relationships with his players.

I mean, that was one of his main points with me when he tried to recruit me, he wants me to invite him to my wedding and stuff like that.

Bringing a psychologist in early for us really helped us build some chemistry. I feel like I have a connection with all my teammates. It will be a life-long connection just because coach Dennis Gates and all his ideologies, what he believes in, so...

NICK HONOR: I would say before you can win on the court, you have to win off the court. Before you can go out there and win, you have to make sure everybody's personalities, what they do best, and Coach does a great job of that by simply just asking us, we're sharing each other's backgrounds, basically how we are the way we are.

He always tells us this thing is for life, so he's not just a basketball coach, he's pretty much there for all of us every time off the court, whatever we need. We can talk to him about anything. Just a great all-around guy and an even better coach.

Q. Princeton out-rebounded Arizona yesterday. You've been focusing on rebounding all year long. What have you gotten better at specifically so far that you're prepared for this moment, especially with a team like that?

NOAH CARTER: I think yesterday Princeton outworked Arizona. They really fought hard, fought for their life. Not saying that Arizona disrespected them, but they might have under-looked them a little bit.

I feel like going into tomorrow's game, we're going to work our hardest, we're not going to let anybody outwork us. I think that's a big part into it.

Obviously just working on our box-outs, making sure we fight on the boards.

Q. I don't know if you caught it at the end of the Princeton-Arizona game, but the neutral fan base in the arena was backing Princeton, the underdog. They'll be the lower seed. A lot of people cheer for the underdog. How do you react to the neutral fans being against you guys?

NICK HONOR: Like I said earlier, it's March Madness. The teams that are here deserve to be here. So, I mean, everybody loves a good underdog story. But they're a great team. So it will just be a good game. You don't really focus on seedings and all that. We realize every team is a great basketball team in this tournament. So we're just going to focus on what we need to do.

If the crowd goes for them, that's cool as well. We're kind of just used to it. It's all good.

Q. Dre, so much of college basketball, basketball at all levels now, is the three-pointer and the dunk. When did you figure out you were a good midrange shooter?

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: Way back when, maybe in high school probably. Like I said, like I always say, played a lot of one on ones growing up where I'm from. That shot is usually what you shoot in a one on one. Over time, try to keep perfecting my craft. Sometimes it helps win games. I try to keep doing it as much as possible, try to score as many ways as possible.

Q. Coaches say a 17-foot jump shot a lot of times is the worst shot there is. Do you find it being open because of what defenses focus on a lot more?

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: Yes, that's really the main reason. Usually you're told to guard the rim or the three, like you say. Sometimes stopping on the dime in the midrange is hard to guard. You're not prepared for it as well. Just the ability to get to it create an open shot helps me out a lot.

NOAH CARTER: Not many people can guard Dre's midrange game. We see it every day. I don't think anybody can really stop it.

Q. I know you have talked about this all year, but what's the importance in March of moving on to the next play, having a short memory?

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: It's the only thing you can do. You can't dwell on the past. There's no more tomorrow, as we say. The next play is the next best thing, getting a stop, getting a better shot on the offensive end next time. It's the only thing you can do.

Q. Who keeps you guys loose down the stretch? Is there one guy or it's what this team does because you've done it?

AIDAN SHAW: I feel like we feed off of each other, for real. We have EGB, energy-generating behavior (laughter). Power clap. Energy-generating behaviors, EGBs. Little things like that. We really feed off each other, get a stop, stop the ball, create a turnover, stuff like that.

NOAH CARTER: If you ever see us, if we ever make a mistake, you should look for us to power clap, just two claps together. That really clears the mind, gets us focused on the next play, makes you forget about what just happened, puts it in the past.

Q. (No microphone.)

NOAH CARTER: Yes, we have.

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: Shout-out to Dr. Carr, man. He rule.

Q. A lot of you guys are on Twitter, seen a lot of the memes the Missouri fan base makes. Any comments on those? How do you feel when you see one that include yourself?

AIDAN SHAW: We all love the memes for us. We look at them, see them all the time. I think it just shows our support, how the fans got our back. They find humor in it, whatever. I don't know, we like that, so...

NICK HONOR: This has been happening all year. I like to shout-out to the MMA. They hold is down right now. But, no, it's really just a good laugh. We're always sending each other each other's different memes. It keeps us loose, for sure. We're always laughing about that.

I guess they can just keep 'em coming. It's cool.

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: Big shout-out to the Missouri fans. We appreciate it.

NOAH CARTER: Nick even got one of Dre hanging up in his room (laughter).

NICK HONOR: He's like answering a phone call. He says, They was fraudulent. The reason I got, ordered a little flag. I'll hang it up next year or something like that (smiling).

Q. (No microphone.)

DEANDRE GHOLSTON: I can honestly say no because these guys always try to make sure I stay clearheaded, clear-minded, stay loose. If you think about stuff like that, you get kind of uptight, do things you don't normally do.

These guys do a good job of keeping me in the moment, keeping me present, making me smile, keeping me happy. I give credit to my guys. I love 'em.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, fellas.

We have Missouri coach Dennis Gates.

Coach, you've had a chance now to observe Princeton, what they do, look at tape, getting a good practice in. What's going to be the key for your team tomorrow?

DENNIS GATES: Well, that's a great question. I've always had a respect level for Princeton. I remember in high school Pete Carril came to my high school to recruit a fellow teammate. I've always followed their program and their success, their tradition. Pete Carril, Bill Carmody, John Thompson III, but also Mitch Henderson.

Mitch has done a great job. He was an assistant at Northwestern for a period of time. Me being a Chicago guy, I truly believe he has definitely taken the program in the right direction and done a tremendous job and is definitely a great sight to see the success that he's had because we've had several conversations, whether it's in the same gym or different gyms recruiting.

But they do a great job. Whenever you have a Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Freshman of the Year, most guys getting post-season accolades, it's a tremendous honor.

THE MODERATOR: Questions from the audience.

Q. I don't know if you had a chance to look at some of the games that Princeton has played, your players even said they're here for a reason, they earned their way to get here. What do you think about these type of teams? They're always considered the underdog. As we seen yesterday, they can surprise the hell out of you. What is your thoughts on that?

DENNIS GATES: My thoughts is simple: you're not in this tournament if you're not a great team. They have done a great job in the Ivy League, but also throughout their time as a program and tradition.

Again, Mitch has been to post-season play. He's been to NITs. He's been to NCAA tournament. This is not his first rodeo. He has had his guys prepared and will have them prepared.

We don't look at seeding. We don't look at anything with a number before or after the name of the institution. They earned their right. They've earned their right. They are a good ball team.

Q. I'm sure it won't surprise you. Your guys are cracking jokes up here and seem pretty loose. Do you have the sense they're in the right mindset, this is just another week of basketball right now?

DENNIS GATES: Well, this is how we've gotten to know each other throughout our time. Sometimes when you ask, What has happened behind the scenes that allow your team, Coach Gates, to get to where they are? I think it's easy to figure that out. They have fun with each other. They ultimately have fun playing basketball with each other.

They are able to get to know each other. It's been like that since June. When you have the right guys in the locker room at the right time, it's a special place. You get to build special memories.

This is how they've been since June. As a head coach, I've just done my job and worked around them and made sure they're moving in a direction that I thought and is suitable for us to get to our dreams and aspirations.

They've done a tremendous job getting to know each other and getting to know who they are behind the scenes, but also allowing different moments, whether we started the season with a great, great streak.

But when you look at the Kansas game, our guys were able to reflect in a positive way, no frustration, stress-free. That allows us now to respond and get right back to what we need to get to on the path we need to be directed on.

The same goes for every up and down throughout a year, which every team goes through. I'm proud that our guys are able to reflect in a manner that's respectful toward each other.

Q. After watching yesterday's game, what did you think of the way you played defensively? Even when they didn't get the steals, seemed a lot of deflections, really active on that end.

DENNIS GATES: I thought we played in spurts. I don't think we played a great game. Again, two teams can play well, play decent, only one team gets to move forward. Versus Utah State, we knew what they could do, but also the rhythm that they could get into.

We wanted to do our very best, because we've seen a lot of teams throughout this season, we wanted to do our very best and execute the game plan. I thought our guys were able to execute the game plan, but also they were able to get through some adverse situations.

And out of timeouts, they executed different things. I'm proud of them.

Q. What worries you most about Princeton when you see them? What stands out?

DENNIS GATES: What worries me?

Q. Yeah.

DENNIS GATES: Well, Mitch is a great coach. He's going to have his guys prepared. I don't look at things as worry or not worry, anything like that.

Both teams are going to be prepared to play. Both teams will give their very best. We'll do the same thing. They do a great job and have done a great job.

Q. You're talking about handling adversity kind of big picture. How important this time of year is that within a game? Yesterday Kobe makes a pass that leads to the three that gives them their first lead. Seems to immediately move on from that. Is that something that evolves over time or something you talk to guys within the 40 minutes?

DENNIS GATES: No, that's not Kobe's first turnover (laughter). Kobe has turned the ball over before. I just think that turnover specifically led to their first three. Maybe sometimes those plays, those small, minor mistakes, can lead to something bigger.

But Kobe Brown, that is not his first mistake, that is not going to be his last. I just want our guys to be able to get to the next play. We were able to get to the next play.

Ignited their fan base to finally see a three go in. But also one of their great players, a great player, great guard. They played well. Our guys were able to play a little bit better and we came out with a victory.

I'm happy to be here. Our guys are happy to be here. You're not here by mistake. It's an invite that you receive, a bid that you receive. Full of data, full of analytics, full of everything. There's just not one play that can tell you that you're going to the NCAA tournament. It's not going to be one mistake to say that you're not.

We just want our guys to continue to play the style of basketball and stick to our eight core values and continue what we've been working on since June.

Q. What do you remember about playing in the NCAA tournament? Cal made the second round, I think, one of your years. Was there anything different about the second game as opposed to the first round?

DENNIS GATES: Just in terms of as a player?

Q. Yes.

DENNIS GATES: Man, that was long ago. I don't remember that (laughter). I don't remember. I don't remember that much, man.

I just thought as a player, we gave our very best. That was a time I believe we played -- we were able to play Penn. We played Penn, then the next game we played Pittsburgh, but also we were able to play Fresno one time, I believe, in Memphis. I've been part of the NIT. We were able to win the NIT national championship as a freshman.

I think our coaching staff, Ben Braun, Joe Pasternack, Lou Reynaud, Charles Ramsey, John Wheeler and Scott Beeten, those guys did a great job of preparing us. I think as we prepare, they did a great job listening. They allowed players to have a voice, have a say.

Those are the memories that you remember most. You remember your relationship with your coaches. You remember not every single game, but you do remember the situations and obviously trying to be a part of the NCAA tournament.

I was fortunate as a player to not only be a part of the NCAA tournament, but win a game in there, so...

Q. You talked yesterday about how intentional you've always been with your demeanor during games. Did that evolve at Cleveland State or was it like that from day one?

DENNIS GATES: Well, I'll say this. That's a great question. Throughout my coaching time, I had to be what my bosses needed me to be as an assistant, whether it was my idea or not. I just wanted to be the best assistant I could be for those that I worked for, whether it was a GA with Tom Crean, GA with Leonard Hamilton. I had to know my role, my responsibility, stay in my lane.

Once I got a full-time job, I was able to coach for the guys that coached me and worked with them. So Ben Braun had responsibilities for me. I had to stay in my lane and execute his plan and be the best assistant. Same with Dave Carter, same with Ricardo Patton, Leonard Hamilton.

They gave me enough leeway to develop, to develop as a person, to develop as a coach, and evolve from playing. Once I became a head coach, yes, my role changed. I had to look at things a lot different than being an assistant.

In fact, I called every coach and apologized to them and said, I thought I was being a great assistant, but I was not doing what I should have done. So I appreciate you look me as an assistant to grow and give me the grace to get better because it's a lot of moving parts that I think is important for you and your success.

So becoming a head coach is essentially you hire a great staff. I believe we hired a great staff that helps me execute the plan. That's the most important thing. We have a great institution, great leadership, Desiree Reed-Francois. We have a great president in President Mun Choi, great board of directors. We have great sport oversight in Greg Hulen.

It's teamwork. That's how we operate, as a team. We make decisions together. I don't try to make decisions by myself. I don't care if it's about where the garbage can should be sitting or what travel day we should leave. I try to make decisions as a partner at the University of Missouri, as the Whitten Family head men's basketball coach with my oversights and those above me. I make them feel a part of it.

I also make our managers, GAs coaches, players feel part of the journey as well. That's the one thing that stands out to me that has allowed me to continue to evolve and see things from different lenses.

Q. As you get to this point of the season, you look at your team, how much of an emphasis has D'Moi Hodge? How much has he emphasized the way this team plays and who you guys are?

DENNIS GATES: Well, I think from day one of putting our program from my mind, my brain, onto paper and then from paper onto the court, you have to have a guy like a D'Moi Hodge, but you also have to have around D'Moi Hodge the teammates that he has that allows him to do certain things obviously and defensively and take the risk that he take.

He's a model young man. Great person, right? Unbelievable person. But he also has had coaches in his life that played an important part. Coach Parks did a great job with him at his previous stop before I got him at Cleveland State. His development during that time was very crucial, during his junior college time.

Once that took place and he got on campus at Cleveland State, I was able to continue to push him in a way that he needed. Sometimes you have to paint kids with different paintbrushes, you can't coach 'em all the same way. He has evolved and he will continue to get better.

I'm excited to see what this tournament has in store for him, but also I know what he's going to continue to give while he wears a Mizzou jersey.

The next phase after that is to see what the world has for him, as well. You have great people, and great people usually get rewarded.

Q. In an era where so much of offensive basketball is three-pointers and at the rim, how does Dre Gholston as a midrange shooter -- how unique is that? How does that fit into the bigger concept of your offense?

DENNIS GATES: Well, I think you have to allow all your players to be themselves. Kobe Brown is a great two-point shooter. Nick Honor, Sean East with his floaters, different things like that. Dre Gholston is definitely one of 'em, as well. You have to allow kids to be themselves. That's what we've allowed them to do.

I just ask our kids to give their very best at all times. Whatever that very best is in their minds, I have to make sure it reflects what our planning, our game plan, what our execution looks like.

Whether it was me interpreting that or another coach or another teammate, these guys respond and they do what we ask them to do, so I'm thankful.

Q. The group that just came out, they gave a shout-out to you, Dr. Charles [sic]. What was your reasoning, decision to bring a sports psychologist here to work with your student-athletes?

DENNIS GATES: That's a great question. I appreciate you asking that.

At the age of 18, when I was at Cal, when I was a captain, I had an opportunity to meet Dr. Joe Carr. At that point in time, I saw how impactful that was to our mental, to our emotional, to our physical development. Also to our team.

Once that took place, I said to him, I think after a session, I said, Doc, when I become a head coach - thinks at 18, right - when I become a head coach, I want you to work with my team.

He didn't flinch. He didn't budge. He did not mock. He nodded his head and said, Okay, cool.

Now, we've kept in contact during my time from graduating college all the way through my professional life. Once I got the head job at Cleveland State, I didn't tell my wife we got the job, I called Dr. Carr to see what his schedule was so that I could get him to Cleveland.

He cleared his entire schedule. Whatever was on his schedule, he cleared it because he remembered what an 18-year-old said to him back in the day, right?

Those are things that stand out to me, and that's why it was important, because I saw how impactful he was as a player in the locker room and how impactful that was when it wasn't even looked upon to have a psychologist, right? It wasn't that mental health era, that mental wellness era, that we live in now. It was a time where you got a sports psychologist? What? People looked at that different. But we knew how important it was.

He definitely helped us. We sat partnered, devised a plan. He allowed me to give what I was looking for, but also ways to challenge our to allow me to think differently beyond the surface, above the surface, and just challenged me.

He allows me to be a better coach, a better partner with my team, with my staff, but also with my boss, with my boss' boss, with my board, right? Those things matter. With the community. But also the transparency part that's intact.

He's definitely been helpful. He knows what he means to me.

Q. I think Noah mentioned something about an energy generator behavior. They mentioned Dr. Charles.

DENNIS GATES: Dr. Carr.

Q. My bad. They said that with a smile. When you hear things like that, is it registering with your student-athletes? They seem like they're real receptive of it.

DENNIS GATES: Absolutely. Absolutely. As young people, the things you smile about, the things that you think about, it's like with me on the bus, they'll impersonate me to the T. That means they're listening (smiling). That's what that means. That doesn't mean they're just mocking. It means they're really listening because they have the wherewithal to turn that into a joke, turn that into a way to deepen their belief in it.

No different than EGBs. There's several things that we do that I can tell our guys are really, really focused on, but they do a great job of sharing it or pointing it out and holding each other accountable, and also giving each other sort of like the affirmation that, Okay, you're doing what we were supposed to do, you're executing the plan, whether it's between the lines or not, whether it's in the classroom or in the community or not.

They are doing a great job of holding each other accountable. That's what you want in your program.

Q. Who has the best Dennis Gates impression on your team? What are the chances we ever get to hear or see it?

DENNIS GATES: You probably have to tune into Sternberg Scoop and figure out from Ben if Tre Gomillion or Dre Gholston or Sean East has done it. I'm sure it's on film somewhere. I'm positive (laughter). I'm positive of that.

They do a great job of likening not just me, but they can impersonate probably you, too. They do a great job of keeping it light. Our staff does a great job because we know how to mock those guys, too.

Q. Talking to Dre in the locker room, it sounded like you got the chance to recruit him twice, Cleveland State and here. What was that pitch to him like? What has it been like to get him on the team this season?

DENNIS GATES: Well, I think it's important to look at the history. He was at Tallahassee Community College. I knew he was a young man that could help our program, but also I wanted him in that Cleveland State recruiting class that had D'Moi Hodge.

They played against each other. We recruited his junior college teammate in Yahel Hill, signed him, he played for us at Cleveland State. While we competed, he saw everything come to fruition that I sat and told him could be possible.

Now you have a young man that's looking from afar. He had another opportunity to play for a coach that was right there for him, but also get to know a teammate that he could have partnered with. That's where him and D'Moi Hodge, they're the bestest of friends. I'm sure now that impacts Dre a little bit to say, Man, we could have been teammates for three years, now it's just one.

Those guys do a tremendous job of getting to know each other. To have him in that process the second time around. There's great stories to come out of a portal situation. I truly believe our team, our culture, has several, but also several conversations about the relationships you can also build with your teammates.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, we've run out of time.

DENNIS GATES: Perfect.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time with us.

DENNIS GATES: Thank you. M-I-Z.