Missouri head coach Dennis Gates may have solved court storming in college basketball

With just over one second remaining before his No. 15 Missouri Tigers knocked off No. 4 Alabama in one of the biggest wins of his coaching career, Dennis Gates called a timeout. But instead of taking in the moment or giving his players a curtain call off the court, Gates simply walked over to the public address microphone and asked the Tiger fans to not rush the court.

Although not taken well by the crowd, it worked as fans in attendance at Mizzou Arena remained in the seating area, and Missouri Athletics avoided a massive fine. Back in December, when the Tigers knocked off the No. 1 ranked Kansas, the fans got their moment as they stormed the court, which resulted in a $250,000 fine. 

Had a second offense occurred the other night, it would have been another $500,000, but Gates had other things in mind. “We need that money to go to NIL. We don’t need to be getting fines out there,” he said. “I just didn’t want us to rush the court and get a fine.”

After all the drama and questions that have surrounded courtstorming in college basketball since Wake Forest stormed the court against Duke last season, resulting in an alleged injury of Blue Devils star Kyle Filipowski, Gates seems to have this whole thing figured out. If you do not want someone to do something, maybe the best way to stop them is to simply ask nicely. 

Gates also handled the situation well when his fans stormed against Kansas earlier in the season by calling a timeout with six seconds remaining to give the Jayhawks a chance to prepare to get off the court.

On top of being a savant in courtstorming management, Dennis Gates has also shown to be a darn good basketball coach. After a 25-10 season in his first year with the Tigers, Gates' team went 8-24, including a 0-18 record in conference play in 2023-2024. Now he has Missouri on pace for their best season in over 10 years and primed to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.