"What a goddamn baby", "Bro cries more than Penny Hardaway": Fans dismantle Missouri Tigers HC for criticizing major decision in Illinois game

College basketball fans slammed Missouri coach Dennis Gates for getting a technical foul after storming the court in the second half of the game against Illinois on Sunday.

Gates charged at a game official after one of his players was tripped without a foul call with 16:51 left, with the Tigers behind 40-34. The usually calm coach was slapped with a technical for his actions, and Illinois' Kasparas Jakucionis subsequently buried the resulting free throws, giving the Fighting Illini a 42-34 advantage.

The sequence proved costly for Missouri, losing to Illinois 80-77, which snapped its 10-game winning streak. Gates blamed the officiating and the technical foul for the loss.

However, the college hoops world, on X (formerly Twitter), slammed Gates for his actions.

"What a goddamn baby. The only thing that happened on that play that came close to endangering any players was the 500-pound grizzly bear Mizzou hid in a basketball uniform throwing Morez to the ground," one fan wrote.

"Everytime Tennessee kicks his ass. Bro complains more than penny hardaway 😂," a college basketball fan added.

"Absolutely absurd...there wasn't even a foul (by Illinois) on the play where he received the tech. His center got away with throwing MJ to the ground, though, while distracted by Gates being 15 feet on the court. Illinois was the FAR better team today, & they are better period," another chimed in.

One presented a statistical comparison of both teams' free throws to refute Gates' claims.

"This is rich, considering free throws are the only reason Mizzou had a chance. Mizzou 28/37 called for 20 fouls Illinois 22/23 called for 24 fouls," he said.

"Everytime his soft bitch a** team gets out matched physically he b****** and blames the officials. EVEN WHEN HIS TEAM SHOOTS MORE FTS," a fan pointed out.

"They almost had 20 more FTs than Illinois. That’s the main reason they were still in the game," another fan added.

"Maybe if his team didn’t miss 9 free throws then it’d be a different story, but then against the refs were in their back pocket so 🤷🏼‍♂️," one college hoops follower said.

Other fans recounted Missouri's failure to win SEC games last season.

"Cry dude. You went 0-19 in conference last year," one said.

"Quit crying, 0-18 last year," another fan added.

"Your team had 6 assists, Illini had 12. Your team had 12 less rebounds. Your team shot 23% from 3. These are the reasons you lost. You have a good team. 17 steals is amazing. Your offense is bad," one fan noted.

Missouri tied the game at 77-77 with two charities by Jacob Crews. Jakucionis responded with a jumper as Illinois regained its leda, 79-77.

Mark Mitchell could've won the game for the Tigers with a triple but flubbed his last-second attempt. Kylan Boswell grabbed the rebound and was fouled.

Boswell made the subsequent free throw to make it an 80-77 ballgame. Jacob Crews missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, which ended Missouri's 10-game winning streak.

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Missouri off to a good start to the 2024-25 college basketball season

The Missouri Tigers are off to a good start to their 2024-25 college basketball season, winning 10 of 12 nonconference games.

After losing to Memphis by eight points, the Tigers stormed to a 10-game winning streak, including victories against California in the ACC-SEC Challenge and former top seeds Kansas in the Border War.

Mark Mitchell leads the Tigers in offense with an average of 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. Tamar Bates and Anthony Robinson II are the other options, averaging 12.3 ppg and 11.5 ppg.

Missouri averages 88.0 points per game and shoots an outstanding 52.0% clip from the field. The Tigers are also above average from the 3-point area, making 37.8% of their attempts.

Dennis Gates and Missouri return to action on Ded. 30 against Alabama State before they begin their SEC regular season campaign against Auburn on January 4.