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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Sitting Caleb Grill down got his shooting numbers to go up.

At least for a night, anyway — and in a big way.

Grill, Missouri’s sixth-year shooting guard, had struggled in the Tigers’ first two games of the 2024-25 season. In the opener at Memphis — his first game in 11 months after missing most of last season due to a wrist injury — he made just two shots and turned the ball over five times.

So MU coach Dennis Gates benched him.

“Caleb put pressure on himself, and he’s been itching to get back,� Gates said. “That’s why the Memphis game went the way it went. That’s obviously why I took him out of the lineup.�

Grill played exactly half the minutes in Mizzou’s victory over Howard that he did against Memphis. It didn’t exactly help — he was 0 for 3 from the floor in that game. The player known mostly as a 3-and-D guard, able to make an impact from beyond the arc and defensively, wasn’t doing either.

Until he checked into Monday’s win over Eastern Washington with three minutes and 41 seconds elapsed. Missouri was trailing 12-4 at that point and needed a spark.

Grill was exactly that and, frankly, the reason why Mizzou won. He scored a career-high 33 points on 8-for-10 shooting from 3-point range, a shooting performance that tied the arena record for 3s made in a single game.

Grill logged 32 minutes on the court, but the reality remains that he spent the first three minutes of the game as a spectator.

“I benched him,� Gates said. “He was mad at me, and he responded. It’s just that simple. We hugged and made up, but I benched him. Accountability is growth, and he allowed me to hold him accountable.�

Grill wasn’t looking for any kind of credit after his first 30-point outing since Nov. 25, 2022, when he was with Iowa State and the Cyclones beat North Carolina behind a 7-for-11 3-point shooting day from the shooting guard.

“My teammates that were out there, I just credit them for making the right play,� he said. “I just had the opportunity tonight to make shots.�

He also credits Gates for making the quick change to his rotation and sending Grill to a reserve role.

“Coach holding me accountable is one of the main reasons why I came here,� Grill said. “I just think that’s a huge piece, as a coach. I want to be a coach one day, and his accountability factor is one way I want to see myself as a coach one day. The way he held me accountable, if I was in his shoes, I would’ve done the exact same thing.�

Beyond on-court production, the decision was also about Gates refocusing Grill after the forced start to the season. If Grill’s shot wasn’t going to fall, there needed to be something else he contributed.

“Once he focused on his leadership and not about ‘success means the ball goes in the basket,’ that means now the ball goes in the basket because that’s not his concentration of it being the end all be all,� Gates said.

That showed in Grill’s comments, too. The part of his stat sheet entry that he was the most excited about had nothing to do with the shots he put up. It was about the nine rebounds he grabbed.

“I think those are the plays that don’t really get looked at,� Grill said. “People look at the points, but I felt like (getting) a rebound and trying to make my impact there is one thing that I take more pride in.�