When you walk into a McDonald’s and order a Big Mac, you know what you’re going to get. It’s going to have two all beef patties, cheese, pickles, onions, lettuce, of course the ‘special sauce’, and a three slice sesame seed bun. There’s little mystery there other than the exact ingredients of the special sauce. And if you’re so inclined you can even search online to find reconstructed special sauce recipes.

Last spring when Dennis Gates went into the transfer portal to find a big man he pursued and signed Josh Gray, from South Carolina. Dennis Gates ordered a Big Mac, and that’s what he got.

This isn’t some kind of knock on fast food either. I don’t eat at McDonalds anymore these days, but that’s more because I’m old and my body doesn’t quite process that stuff the way it used to. The allegory works here because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a Big Mac. It does the trick. But no matter where you get the Big Mac from, it’s going to be a Big Mac. It’s not going to be anything but a Big Mac.

You can move a horse from stall to stall and it’s still going to be the same horse.

The horse in this case is Josh Gray, of course.

For his four year career before landing in Columbia, Missouri, Gray had a field goal percentage just north of 52%, a free throw percentage below 50%, and a rebounding rate of around 14% on the offensive end and 25% on the defensive end, for a total rebound rate of just shy of 20%.

He graded out well defensively, was low usage, and rebounded the ball. His turnover rate was pretty high, which would explain why most coaches didn’t trust him with a lot of possessions on offense.

This is who Gray was when he got to Missouri, and it’s roughly what Missouri got when they put him on the floor. Gray’s FG% improved a tick over his career marks to 53%. His True Shooting was 52.0% on his career and 55.9% at Mizzou. If you prefer effective FG% (or eFG%) his career mark was 52.4%, at Mizzou is was 53.9%.

He was a slightly better defensive rebounder at Mizzou, but the margins were thin there as well. Up to 26.3% from 23.7%. The turnover rate though, increased by a good amount. Up to 22.7% from 19% at South Carolina. Mostly because Gates had Gray moving around the floor more and utilizing him in handoffs and some attempts at reading split cuts. You can’t run a 5-out offense with a guy on the block!

But his offensive rating actually improved because of the modest gains from the field and his ability to draw lane violations on free throws in order to get a few extra attempts with no penalty, bumping up his free throw percentage to a career best 56.9%.

Gray was a Big Mac when that’s what Missouri needed. They needed a rotational big who could play defense, guard the rim, and get rebounds. Gray provided.

He’s a character as well, and he fit in well with the culture at Missouri, which readily embraced a weird 7’0 kid who’s built like a brickhouse and likes wearing a plastic horse mask. Everything you could reasonably expect from Gray you got. He was instrumental in helping Missouri win their first marquee game of the season with 32 stoutly minutes, 7 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Kansas. He had double digit rebounds in 4 SEC games, and that incudes a double double in the road game at Mississippi State.

It was a good season for the 5th year senior. And I’ll always appreciate his ad reads for heating and cooling companies.

Past Reviews