KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Phil Pressey, a former honorable mention All-America guard for the Missouri men’s basketball team, retired from professional basketball Friday and will join Dennis Gates’ staff as a graduate assistant.
Mizzou announced Friday that Pressey — who averaged 3.2 points and 2.9 assists in 148 career games across three NBA seasons with Boston, Philadelphia and Phoenix — was joining Gates’ staff as a graduate assistant.
Gates was hired in March to replace Cuonzo Martin.
Pressey, a Dallas native, played three seasons with the Tigers before declaring for the NBA Draft after his junior season.
In his final season at Mizzou, Pressey averaged 11.9 points and 7.1 assists and helped lead the team to the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The Tigers peaked at No. 7 in The Associated Press men’s hoops poll that season, the program’s first in the SEC.
Pressey started at point guard for the 2011-12 team, which finished 30-5 and won the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament.
MU reached the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons with Pressey on the team, but lost in the first round each time.
He finished his career as the Tigers’ all-time leader in assists (580) and tied for the career record with former Paseo Academy star Anthony Peeler in steals (196).
After his NBA career, Pressey played internationally for FC Barcelona and Movistar Estudiantes in Spain, Besiktas in Turkey, and EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany, where he was teammates with fellow former Mizzou star Rickey Paulding.
Pressey retired from professional basketball Friday, announcing his decision on social media.
While I love this game playing-wise, I'm happy to change my perspective and get into coaching. My alma mater @MizzouHoops is a good starting point. Basketball has given me so much, and now it's my turn to do the same. pic.twitter.com/y1z4u1QnAd
— Phil Pressey (@philpressey) June 24, 2022
He said he was “ecstatic” to get into coaching.
“Basketball has given me so much, and now it’s my turn to do the same,” he said in a post on Twitter.
Pressey joins a staff under Gates that also includes Associate Head Coach C.Y. Young and assistants David Nutt and Kyle Smithpeters.
