COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou basketball missed out on five-star big man Tristan Reed, who chose to commit to Southeastern Conference rival Mississippi State Saturday afternoon.
Reed now becomes the highest-ranked recruit a top-15 ranked Mississippi State 2026 class, joining four-stars Jalyn Collingwood and Willie Burnett III, along with three-star Ladarius Given.
Reed is the No. 80 ranked player in the nation, along with the No. 7 center and No. 5 player in Missouri. The St. Louis, MO, native plays high school for Link Academy, where current Tiger T.O. Barrett attended, and current Missouri target Cameron Barnes plays.
Missouri originally offered Reed Dec. 19, 2023 and hosted him for a visit August 25, 2025, while Mississippi State offered him Nov. 9, 2023. Reed held offers from both schools, along with offers from Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Kansas State, Michigan and St. Louis.
Had he joined Missouri, he would've been the fourth member of the Tigers' 2026 recruiting class, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation, trailing only Kansas.
Five-star guard Jason Crowe Jr. headlines the class, while four-star forward Toni Bryant and four-star wing Aidan Chronister round it out.
Crowe is the top ranked combo guard in the 2026 class, and projects to be a scoring machine for the Tigers upon arrival. Bryant is an athletic forward capable of making explosive plays in transition and guarding all positions on defense. Chronister is one of the top shooters of the 2026 class, and will space the floor effectively for both.
Had Reed joined Missouri, he would've slotted in perfectly to the Tigers' roster. Current senior Shawn Phillips Jr. seems to have the center spot manned down for the upcoming season, but will depart from the program in 2026 as he's set to run out of eligibility, leaving a hole in the frontcourt for someone to fill.
Reed, standing at 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, would've been a primary candidate. He'd join Trent Burns, Luke Northweather and Nicholas Randall in a young frontcourt, but would be the most traditional big among the bunch – hence his potential replacement of Phillips.
Now that Reed isn't coming to Missouri, the Tigers can allocate their resources to another target. Missouri has offers out on 17 uncommitted prospects in the class of 2026, two of which are centers – Ethan Taylor and Keiner Asprilla. Missouri could also look to instead allocate resources toward the transfer portal, where they've had success bringing in veteran centers in recent seasons – Josh Gray and Phillips in back-to-back offseasons.