Missouri landed ESPN's No. 7 recruiting class and two McDonald's All-Americans. Eight players walked out the door. The talent is coming. The point guard question remains.
No. 7 — Missouri’s 2026 recruiting class ranking per ESPN — the program’s highest since Michael Porter Jr. signed in 2017. Two McDonald’s All-Americans. A consensus top-five national recruit. Dennis Gates went from back-to-back first-round NCAA Tournament exits to landing a class no one in Columbia expected. The talent is coming. The question is whether it’s ready.
The departures
Missouri lost 78.5 points per game worth of production. Eight players are gone.
Graduated / Out of eligibility:
Mark Mitchell — 18.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.6 APG. Led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. Shot 54.7% from the field and 38.8% from three. Entered the 2026 NBA Draft.
Jayden Stone — 13.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG. Shot 48.7% from the field and 38.5% from three. Named to the NABC All-Star Game.
Shawn Phillips Jr. — 7.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.5 BPG. Started all 31 games. Shot 68.3% from the field. Out of eligibility.
Transfer portal:
Anthony Robinson II (Florida State) — 8.9 PPG, 3.0 APG, 1.6 SPG. All-SEC Defensive Team as a sophomore. Seventh in the SEC in steals. Returning home to Tallahassee.
T.O. Barrett (Vanderbilt) — 8.6 PPG, 3.0 APG. As a starter: 12.4 PPG and 3.6 APG. Scored a career-high 28 points against Tennessee. Started 12 of 18 SEC games.
Jacob Crews (seeking hardship waiver) — 8.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG. Led Missouri with 56 made three-pointers. Shot 43.4% from deep — 30th nationally among players with 50-plus made threes.
Sebastian Mack (destination TBD) — 7.0 PPG. Started the first nine games (9.7 PPG) but fell out of the rotation during SEC play. Appeared in only five conference games.
Jevon Porter (seeking medical hardship waiver) — 6.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG. Missed the final 21 games with a lower-body injury. Scored 19 points on 9-for-9 shooting from the field with 12 rebounds against South Dakota.
Total production lost: 78.5 PPG, 30.2 RPG, 14.5 APG.
The arrivals
Gates built the roster in two layers: experienced portal transfers to provide the physical framework, and a headliner freshman class to provide the firepower.
Transfer portal:
Bryson Tiller (Kansas) — PF, 6-10, 240 lbs. 7.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.3 BPG. Started 31 of his final 32 games. Scored 21 points against No. 13 BYU. Had 18 points and 8 rebounds against No. 1 Arizona. One of four freshmen nationally with 250-plus points, 200-plus rebounds and 40-plus blocks. The first player in Border War history to transfer directly between Kansas and Missouri.
Jamier Jones (Providence) — SF, 6-6, 218 lbs. 11.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.4 APG. Shot 57.0% from the field and 38.7% from three. Big East All-Freshman Team. Scored in double figures 21 times. One of 11 freshmen nationally to average 10-plus PPG and 4-plus RPG while shooting 55% or better.
Jaylen Carey (Tennessee) — PF, 6-8, 267 lbs. 7.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG. Tenth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (17.1%). Three NCAA Tournament appearances across stops at James Madison, Vanderbilt and Tennessee — including an Elite Eight trip in 2026. 77 career wins.
Kennard Davis Jr. (BYU) — SG/SF, 6-6, 215 lbs. 8.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1.1 SPG. Started all 32 games. Played alongside projected top-3 pick AJ Dybantsa. Previously at Southern Illinois, where he averaged 16.3 PPG as a sophomore. Missouri native.
Freshmen:
Jason Crowe Jr. — G, 6-3. Consensus 5-star, No. 3 nationally per 247Sports, No. 5 per ESPN. The highest-ranked Missouri recruit since Michael Porter Jr. McDonald’s All-American Game Co-MVP (16 points, 5 assists). Averaged 44.1 PPG and 5.6 APG as a senior at Inglewood High School in California. Scored 4,178 career points. The only top-10 recruit in the 247Sports rankings who played his entire high school career at a public school.
Toni Bryant — PF. Consensus 5-star, No. 21 nationally per 247Sports, No. 14 per ESPN. McDonald’s All-American.
Aidan Chronister — SF, 6-7. 4-star, No. 71 nationally. Ranked third in the EYBL Scholastic in three-pointers per game (2.5) and seventh in three-point percentage (36.8%). From Rogers, Arkansas.
Key returners:
Trent Pierce — F. 10.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.1 SPG. Shot 38.4% from three. Started 12 games. Most experienced player on next season’s roster — entire career at Missouri.
Trent Burns — C, 7-5. 2.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG. Missed time with foot injuries in both his freshman and sophomore seasons. Improved dramatically once healthy.
The targets
Missouri still has two to three open scholarships — and one glaring hole. The Tigers return only 9.6% of their assists from 2025-26, the lowest figure in five or more seasons. They don’t have a proven point guard on the roster.
The top target is Tijan Saine Jr. (Weber State) — 17.5 PPG, 4.3 APG. Washington, NC State, Mississippi State, LSU and several others are also in the mix.
Other names on Missouri’s radar per SI and Rock M Nation: Jaylen Curry (Oklahoma State, 10.1 PPG, 3.5 APG), Brian Taylor II (East Tennessee State, 14.9 PPG, St. Louis native, needs eligibility waiver) and several mid-major guards.
The portal is thinning. Per Rock M Nation, only about 45 of 500 tracked portal players remain uncommitted — and just six project as SEC-level starters. Proven ball-handlers are nearly depleted.
The fit
Gates explained the blueprint in plain language: surround the freshmen with grown men.
“When you have impactful freshmen who have narrow shoulders and maybe physically, not as gifted until they mature, you have to put bodies around them,” Gates told SI. “And that’s what we attacked.”
The bodies are Tiller (6-10, 240), Carey (6-8, 267) and Jones (6-6, 218). Gates described their style as “wedging” — using physicality to create space rather than relying on speed or finesse. Carey alone brings 77 career wins and three NCAA Tournament trips — the kind of experience that allows freshmen to grow without carrying the full load.
The freshmen are the ceiling. Crowe is the headliner — a true point guard with professional-level scoring ability. Bryant is a five-star power forward. Chronister can shoot from the wing. If any of them hit, this roster gets dangerous.
But the point guard gap is real and unresolved. Robinson (3.0 APG) and Barrett (3.0 APG) are gone. Crowe is the answer long-term, but asking a true freshman to run an SEC offense from day one is a different ask than scoring at a California public high school. If Gates doesn’t land a veteran point guard from the portal, Crowe’s learning curve becomes Missouri’s ceiling.
“My goal is to win a national championship,” Gates told 247Sports at the Zou to You tour stop. The talent says he means it. The missing point guard says there’s still work to do.
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