Dennis Gates has Jason Crowe Jr. in a new role as Missouri gets set to open the season.
The Tigers welcome Cleveland State to Columbia on Tuesday night, and the top freshman is set to run the offense even though he arrived at Missouri with a reputation as a scoring guard. Crowe was a five-star prep recruit out of Inglewood, Calif., and Gates has shifted him to point guard for the start of his college career.
At Missouri’s media day in October, Gates said Crowe’s ability to handle the ball at 6-foot-4 fits with what he can do as a scorer. Crowe showed that mix in the exhibition opener at Kansas State on Oct. 23, finishing with 21 points, five assists, three steals and two turnovers.
"That young man has so much talent, and there's expectations for him to come out and score 50 points a game while at Missouri," Gates said. "He has a high basketball IQ. He's a better passer than anybody gives him credit for."
Gates, who played point guard at Cal 25 years ago, has continued to build Missouri around talent, spacing and roster flexibility. The Tigers added another McDonald's All-American in 6-10 forward Toni Bryant, along with wing Aidan Chronister. They also dipped into the transfer portal for Bryson Tiller from Kansas, Jaylen Carey from Tennessee and Kennard Davis from BYU.
The frontcourt and returning core still matter too. Mark Mitchell is back after earning second-team All-SEC honors last season, and he recently received a temporary judicial injunction that allows him to play. Transfer CJ Gunn, who played at DePaul and Indiana, remains in the process of sorting out his eligibility.
Missouri went 20-13 overall and 10-8 in the Southeastern Conference last season, then reached the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers came up one spot short of the Associated Press Top 25 and were picked eighth in the SEC preseason media poll.
Cleveland State arrives after a 11-22 season and a 6-14 mark in the Horizon League in Rob Summers’ first year as coach. Summers worked under Gates at Missouri and also with the Vikings when Gates coached CSU from 2019-22.
"We went to the portal and got a lot of positional size. I'm not the biggest guy anymore," said Summers, who stands 7 feet.
The Vikings will lean on that size with Derek Vorst and Brandon White, both listed at 6-10 and 250 pounds. Senior Chevalier Emery is their top returning scorer after averaging 12.7 points per game last season.
In Other News...
Missouri Gets A Needed SEC Chance To Fix Its Passing Game
Missouri heads into Week 9 coming off a bye and still looking to clean up a passing game that has not always matched the rest of its profile. The Tigers get a timely chance to reset against Arkansas, with both teams rested and coming off different emotional swings, as Missouri tries to bounce back from its loss to Ole Miss while the Razorbacks arrive after picking up their first conference win against Vanderbilt.
The matchup offers Missouri a useful SEC measuring stick because Arkansas has already shown it can make life uncomfortable for opponents, and the Tigers need this to look sharper on offense than they did in their last outing. There is also a betting angle attached to the game, but for Missouri the bigger issue is more basic: whether the bye week gave its passing attack enough time to find some rhythm before the conference schedule tightens again. [Read more 🡒]
Battle Line Just Lost A Mizzou Tradition Fans Notice Fast
The familiar black-on-black look is off the table for Missouris upcoming meeting with Arkansas, ending a small but noticeable gameday tradition that Tigers fans have come to expect in the Battle Line rivalry. Eli Drinkwitz confirmed Missouri will not wear its dark home jerseys because Arkansas did not agree to the color rush uniform plan, a wrinkle that takes a little of the pageantry out of a series that has leaned into its visual identity in recent years.
Since 2014, Missouri has typically gone with black home jerseys against Arkansas, with the lone exception coming in 2023 when the Tigers wore gold. This time, Arkansas plans to stick with its red home jerseys, leaving Missouri to adjust its look for a rivalry game that still carries plenty of weight, even if one of the more recognizable traditions around it is on pause. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzous Exhibition Loss Exposed A Problem The Tigers Must Fix Fast
Missouris exhibition loss to UNLV served as an early reminder that even in a preseason setting, the Tigers have some cleaning up to do before the games count. With several key players sidelined, the rotation looked a little different than what fans will likely see once the season opens, and the matchup quickly turned into a useful stress test for a group still trying to settle into its identity. The biggest issue was hard to miss: Missouri got pushed around on the glass and had trouble taking care of the ball against a physical opponent.
UNLVs edge in toughness showed up in the places that often decide close games, especially on offensive rebounds and loose possessions. Individual efforts from Jason Crowe and Bryson Tiller offered both encouragement and a reminder of how much room this team still has to grow, with mixed results across the board. For Missouri, the exhibition did exactly what these games are supposed to do, but it also made clear that the Tigers need a quicker fix in the rebounding and ball-handling departments before the real schedule starts to demand answers. [Read more 🡒]