Mizzou Basketball's Biggest Improvement in the Transfer Portal

The transfer portal can often be what makes or breaks a season in the modern landscape of college basketball. For Missouri, it's seen both the highs and the lows.

There's been home-run additions under head coach Dennis Gates, like landing former five-star recruit Mark Mitchell ahead of the 2024-25 season, who would go on to lead the Tigers in scoring for the following two seasons and assert himself on program record boards. Other names like Jayden Stone — Missouri's second-leading scorer the past season — and Caleb Grill — the 2024-25 SEC Sixth Man of the Year — come to mind as successful portal additions.

However, it's bitten Missouri back, too. There's John Tonje, who transferred to Missouri and averaged 2.6 points per game across 8 contests before transferring again to Wisconsin and becoming an All-American. Even the past season, transfers like Sebastian Mack and Luke Northweather didn't quite pan out planned, with neither playing meaningful minutes in conference play.

It's hard to tell until the 2026-27 season actually begins, but from a statistical outlook, it seems as if Missouri has bounced back with a strong 2026 transfer portal class.

Incoming Transfers	Outgoing transfers
Bryson Tiller (from Kansas)	Anthony Robinson II -> Florida State
Jamier Jones (from Providence)	T.O. Barrett -> Vanderbilt
Kennard Davis (from BYU)	Sebastian Mack -> Unsigned
Jaylen Carey (from Tennessee)	Jevon Porter -> Applying for waiver
???	Jacob Crews -> Applying for waiver

Here's the biggest improvement Missouri made with its 2026 portal class.

Rebounding

Kansas men's basketball's Bryson Tiller (15) rebounds the ball during Late Night in the Phog, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse . | Jesse Bruner/Special to The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Missouri averaged the fourth-least rebounds per game (35.4) in the Southeastern Conference the past season. It's three leading rebounders — Mitchell (5.2), Stone (5.1) and Shawn Phillips Jr. (5.1) all exhausted their final season of eligibility and won't be back next season.

Luckily, Gates and his staff acquired high-quality rebounders in the portal.

Former Kansas big Bryson Tiller averaged 6.1 rebounds per game last season despite 6.9 less minutes per game than Mitchell. Tiller also often shared the floor with All-Big 12 center Flory Bidunga, who averaged 9 rebounds per game. Jaylen Carey, another big added in the portal, averaged 6 rebounds in just 18.5 minutes per game last season at Tennessee. That's 0.9 more rebounds per game than Phillips, Missouri's previous starting center, in 2 less minutes per game.

Tennessee forward Jaylen Carey (23) tries to get to the basket while guarded by Oklahoma forward/center Kai Rogers (8) in an NCAA college basketball game on Feb. 18, 2026, in Knoxville, Tennessee. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But it's not only the incoming bigs who offer improvements on the glass — Jamier Jones and Kennard Davis are solid positional rebounders as well. Jones averaged 4.5 rebounds in 25.7 minutes per game, while Davis averaged 2.7 in 29.5 minutes per game. With an increase in minutes, Jones will likely surpass Stone's 5.1 rebounds per game, while Davis is no slouch in his own right.

All this rebounding is without mentioning the addition of incoming five-star freshman Toni Bryant, who should make some noise on the glass, given he's bound for a prominent role in the frontcourt rotation. It'd be well within logical reasoning to expect an improvement on the glass from returning young bigs as well — keep an eye on rising redshirt sophomore Trent Burns and rising sophomore Nicholas Randall, along with some bonus juice from athletic wing Annor Boateng.

While rebounding was undeniably a weakness of Missouri's last season, there's a chance it could be a strength in the next.

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