Mizzou's Trent Burns is Turning Tough Coaching Into Positive Performances

Trent Burns is a unique basketball player for very obvious reasons. His 7-foot-5 stature is beyond unusual and can be hard to coach.

Missouri head coach Dennis Gates has taken that challenge head-on with the hope that Burns can be more than just a backup center. Burns, in only his second year in the Missouri program with Gates, is receiving the hard coaching as good as a freshman could and is starting to transfer that into live-game settings.

"He definitely coaches me hard. He expects a lot of me, and I just have to continue to remind myself him coaching me is not angry," Burns said. "We're on the same team. He's just trying to get me in alignment with what we're doing as a team. Just remind myself that has allowed me to receive coaching a lot better and in turn, I've been playing a lot better."

This is the first time in quite a while that Burns is finding consistent minutes in actual games. He suffered an injury in the 2024-25 season that kept him out for its entirety, along with another foot injury that sidelined him until Nov. 25. Because of that, the Texas native was a little too excited for his return against South Carolina State.

Up until that game against South Carolina State, it had been around 600 days since playing a true game of basketball. Burns had been counting the days until his return.

Now, he's played 30 minutes over the last two outings for Missouri, with presumably more to come in the near future.

"Before this season, I'd been counting, because I've been hurt so much. It was like 600 something days since I played (in) a game," Burns said. "So when I first got out there, I was itching, and if you can kind of see, I was a little antsy, but it is just basketball at the end of the day. I love the sport, so it means a whole lot to be able to get back out here and play."

All of Burns' injuries didn't deter him from getting back to full strength, or close to it. He's now becoming more of a consistent contributor for the Tigers, something head coach Dennis Gates was looking for off the bench at the center position.

That also means that Burns is becoming more comfortable and confident in his feel for the game. All at the same time, he's adapting to the pace and physicality of the SEC. That's not an easy feat for a player who's played minimally over the last two years.

"After I settled in, (I) it really started to see how much of a difference it is from practice to the game, and just allow myself to get up to that standard, that speed, that physicality," Burns said. "(It) took a few games, but starting to try to settle in."

The objective for Burns while he is on the court, typically filling in for Shawn Phillips Jr., is actually quite simple. Because he's so big, he can create space for his teammates by eliminating it for others on offense. On defense, he has to be physical and get boards.

"I'm a pretty large human, so I just try to take up space, tried to really slow the head of the snake against Vanderbilt down and just show a body in front of him when guards might have gotten beat," Burns said. "Just show a body to make a second guess. That's really all I try to do. Be in the right spots. Just keep the offense moving."

Burns efforts certainly aren't going unnoticed. After Missouri's nail-biting win over Vanderbilt on Feb. 18, Gates was positively outspoken about Burns' impact. That was followed by a six-point, two-block performance three days later in a road loss to No. 20 Arkansas.

"Trent Burns has done a tremendous job in the last two games of just impacting the game, I would say, just from a mental standpoint, awareness IQ, just being at the right place," Gates said.

Burns and the Tigers have another big test ahead of them in a game where the 7-footer could he hugely impactful. Missouri takes on No. 22 Tennessee at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Mizzou Arena.

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