Trent Burns Makes Long-Anticipated Return for Mizzou

The Tigers saw their talented and tall big man play his first ever college basketball minutes.

Mar 19, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Missouri Tigers center Trent Burns (7) attempts to balance basketball as a drill during a practice session at Intrust Bank Arena. | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

The excitement Trent Burns had for his first-ever college basketball minutes against South Carolina State on Tuesday night may have been enough to send him in circles around the Columbia Mall candy store, according to Dennis Gates.

Despite being on a minutes restriction, Burns made his anticipated return to the court for the Tigers, something that Burns himself and Missouri fans have been patiently waiting for. He actually made his return a game early, a sign of his progression through his recovery process.

"He was pulling at my coattail the whole way," head coach Dennis Gates said following the win. "We thought the Cleveland State game was going to be the first game, possibly, but in his rehab, he's just had a great response to practice and post practice, and obviously, the doctors gave a thumbs up."

Understandably, there were some nerves on Burns's end when it came to playing his first career minutes. That being said, the support from his teammates and coaches made things a little easier.

"I was a little nervous," Burns said. "But the whole staff, top to bottom, from coaches and managers, they've been there the whole time through my rehab, even last year, so (it) took a lot of the pressure off the actual play."

Burns is still getting his conditioning back, along with the general flow of the game. This is only the first of hopefully many for the talented young big man and he should slowly acclimate to the pace of college basketball as he gets more minutes under his belt.

"I think the more games I play, the more minutes I play, the more rust I'll knock off and get back to playing," Burns said.

Burns' teammates have taken notice of the work he's put in over the last year and a half to get to this point in time. Burns has done nothing but battle injuries since arriving in Columbia, and he's shown plenty of resilience to get back to being able to play.

"Going through injuries is not something that's really easy, but I'm just proud of him to see him here on the court," forward Mark Mitchell said. "I don't know, I've probably played 100 games and this is his first, so just really exciting for me."

It's still extremely early in the career of Burns, but he showed why he could be such a promising player in his first 11 minutes. He recorded seven points, three rebounds and a block on perfect 100% shooting in his first outing.

"He's going to be a really special player here," Mitchell said. "So just seeing him get on the floor, get a little flow for the game, get a feel for the game is really exciting."

Burns will get his next chance at minutes against Cleveland State at 1 p.m. on Friday, once again taking place at Mizzou Arena.