Missouri Tigers lose their top returning scorer days after NCAA Tournament exit
The Missouri basketball career of guard Xavier Pinson has apparently come to an end.
Pinson, who just completed his junior season, has entered the NCAA transfer portal, a Missouri spokesman confirmed. Pinson averaged 13.6 points as the Tigers’ second leading scorer and had many good moments, like his season-high 36 points against TCU.
But he played only 18 minutes of Mizzou’s loss to Oklahoma in the men’s NCAA Tournament first round, and didn’t get off the bench in the final 5:52. He scored two points on one of seven shooting.
Cuonzo Martin was asked about Pinson’s playing time after the game and the Tigers coach said he believed Drew Buggs was the better option.
“I think really we got into a flow with Buggs, we got a real flow, we got back in the game with Buggs, and it just went from there and I thought Buggs did a great job on both sides of the basketball,” Martin said.
There had been some speculation that Pinson was shaking off an injury but he took to social media after the game and said that wasn’t the case.
Pinson’s loss removes a probable returning starter for next year’s team. Against Oklahoma, Missouri started three seniors — Dru Smith, Jeremiah Tilmon and Mark Smith — along with Pinson and sophomore forward Kobe Brown.
Pinson started all 26 games and averaged 2.9 assists while shooting 33.6 percent on three-pointers.