Missouri Tigers’ men’s basketball team prepares for 2021-22 season with new-look squad
When Missouri men’s basketball steps onto the court this season, recognizable faces will be few and far between.
Dru Smith, Jeremiah Tilmon and Mitchell Smith all graduated. Six players transferred out of the program, most notably Xavier Pinson to LSU, Drew Buggs to Winthrop and Mark Smith to Kansas State. Only two Tigers who played consistent minutes return from last season: Kobe Brown and Javon Pickett. They’ll be joined by an influx of freshmen and transfers on a new-look 2021-22 Mizzou squad.
Four transfers — 6-foot-3 DaJuan Gordon (Kansas State), 6-6 Ronnie DeGray III (UMass), 6-4 Jarron “Boogie” Coleman (Ball State) and 6-2 Amari Davis (Green Bay) — joined the team over the offseason. Six-foot-1 Anton Brookshire, 6-6 Kaleb Brown (Kobe’s brother), 6-8 Yaya Keita and 6-9 Trevor Brazile are all three-stars making up the freshmen class.
“We got a lot of good, talented guys coming in,” Kobe Brown said. They shocked me, really. I didn’t know they were gonna be that good.”
Also on the team are 7-3 forward Jordan Wilmore, who averaged 4.4 minutes per game as a freshman behind Tilmon last year, and 6-7 forward Sean Durugordon, who joined the team midseason and redshirted after graduating high school early.
Though head coach Cuonzo Martin said he has always placed a big emphasis on teaching, there has been even more of a focus in that area, specifically with getting back to the basics and individual skill work as he’s tried to get to know all of the new players on the team.
Players, coaches, staff and their families spent some time at Martin’s house over the summer to allow everyone to build relationships and bond — something the program normally does, but did a few more times this offseason than years past.
The team had more scrimmaging in practice than usual in the summer months to try to develop chemistry and allow everyone to get a feel for each other’s games. And Martin noted that he’s been impressed with how much extra work players have been putting in together in the mornings and their spare time, saying five to six guys can normally be found in the gym each morning, as opposed to a couple last year.
“At first it was like a little weird when everybody else came in,” Pickett said. “But as the time went on and we started practicing every day, competing with one another, you start to get to know other people on the team and you start to build those bonds with people. So can’t really think about (last year); you’ve just got to think about this team now.”
One thing that has stood out throughout the offseason has been the group’s athleticism and the ability to play more interchangeable, positionless basketball. Martin and players said this year’s team plans to play at an even faster pace than the season prior, with, of course, a focus on toughness and defense — signatures of Martin-led teams.
“As fast as you can go, almost running through that wall,” Martin said. “We want to go fast. You want to be fast, but you want to be efficient. You still have to take care of the basketball. We work towards that every day.”
With the team missing its four leading scorers from last season and no double-digit scorers returning to the program, there’s a lot of production up for grabs. The Tigers expect scoring to be more evenly distributed than that campaign, in which Dru Smith had 14.3 points a game, Pinson put up 13.6 per contest and Tilmon averaged 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a night.
“This year I feel like it’s gonna be more of ‘everyone’s gonna have to contribute in order for us to win,’” Kobe Brown said. “It should be fun to watch.”
The Tigers start their season against Central Michigan on Nov. 9 at Mizzou Arena. The team will not be playing exhibition games this season, but will participate in several closed scrimmages.
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
