- 7-foot-5 redshirt freshman center Trent Burns is expected to make his Tigers debut tonight on limited minutes. He entered college as a top-100 recruit but missed his first season with a foot injury and has not yet appeared this season, either — at least until tonight.
- It wasn’t all good news for Mizzou today, though. Guard Jayden Stone, who has averaged 13.3 points per game this year, will miss 3-4 weeks after suffering an injury to his left (non-shooting) hand in practice Monday.
Missouri vs South Carolina State
Where | Mizzou Arena; Columbia, MO
Radio | Tiger Radio Network
ESPN win probability | 99.0% chance
G: Anthony Robinson II (JR, 12.8 PPG)
G: Sebastian Mack (JR, 10.5 PPG)
F: Jevon Porter (SR, 8.2 PPG)
F: Mark Mitchell (SR, 18.7 PPG)
C: Shawn Phillips, Jr. (SR, 8.8 PPG)
Notable Sixth Man: Jayden Stone (SR, 13.3 PPG)
South Carolina State (0-6)
F: Cameron Clark (SR, 12.0 PPG)
G: Rayniel Wright (JR, 5.0 PPG)
G: Owen Bronston, Jr. (JR, 12.5 PPG)
G: Florian Tenebay (SR, 4.8 PPG)
G: Jayden Johnson (SO, 7.7 PPG)
Notable Sixth Man: Noah Treadwell (FR, 9.3 PPG)
Note: these starting lineups are projected.
Get to know the South Carolina State Bulldogs
From Sam Snelling’s preseason preview:
The school is a member of the MEAC, or Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and has been since its founding in 1970. The league officially formed and began competition in 1971, and it joined NCAA’s division one the same year.
Since then the school has made 5 NCAA tournaments, but none since 2003. They play a lot of non-conference road games, but not to the degree of some of the SWAC schools. In the past 10 years they’ve played 97 non-conference road games, they’ve won just 8 of them, and none of those 8 were against a high major opponent. In fact in school history, South Carolina State has never beaten an SEC school on the road.
Erik Martin has been at the helm of this Bulldogs team since 2022. After a rough first year, South Carolina State was able to assemble and push for a twenty win season in 2024. It was just the second 20-win season for State since the year 2000.
Since the finale of last season the transfer portal has rocked Martin and his team.
Transfer portal impact level = high. Drayton Jones, a 6’10 post is at Butler after averaging 13 points and 5.5 rebounds last year. Mitchel Taylor, a point guard who averaged 8.5 points a game is now at UNC-Asheville. Wilson Dubinsky, another 8 pp scorer and combo guard, will suit up for Marshall this year.
Making up for this, 8 newcomers have joined the staff. Cameron Clark, a transfer from Cal State Bakersfield, is currently second on the team in points per game, with 12.0. He trails only Owen Bronston, Jr. However, Clark does lead the team in FG percentage, sitting at 44.1%, but if you put the forward at the charity stripe he shoots a weak 40 percent. The transfer also leads the team in rebounds, averaging 5.3 boards per game.
The starting five for the Bulldogs has looked different in each game this season as they attempt to figure out what works best on the court. So far, no combination has resulted in a win for the team this season. All but one of their games this season has been on the road. In fact, State will stay on the road until December 16th when they host South Carolina Upstate. Additionally, the Bulldogs have not faced a conference opponent yet.
The Bulldogs opened their season against 11 ranked Louisville and suffered a 59 point defeat at the hands of the Cardinals. Since, the squad has faced easier competition up until the matchup with the Tigers. Both teams share a common opponent in the South Dakota Coyotes. Unlike Mizzou, the South Carolina State fell to the Yotes, by just one point.
Mizzou will look to improve to 3-0 all-time against South Carolina State on Tuesday night. Two years ago the teams dueled at Mizzou Arena in quite a nasty fight. In a dreadful season, the Tigers showed various facets of weakness against the Bulldogs and barely scraped away with the win.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again — this team has not loved to jump out the gate ready to go. It doesn’t matter if the team is a Power Four opponent or a DIII opponent, Mizzou continues to look sluggish in the first half. Granted, they do look good in the second and establish an identity, but I’d like to see that identity come to fruition a lot earlier.
Jevon Porter spoke about the second half adjustments post-South Dakota game.
“I think we have a great endurance to us. By the way we practice, how hard we go in practice, just continuing to play as hard as we possibly can the second half, and just realizing what what we need to do, the coaches do a good job of adjustments during halftime.”
A sluggish start won’t fare well when the team reaches conference play.
South Carolina State struggles majorly when forced with field goals. While they aren’t great from any particular location from the floor, the Bulldogs have failed to shoot 50 percent or higher from field goal range all season. The highest was 47%. Only twice has this team even scored greater than 70 points.
Mizzou should look to make the Bulldogs uncomfortable. The Tigers should also use the height to an advantage to grab boards and reduce and second chance opportunities.
Bronston Jr. is the Bulldogs’ top scorer and has only failed to reach double digits in one game. While Mizzou won’t be able to fully contain the top scorer, it will be key to force the ball into the hands of other players. The Bulldogs are still struggling to find an identity on the court and taking away the leader will force them into unwanted turnovers.
We can finally check Annor Boateng off the injury report sheet. The sophomore made his season debut against the Coyotes and returned to the Tiger lineup.
Shawn Phillips, Jr. sat out last game due to an illness but I would expect him to return to action Tuesday night.
Pierce was practicing with the team recently; however, Gates has kept him out of the action all season so far, nor has he provided a practice update. The details of his injury have still not been revealed.
Burns had foot surgery in the offseason and will be out for an undetermined amount of time. The original timeline had him set to miss the first four weeks of non-conference play.
My prediction: Mizzou 99, South Carolina State 68
There is a very good chance the Tigers will reach triple digits in three straight games. Mizzou should have no difficulty taking care of a struggling South Carolina State team. The Bulldogs have yet to produce a consistent starting five, while the Tigers seem to have nearly seven starters on the roster. If Mizzou continues to light a fire in the second half, I expect them to blow the game wide open late and send the Bulldogs packing.
