What Bryson Tiller Means for Mizzou Basketball

Missouri basketball landed perhaps its biggest transfer portal addition of the offseason, landing former Jayhawk Bryson Tiller on Thursday morning.

Tiller is ranked the No. 34 player and No. 9 power forward in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings. The 6-foot-11, 240-pound redshirt freshman started 31 of 35 games for the Jayhawks the past season, averaging 7.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1 assist and 1.3 blocks in 25.9 minutes per game. He dropped 13 points and a season-high five blocks against Missouri in December, but he’s been on Dennis Gates’ radar far before the standout.

Advertisement

Gates offered Tiller back in 2021, when the now-helm of the Tigers was coaching Cleveland State and Tiller was a freshman in high school. Nearly five full years later, Gates and Tiller have teamed up.

Here’s what the addition of Tiller means for Missouri.

Defensive anchor acquired

The starting center spot has been a weakness of Missouri’s in recent seasons. From Shawn Phillips Jr.’s foul trouble, to Josh Gray’s blatant lack of offense and the rotating carousel of flawed bigs in the abysmal 2023-24 squad, it’s been quite a while since the Tigers saw stability at the center spot.

Advertisement

Tiller could be that stable presence, and immediately makes a strong case for the best Missouri center under Gates.

Tiller spent most of his minutes at power forward last season at Kansas while Flory Bidunga manned the center spot. There’s no Bidunga-caliber big on Missouri’s 2026-27 roster, leaving Tiller as the most suitable candidate to start at center, which he’s certainly capable of doing.

DUPLICATE***Kansas Jayhawks forward Bryson Tiller (15) blocks a shot by Baylor Bears guard Isaac Williams (10) during the game inside Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 16, 2026. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tiller posted a 5.4 block percentage last season, becoming one of six high-major freshman to record a block percentage of 5 or higher. He also posted a 3.2 defensive box plus-minus, while…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bryson-tiller-means-mizzou-basketball-190342808.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-04-16 19:03:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.