Mizzou gets debut of Trent Burns in dominant win
Mizzou jumped ahead when Ant Robinson hit a 3, and the Tigers never trailed.
Missouri cruised to a wire-to-wire 98-66 win against South Carolina State on Tuesday at Mizzou Arena.
“Great to see our guys gel and continue to get better,” Mizzou coach Dennis Gates said. “I thought we came out early being able to sort of set the tone and we played very unselfishly.”
The game was never in question as the Tigers jumped out to an 8-0 lead before using an 11-0 run to go up 19-1.
Mizzou’s lead got to 20 points for the first time when T.O. Barrett connected on a second-chance layup to make it 25-5 with 12:03 left in the first half.
The Tigers extended to a 25-point lead a couple of minutes later and took a 55-30 lead into halftime.
Second half
After the break went just as smoothly. The Tigers extended to a 30-point advantage when Mark Mitchell hit two free throws to make it 66-36 with 13:15 left and SC State never got back within 30 after the 12:36 mark.
The real story
The biggest news during Tuesday night’s game wasn’t about the final score. It was the debut of four-star center Trent Burns.
After a foot injury kept Burns off the floor his entire true freshman season and another one kept him out the first few weeks of his redshirt freshman season, Burns made his Mizzou debut against the Bulldogs and the 7-foot-5 center contributed seven points, three rebounds and a block in 11 minutes.
“I was a little nervous,” Burns said. “But the whole staff, top to bottom, from coaches, managers, they’ve been there the whole time through my rehab. Even last year. So that took a lot of the pressure off me. I just got to go play.”
Burns received an ovation from the Mizzou Arena crowd when he stepped up to the scorer’s table with 8:48 left in the first half. And he grabbed a rebound with 8:10 left in the first half for his first college stat.
A layup with 7:58 left in the game contributed the first points of Burns’ college career, then he added two dunks later in the game. One on a pick-and-roll feed from Barrett and the other on an alley-oop from Sebastian Mack.
“I think the more games I play, more minutes I play, the more rust I’ll knock off and get back to playing what we call lag free,” Burns said.
And with the return of Burns in a game without any remaining stakes, Gates fielded a lineup that included Burns, Barrett and Annor Boateng. The first time all three second-year Tigers were on the floor together in their careers.
“They’ll be talented, there is no doubt about it,” Gates said of the trio. “They’ll win a lot of ball games. I do believe those three guys will play in the NBA as well. … The relationships that they have with each other is the one thing that I think is very special. They’re a very close group, a very close class, and I do believe they’ll be lifelong friends.”
Stats
Five Tigers scored in double figures, led by center Shawn Phillips who had 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Mitchell was next with 15 points, seven rebounds and a team-high six assists.
“It’s a lot of fun, obviously, having two super-long threats,” Mitchell said of being a distributor. “Shawn (Phillips) and having Trent back now, we’ve really been working on just watching the film the last couple games. I think I missed it a couple of times so tonight, just seeing the opportunities I have when I draw the defense and just throw it up to the big fellas and they do what they do.”
Mack added 12 points, while Boateng had his most productive college game with 12 points, five rebounds and an assist. That bested his performance against Mississippi Valley State last year when he had 10 points and three rebounds.
Barrett added 11 points, three assists and two rebounds.
Injury news
The Tigers were still without Trent Pierce, who is yet to play in the 2025-26 season.
And the team announced Tuesday that guard Jayden Stone will miss the next three-to-four weeks after injuring his left hand during practice on Monday.
“You could tell that he was missing tonight, I think it kind of discombobulated my rotation a little bit,” Gates said. “And it also impacted the space and the gravity on the court. But guys were able to step up and step into a role.”
Postgame press conferences
Dennis Gates, Trent Burns, Mark Mitchell
SC State coach Erik Martin
Up next
Mizzou (7-0) will look to remain undefeated when it hosts former assistant coach Rob Summers and the Cleveland State Vikings at 1 p.m. Friday.