Mizzou Men’s Basketball schedule preview: Games 5-6
I’m continuing my look through the Mizzou men’s basketball schedule after I have them starting 4-0.
Next up, games hosting Prairie View A&M and South Dakota.
Game 5: Hosting Prairie View A&M, Nov. 17
The Tigers will host a Panther team coming off a 5-27 season with a 4-14 record in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.
Remember the Tigers’ win against Mississippi Valley State last season? Prairie View A&M beat the Delta Devils just 74-65. Almost the same score against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a 75-64 win.
The Tigers beat those two teams by a combined 223-102.
Bringing a bad SWAC team to Mizzou Arena is for a pretty specific reason. A big win that lets the young guys have a lot of time.
Byron Smith is going into his ninth season coaching the Panthers. His team shot 43.5 percent from the field, 31.9 percent from 3 and 69.1 percent from the free-throw line last season.
Prairie View A&M averaged 71.4 points per game last season and allowed 82.4.
The updated Panther roster for the 2025-26 season isn’t available. But I can tell you, Prairie View A&M lost leading scorer Nick Anderson to the portal. He went to Rice.
They lost second-leading scorer Tanahj Pettway to eligibility. Though I think he was one of many players like former Tiger Josh Gray who entered the portal with no eligibility remaining just in case.
They lost third-leading scorer Braelon Bush to eligibility as well. And fourth-leading scorer Marcel Bryant entered the transfer portal. Though he did not find a new home as far as I can tell.
Fifth-leading scorer Jordan Tillmon was a graduate last season. And Orlando Horton Jr. entered the portal and appears to have gone to Murray State.
Elijah Terry entered the portal and doesn’t seem to have found a new team. John-Paul Ricks entered the portal and went to DII UNC-Pembroke.
It seems like the only player who played a key role last season who might be back is center Ryan Bolton.
Without an updated roster or a portal additions grouping, I can’t tell you what the roster looks like.
But I can tell you I’m confident the Tigers will win by 40 if they want to.
Game 6: Hosting South Dakota, Nov. 20
South Dakota should be a bit better of a game. The Coyotes went 19-14 last year and 9-7 in Summit League play.
South Dakota lost to Iowa and Nebraska in power-conference games last season.
The Coyotes shot 45 percent from the field, 32.1 percent from 3 and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line last season.
Eric Peterson is going into his fourth season at the helm of the program. His team scored 85.2 points per game last season, while allowing 83.7.
Returning for South Dakota this year are:
- Junior guard Isaac Bruns (6-foot-5) is back after scoring 14.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season in 33 appearances and 16 starts.
- Senior center Cameron Fens (7-0) is also back after recording 8.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in 19 appearances and 16 starts.
- Senior forward Ashton Smith (6-9) returns after contributing 4.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in 33 appearances and 12 starts.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Shey Eberwein (6-5) added 4.5 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in 31 appearances off the bench last season and is back on this year’s roster.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Jalen Hayes (6-2) is back after appearing in seven games last season.
- Junior forward Jake Brack (6-9) played in 15 games last year.
- Redshirt freshman guard Evan Anderson (6-4) who did not appear last season.
- Redshirt freshman guard Porter Ihnen (6-6) who did not appear last season.
Which leaves nine newcomers on roster.
- Junior guard Jordan Crawford (6-3) played 30 games for Eastern Kentucky last season, averaging 7.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
- Freshman guard Uzziah Buntyn joins the team from Round Rock, Texas.
- Freshman guard Vince Buzelis (6-4) joins from Willowbrook, Ill.
- Freshman guard Luke Bruns (6-2) comes from North Sioux City, S.D.
- Freshman guard Jesse McIntosh (6-7) joins from Melbourne, Australia.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Josiah Dotzler (6-3) transferred from Saint Louis, where he appeared in five games before a season-ending injury. He started his career at Creighton and played in 19 games.
- Freshman forward Jonah Funk (6-10) comes from Metamora, Ill.
- Redshirt sophomore forward Ethan Kizer (6-5) redshirted last season at South Alabama after appearing in 17 games as a true freshman.
- Senior forward Caleb Kizer (6-7) joins his brother after playing in nine games last season at South Alabama and beginning his career with three seasons at Culver-Stockton.
That’s a lot of change for a team that had relative success last year. But once again, I think this should be a pretty easy one for Mizzou.
I have the Tigers starting 6-0.
