Mizzou’s 2026-27 season is off and running with an exhibition win.
Facing a new-look Kansas State squad under first-year head coach Casey Alexander, the Tigers beat the Wildcats 71-67 after pulling away in the second half — and surviving a late comeback bid — for an exhibition win Friday night in Manhattan, Kansas.
The Tigers will play one more exhibition Oct. 29 at UNLV, and the new official beginning of the new season arrives Nov. 3 with a game against Cleveland State at Mizzou Arena.
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Here are nine fast takeaways from Mizzou’s exhibition in Manhattan, Kansas:
Jason Crowe Jr. shines in first look
We saw exactly what we wanted to see out of Crowe, even if this wasn’t his best shooting night. After all, he didn’t have his best shooting night and still scored a game-high 21 points.
What a thrill the rookie could be. His ability to get to spots off the dribble and get shots up is unlike much we’ve seen at Missouri. If there was any doubt, not that there should have been, he’s going to lead Mizzou in field goal attempts and he’s going to be the primary scorer on pretty much any given night.
Crowe will have better shooting nights. He was 7-of-18 from the field and 1-of-6 from 3-point range. But his ability to get shots off is highly encouraging and will lead to some big, big nights when the shots fall.
The ball movement when he was running the point was elevated. Back-to-back possessions with alley-oop assists, going to Toni Bryant and Jamier Jones, was a standout moment in the game.
His statline from his debut: 21 points, five assists and three steals. It feels odd to say, but that almost feels like the baseline for the ultra-talented freshman.
Mark Mitchell, out of the courts, was rusty on the court
Mitchell is currently eligible with an injunction against the NCAA that was granted in a Kentucky court. It’s not permanent. He will need an extension or to make it through an appeals court to be eligible for the full 2026-27 season, but the order was enough for him to be available Friday.
Mitchell didn’t score in 16 minutes on the floor. He had chances, but went 0-of-4 from the free throw line and 0-of-3 on a series of tip-in attempts.
He did have eight rebounds, which is something Gates emphasized as an area for improvement. Six of those were on the offensive glass. That’s good.
But Mitchell’s return was a little underwhelming, at least as far as points are concerned.
Gates’ first starting lineup omitted Mitchell. Will that stick?
Dennis Gates' first starting lineup of the 2026-27 preseason:
- Jason Crowe Jr.
- Kennard Davis Jr.
- Trent Pierce
- Toni Bryant
- Bryson Tiller
Gates said that Bryant was a Day 1 starter. He opted for the five-star rookie in front of Mitchell, so he really stuck to his word there.
We’re intrigued by Davis over Jamier Jones, but both of those players will play a lot of minutes for Missouri this season.
There’s a chance this sticks. There’s only so many forward spots to go around, and Pierce offers a 3-point threat that Mitchell does not. Tiller is a must-have whenever he’s available. The question moving forward will be whether Gates wants to run with Bryant the rookie or, if he’s more permanently eligible, Mitchell.
3-point shooting was poor, but Trent Pierce impressed
Mizzou started 4-of-17 from 3-point range. Two of the Tigers’ opening three makes from behind the arc came from Cord Stansberry and Aidan Chronister, who we don’t necessarily expect to be major players in the rotation — but we could be wrong.
Trent Pierce was the outlier and the player who got Missouri out of the deep-shooting funk. That’s going to be one of his primary roles this year.
With all the size and ability the Tigers have on the inside, Pierce can primarily play on the perimeter, which suited him Friday. He was 2-of-4 from behind the arc on a night the Tigers only made 27.6% of their deep shots.
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We were very impressed by …
Jamier Jones. He could be a really good addition for MU. Jones hobbled off the floor in the first half after taking a hard hit on a fastbreak and didn’t return in the second half, but we were impressed with what the limited minutes we saw from him to start the game.
Jones is an exceptional athlete. He’s tremendous getting downhill, showing that off in his first minutes with a drive straight at 6-foot-10 K-State center Brock Vice to the rim, where he made his layup and drew a foul.
Later in the first half, he darted between traffic along the baseline to get underneath the rim and laid off a deft handoff to Bryson Tiller, who would have had an easy dunk — if it hadn’t been for the shot clock expiring.
This team has length. It also has an outstanding athlete who can play above the rim in Jones.
There’s more to come from …
Bryson Tiller: To be clear, we mean this on offense. The Kansas transfer forward, like much of the Mizzou team on a rusty shooting night, was not the best from the field.
He is going to get opportunities because of his ability to create space with some force underneath the basket, but he finished 2-of-10 from the floor. He also had five turnovers.
There was a lot to like from what we saw out of Tiller as a defender. He finished with a team-high nine rebounds, five blocks and added a couple assists.
We’re extremely high on the 6-foot-10 center, though, and there’s more to come from him on offense.
Surprise of the night
Cord Stansberry. Is the Western Carolina transfer going to play major minutes this season? That’s not the current expectation, but who knows …
Stansberry was 2-of-2 from 3-point range, scored eight points and flew around on defense. If nothing else, he’s a ball of energy and effort. You won’t turn your nose up at that production.
Who didn’t play?
Tennessee transfer forward Jaylen Carey, returning forward Nicholas Randall and South Dakota transfer guard Jordan Crawford did not see the floor for the Tigers. It’s immediately unclear why they were absent.
CJ Gunn also didn’t play, although that was expected. As part of his temporary restraining order against the NCAA, he offered to sit out three games as a one-for-one suspension for playing in three games in the Canadian Basketball League this past spring.
Don’t read too much into Friday’s result
We weren’t going to tell you to book Final Four hotels if Mizzou blew K-State out and we weren’t going to signal doom and gloom if Mizzou got run out of Bramlage Coliseum.
This was a tune-up game. Gates experimented with what had to be dozens of lineups. The Tigers got a chance to play against players that weren’t the same ones they’ve seen all summer and in front of a crowd reacting to every play.
Mizzou had strong spurts. The Tigers’ 13-0 run to start the second half combined some excellent defense and transition offense. When Crowe was on the ball, Mizzou always looked like it had a chance to score.
There were also some concerns. Mizzou, after building a 14-point lead in the second half, didn’t score a field goal for six minutes in the game’s final stretch, and Kansas State had a late opportunity to tie the game.
All in all, that’s about what you’d expect from an exhibition. Some good, some fun, some bad. The new season is less than two weeks away, and we’re no less convinced that the Tigers could be a competitive outfit this year.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Nine takeaways from first look at Missouri basketball, exhibition at K-State