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.

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.

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.

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 recording 17.1 defensive rebounding percentage and 7.1 offensive rebounding percentage.

While Tiller could start at center, he'll likely have another big starting alongside him, be it Toni Bryant, Jaylen Carey or Trent Burns. Burns, standing at 7-foot-5, would obviously start at center, meaning Tiller would start at power forward. But if Gates opts to start Bryant or Carey, Tiller would remain the five.

Potential offensive growth

Tiller spent last season primarily as a roll-man and lob-finisher, attempted 95 of his 227 field goals within 0-2 feet of the rim. He converted 65.3% of those, 69.4% of which were assisted. Much of that wa a result of playing alongside talented ball-handlers and scorers like Darryn Peterson, Tre White and Melvin Council Jr.

While incoming five-star freshman Jason Crowe will carry a similarly-heavy offensive workload that Peterson did, there's currently less on-ball scoring talent on Missouri's roster than last year's Jayhawks had. Crowe and Rowe are the only rostered guards, neither of which have played a minute of collegiate basketball.

Gates, who's previously succeeded in elevating off-ball players' on-ball prowess, could tap in to Tiller's athletic potential to turn him into a top scoring option for Missouri next season. Tiller has shown a willingness to attempt 3-pointers and mid-rangers — it's now a matter of knocking them down.

Missouri has heavily relied on frontcourt-oriented scoring in recent seasons, with top scorers like Mark Mitchell and Kobe Brown operating from the power forward spot, and Tiller could be next in line.

What's next in the offseason

Tiller's addition may signify that the Tigers are done making additions to the frontcourt — they've rostered six frontcourt players in each of the last two seasons. Additionally, Missouri still needs guard depth, and there's a finite amount of resources to go around.

*Randall and Northweather are yet to be confirmed for the 2026-27 roster. Neither have entered the transfer portal.

With Tiller certainly slotted to start at one of the frontcourt spots, while either Carey or Bryant will most likely take another. Those three, along with Burns, will most likely play consistent rotational minutes either way — the frontcourt is getting clogged.

Adding more depth insurance is still a possibility, but it'd make more sense if Missouri shifted its portal focus to adding guards and wings.

The Tigers won't be done in the portal. To keep up with all of the Tigers' offseason moves, keep up with our offseason tracker.

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