Missouri’s Trevon Brazile battles for the ball with Arkansas’ Davonte Davis, diving, on Feb. 15. Brazile now is headed to Arkansas. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
The Missouri-Arkansas basketball rivalry hasn’t been much of one lately, but there’s a new twist to spark interest in the series: Trevon Brazile, the Tigers’ most promising young player this past season, is turning red.
Brazile, a week after entering the NCAA transfer portal, has committed to the Razorbacks, he announced Wednesday on social media.
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The 6-foot-9 freshman from Springfield, Missouri, started 23 of the 25 games he played this season and averaged 6.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, ranking among the SEC leaders all season in blocks. The former three-star prospects was one of the best finds by former coach Cuonzo Martin, first committing to Mizzou in September 2020 on the day Martin became the first high-major coach to offer him a scholarship. At the time his only other offers were from Montana State and Cleveland State, then coached by new Mizzou coach Dennis Gates, though Arkansas and Kansas had also reached out at the time.
Brazile is one of six players from Mizzou’s 2020-21 team to enter the portal, along with fellow freshmen Anton Brookshire and Sean Durugordon, sophomore center Jordan Wilmore, junior guard DaJuan Gordon and senior guard Javon Pickett. Gordon’s portal submission became official Wednesday, VerbalCommits.com first reported.
Gordon came to Columbia last summer after spending the previous two seasons at Kansas State. The Chicago native averaged 8.3 points for the Tigers this past season and shot a career-best 36.4% from 3-point range. He started in 31 games and finished the season with a career-high 19 points in the season-ending loss to LSU in the SEC tournament.
Arkansas, the only Southeastern Conference program to make the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, continues to add major pieces under coach Eric Musselman. In November, the Hogs signed two five-star and three four-star prospects and recently added a commitment from another five-star 2022 recruit. Headlined by five-star guards Nick Smith and Anthony Black and five-star forward Jordan Walsh, the Razorbacks’ class is ranked No. 2 nationally by 247Sports.com and Rivals.com — and those rankings don’t take into account Brazile’s addition.
Where does that leave Mizzou’s roster? The Tigers have six players with remaining eligibility who haven’t entered the portal as of Wednesday: freshmen Kaleb Brown and Yaya Keita; sophomore Ronnie DeGray III; and juniors Kobe Brown, Boogie Coleman and Amari Davis. Incoming freshman guard Christian Jones from East St. Louis has not indicated if he’ll change plans. Gates has landed two recent commitments in junior college forward Mohamed Diarra and Milwaukee transfer guard DeAndre Gholston.
Dave Matter brings you the latest updates from the Mizzou sports scene.
Dave Matter is the Mizzou beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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Missouri’s Trevon Brazile battles for the ball with Arkansas’ Davonte Davis, diving, on Feb. 15. Brazile now is headed to Arkansas. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
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