How Trent Burns can Transform Mizzou Basketball: The Extra Point

Watch the video below as MissouriTigersOnSI reporter Killian Wright breaks down Trent Burns potential role with Missouri Tigers basketball in the upcoming season.

Redshirt freshman Trent Burns missed the entire 2024-2025 season dealing with a foot injury, spending the year on the sidelines. Rumblings about the 7-foot-5 sleeping giant circulated throughout the season; Can he shoot? Is he a shot-blocker?

The short answer to both is yes.

Burns averaged three blocks per game in his senior season at Good Vision Academy, while also routinely knocking down 3-pointers — both areas that last season's Missouri's centers struggled with. Forward Mark Mitchell slid to the five for stints in the season and averaged 0.8 blocks per game, but was never really a true center.

At the time, graduate Josh Gray, junior Aidan Shaw and freshman Peyton Marshall were the fives on the roster. None of the three eclipsed the 0.5 block per game mark, and each combined for five total made threes on the season, four of which came from Shaw.

With those three now out of the picture for Missouri, Burns is primed for a contributing role next season. As the offensive focus may shift to be more heavily oriented around Mitchell, lineups should be prioritized to maximize his skillset.

Mitchell is an excellent driver, but needs the floor spacing to do so, meaning that playing Burns and his 3-point shooting threat next to Mitchell is ideal for the star. Having the threat of Burns looming on the arc rather than seeing the double-team from a clogged lane of Gray or Marshall's man opens up Mitchell's drives for much easier looks.

Of course, the Tigers picked another shooting big in transfer Luke Northweater, but he's not nearly the shot-blocker Burns is. Arizona State transfer Shawn Phillips Jr. may be a better shot-blocker than Burns is, but he's nowhere near the shooter. Phillips also struggles with foul trouble, owning a 6.6 fouls committed per 40 minutes rate.

While Burns may not be immediately ready to take over a starting role, a majority of his playing time should be sharing the court with Mitchell, as the pair complement each other perfectly. Burns astounding shot-blocking should transfer to the stat sheet, but his floor spacing ability can't be forgotten when Mitchell's scoring increases with Burns' minutes.

Burns brings a versatility to the Missouri big-man rotation that was severely lacked last season, and will only improve as the season moves along.