Welcome, DaJuan!

It’s official! Kansas State transfer DaJuan (pronounced Day-Schwan) Gordon signed on the dotted line and is officially a Missouri Tiger.

MUTigers.com’s press release highlighted a number of things about the new guard, including this tidbit:

As a sophomore, Gordon ranked third on the Wildcats’ roster in scoring, total points (228) and double-digit scoring games (13). Ten of those 13 double-figure scoring performances came against Big 12 opponents. On the glass, he snagged at least five boards in 15 games, one of four guards in the Big 12 to rank in the league’s Top 15 in rebounding.

Besides being a good defender, the Tigers are also getting them a successful student-athlete. According to the release, Gordon earned 2020 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team honors as a freshman and in the spring of 2020, he received Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll recognition with a 4.0 GPA.

From Coach Martin, on the signing:

“DaJuan is a really athletic, gifted guard who brings a high level of passion and intensity to the court every single day,” Martin said. “He plays physical, tough basketball on both ends, and we’re excited to have him be a part of that culture we’ve built at Mizzou.”

On to the Links! Have a nice weekend!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Aaron continued the football staff’s “Best Mizzou Duos” series with a connection that lives on today.
• COMING UP: More player reviews. This time, it’s Drew Buggs’ turn. Kortay previews the baseball matchup, while BK asks if Mizzou can break through in football the same way Baylor did in basketball.

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More Links:

Football/Hoops

• Let’s start with the good football news, shall we? Love to see the hype for Nick Bolton.

• And then, in not so good news, the Saturday Down South staff reported that Daniel Parker, Jr was arrested on Wednesday for failure to appear in court. Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also reported on the matter. He’d been previously cited with a speeding ticket. Given it was for a traffic violation, I can’t imagine it will impact his team standing much, but still... be better, DPJ. (side note: doesn’t compliance have someone to watch out for this sort of stuff?)
• Blair Kerkhoff of the KC Star took a look at Cuonzo’s comments about the newcomers, which comes on the heels of the news that Drew Buggs is transferring to play his 55th year of college basketball... kidding.
• Mizzou Hoops S&C coach, Nicodemus Christopher, was a part of a biweekly series called “Betting on Yourself,” where he talked about how he got to where he is today. Good listen. Coach Nic seems like a wonderful human being.

• Anxious for Dave Matter’s thoughts on all the things Mizzou Football and Hoops? Check out his new chat at STLToday. I liked Dave’s response to the over and under-achievers he’s covered since starting on the Mizzou beat. Here’s his response:

Overachievers ... In football, I’d probably go with Tommy Saunders, who didn’t have ideal size or speed at receiver but did everything else and finished his career top 10 in all-time receptions. I’ll give Ish Witter a nod, too. When he first got to Mizzou I never would have imagined he’d become a 1,000-yard rusher, but he continued to surprise year after year.

In basketball, Jordan Geist. He might be Martin’s favorite player in four years at Mizzou. Tough as hell, relentless defender and built himself into a competent shooter and very productive scorer.

Underachievers ... Well, Dorial Green-Beckham comes to mind first, but he had a lot of personal issues that seemed to keep him from ever living up to his athletic potential.

In basketball, I thought Jakeenan Gant had the tools to make him a productive SEC player, but it took him a while to figure out who he was on the floor. To his credit he had a couple really good years at Lafayette after leaving Mizzou.

Track & Field

• Track is hosting the Tom Botts Invitational for its final meet of the outdoor season this season. They will compete against kansas, SLU, DePaul, SIU-Carbondale, Northern Iowa, and Creighton. The event kicks off at 3:30pm this afternoon with the women’s hammer throw and javelin. At 7:30pm, Mizzou will kick off its track events with the 1500m. Mizzou will also recognize its 17(!!) seniors on Saturday afternoon.

According to MUTigers.com, keep an eye on RS freshman Mitch Weber, who will compete in both the shot put and discus. At the Texas Relays, Mitched placed third overall (second among NCAA competitors) in the discus, and in the Mizzou Spring Opener, Weber moved into the program record books, when he captured won the discus with a throw of 60.99m. This ranks third in the nation and second all-time at Mizzou.

Softball

• Larissa Anderson’s Tigers, who currently sits in fourth place in the SEC with a 6-3 record, square off this weekend against the No. 17/15 LSU Tigers this weekend in Columbia, the first of an 8-game home stand. Play starts this evening at 5:30 on SECN+.

A Mizzou player to keep an eye on? According to MUTigers.com, it’s Kendyll Bailey. She is 13-for-24 (.542) over her last 11 games with three doubles, two home runs, five RBIs, and a .657 on-base percentage. She also has two three-hit games over that span. Kendyll has already set or tied her career-high in every offensive category this season, except from stolen bases.

• Eric Blum cited the need for Missouri to keep up their success if they hope to put in a bid to host a NCAA regional in his newest article for the Columbia Tribune. The Tigers sit at No. 19 in the country currently, and have five other SEC teams ranked ahead of them, including LSU, who they face this weekend. After the Tigers’ extensive home stand, they will only have three home games remaining, so getting some wins this weekend are super important.
• Ben Miglore of the Missourian reminded us that LSU, at the season’s onset, was picked to finish second in the loaded SEC and were preseason No. 5, but they have since backslid dramatically, and now have the third most losses in the SEC. They enter the weekend series struggling at the plate, with a team batting average of .263 (12th in the SEC). And despite two pitchers with optimal ERAs, the team’s ERA of 2.65 is 10th in the SEC.

Baseball

• Steve Bieser’s Tigers hit the road to visit the Other Columbia (i.e. the worse one) and take on the No. 11 Gamecocks this weekend. While Kortay will have a preview up in the morning, you can also check out the MUTigers’ preview. Under Coach Bieser, the Tigers are 6-6 against South Carolina. The last time the two teams faced, in 2019 in CoMo, Mizzou swept the series. In fact, each time the teams have met, whomever is the home team has won the series.

According to MUTigers.com, keep an eye out for RS-sophomore Seth Halvorsen, who pitches this evening:

Not only did Halvorsen hit triple digits on the radar gun in game two start against Texas A&M, the right-hander also put together his best start in a Mizzou uniform. After surrendering a two-run homer in the third inning, Halvorsen allowed just a single in finishing out a career-long 7.0 innings of work. Halvorsen fanned a career-best 10 Aggies while walking just three in his 111-pitch outing.

Halvorsen’s great game against the Aggies was his second quality start in three SEC appearances this season. He allowed just three runs in 6.0 innings at Kentucky on March 20.

Looking for more baseball info? Check out Reid Glenn’s preview for the Missourian.

Golf & Tennis & Gymnastics

Big congrats to Golf’s RS-sophomore Ross Steelman, who earned SEC Newcomer of the Week. According to MUTigers.com, at the Missouri Tiger Invitational, the CoMo native:

was firing on his home course, carding a 7-under 65 in the opening round to tie his second career-best 18-hole score. Quickly following with a 69 and 66, Steelman produced a collective score of 200, setting a new personal best event score and new Tiger Invitational all-time individual 54-hole record.

(I couldn’t paraphrase this because I didn’t understand what “carding a 7-under 65” meant, so I copied what was on the site)

Ross entered the week ranked No. 44 nationally, and could break into the Top-35 with his tournament win. This was Steelman’s second career win.

• Tennis’ dynamic doubles duo, Marta and Bronte, got their third ranked win of the season. Way to go, ladies!

• In the last national rankings of the season, Shannon Welker’s Tigers rank No. 14 in the country. That is AWESOME.

Mizzou in the NBA

All Mizzou NBA athletes were off Thursday, but let’s see how they did on Wednesday.

• Michael Porter, Jr. was active, as per usual, in the Nuggets’ win over the Spurs, 106-96. In his 31 minutes, he shot 50% from the field on 7-14 shooting (1-3 from three), with 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block. Y’all, I think this guy is good at the basketball thing.
• Jordan Clarkson didn’t play in the Jazz’s 122-103 win over the Blazers on Thursday due to an ankle sprain— get well soon, but on Wednesday night in the 117-113 OT loss to Phoenix, he had 11 points on 4-12 shooting (3-9 from three) with one rebound in his 25 minutes.
• Jontay Porter played (!!) 4 minutes in the Grizzlies’ 131-113 win over the Hawks. While he did not record a point, he did have a rebound— yay. His one shot attempt was a three pointer, which he didn’t make, and he had three fouls... the latter of which seems very Tilly-like, huh?

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