2024-25 Mizzou Basketball opponent preview: Kansas

In this series, we’ll look ahead at Missouri’s opponents in the upcoming 2024-25 season. We’ll continue by previewing the Kansas Jayhawks.

Date & Location: Dec. 8 at Mizzou Arena

2023-24 Record: 23-11, 10-8 Big 12

2024 NCAA Tournament Finish: Defeated No. 13-seed Samford in Round of 64, lost to No. 5-seed Gonzaga in Round of 32

Torvik Preseason Rank: 4

K.J. Adams Jr. (12.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.1 apg), Zach Clemence (1.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.1 apg*) Hunter Dickinson (17.9 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 2.3 apg), Dajuan Harris Jr. (8.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 6.5 apg), Elmarko Jackson (4.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.7 apg), Jamari McDowell (1.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.5 apg)

*Stats are from the 2022-23 season. Clemence redshirted in 2023-24.

David Coit Jr. (Northern Illinois, 20.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.4 apg), Rylan Griffen (Alabama, 11.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.9 apg), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State, 18.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.5 apg), Shakeel Moore (Mississippi State, 7.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.8 apg), A.J. Storr (Wisconsin, 16.8 ppg, 3.9 rp, 0.9 apg)

Flory Bidunga (No. 19), Rakease Passmore (No. 42)

Kansas’ season didn’t end the way it had hoped when the team was ranked No. 1 in the country through the first three weeks of the year. The Jayhawks started off going 13-1 but struggled on the road as they entered Big 12 play, going just 3-9 in games outside of Allen Fieldhouse once the calendar flipped to 2024. Kevin McCullar Jr., the team’s leading scorer, was repeatedly sidelined due to injury, missing both the conference and NCAA tournaments, and Kansas was bounced by the first weekend of March Madness.

Head coach Bill Self was left with some sizable holes in his roster with two starters and two rotational players moving on from the program and promising sophomore guard Elmarko Jackson tearing his patellar tendon, ruling him out for the 2024-25 season. Even with the losses, though, the Jayhawks have three returning starters to lean on and managed to replace the missing production in the portal, ranking 10th in overall transfer activity according to EvanMiya.com.

The team should be stacked on the perimeter. Dajuan Harris Jr. will be the starting point guard for a fourth consecutive season after averaging a career-high 6.5 assists per game last year. Self will have plenty of options to surround him with: Zeke Mayo was voted as the Summit League Player of the Year in 2024 and led the conference shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc for South Dakota State. The Jayhawks swooped in on David Coit Jr. once the NCAA approved an additional year of eligibility for him — the 5-foot-11 guard had a team-high 20.8 points at Northern Illinois a year ago. Self added Shakeel Moore the day after Jackson’s injury was announced, he’ll be an experienced depth piece. Returning sophomore Jamari McDowell could also see an uptick in minutes.

On the wing, Kansas brought in one of the biggest names from the portal in Wisconsin transfer A.J. Storr, an All-Big Ten Second Team selection who led the Badgers with 16.8 points per game. He’ll be backed up by Rylan Griffen, a starter at Alabama last year who shot 39.2% from the 3-point line, and four-star freshman Rakease Passmore.

K.J. Adams Jr. and Hunter Dickinson will hold down the forward spots for the Jayhawks again, Adams providing high-energy plays and Dickinson locking down the paint on both ends of the court. But the team seems a bit light size-wise behind the pair, with returning junior Zach Clemence and incoming five-star freshman Flory Bidunga being listed as the only other players on the roster taller than 6-foot-7. Clemence is entering his fourth season with the program after redshirting last year and Bidunga is entering the year with high expectations as a five-star recruit, but both are a bit unproven at this stage. Still, Self won’t need much depth behind Adams and Dickinson — both players averaged more than 32 minutes per game last season — and could possibly opt to slide one of the wings up to the four to play small-ball lineups if needed.

Missouri has shrunk the margin of victory against the Jayhawks in each of their last three matchups but hasn’t been able to get over the hump yet. The Tigers will need a strong effort to do so this year.

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