×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´

COLUMBIA, Mo. — In the fall of 2015, two young quarterbacks were called into action by college football programs that needed them earlier than expected.

At Missouri, Drew Lock took over as the Tigers’ starting quarterback four weeks into the season when planned starter Maty Mauk was suspended. Lock, a four-star recruit from the Kansas City area, shifted from his position as the program’s future to becoming its present — winding up second on the school’s all-time passing leaderboard.

Mizzou hosts third-ranked Texas A&M on Saturday as freshman quarterback gets his first start against a top-flight team. 

Here's what head coach Eli Drinkwitz as well as Connor Tollison and Jalen Catalon had to say as the Tigers prepare for the Aggies.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Consider, following the regular-season debut of new Missouri women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper, two coach-speak cliches that contain some grains of truth.

The first is that a win is a win, no matter how narrow or dicey. The Tigers beating Central Arkansas 78-71 on Monday is the definition of this idea.

The Tigers breezed into Washington with the ease of a candidate running for Congress unopposed.

Missouri men’s basketball (1-0), opening the season in the nation’s capital at Howard (0-1), thumped the Bison 88-67 on Monday.

The fourth-quarter clock switched its ticks from minutes to seconds. Dennis Gates, a baggy white T-shirt under his white jersey, pulled in a cross-court pass and pondered a 3. Seemingly stitched to the front of that jersey was defender Sergio McClain, Illinois’ Mr. Basketball that year of 1997.

Gates’ high school team from Chicago, Whitney Young, trailed by four points in the state Elite Eight. The state tourney had existed for 90 years at that point. No team had ever won four state titles in a row — yet McClain’s club from Peoria Manual sure hoped to change that.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — So begins Missouri men’s basketball’s fourth season under coach Dennis Gates, with a retained core, an expectation of returning to the NCAA Tournament and an opening game on the road.

The Tigers, who received votes but not a ranking in the preseason AP Poll, begin the 2025-26 campaign Monday against Howard. Mizzou will visit the Bison’s 2,700-capacity Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C., for a 6 p.m. tipoff.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Seven returners, five transfers, two freshmen.

After making it into — but not far within — the NCAA Tournament last season, Missouri men’s basketball has retained and reloaded players with the postseason in mind. From a personnel standpoint, Tigers coach Dennis Gates’ program is in full swing headed into his fourth season. He has a blend of players recruited from high school and developed, and nabbed from the transfer portal as more plug and play options.

If I’m picking a barometer player for the University of Missouri men’s basketball program this season, it’s undoubtedly junior point guard Anthony Robinson II. After all, Tamar Bates is gone. Caleb Grill is gone. Tony Perkins is gone. Robinson’s plate got very full this season.

That’s not meant to signal the team will go as far as Robinson takes them. Mizzou does return an All-SEC forward in 6-foot-9 senior Mark Mitchell. They’ve also got the second-highest percentage of returning minutes played of any team in the Southeastern Conference from last season.