After a six-season wait, there’s another Porter set to play for Missouri basketball.
The 2025-26 season-opener, which the Tigers will play on the road at Howard in Washington, D.C., is still about five months away, but Missouri’s new signings have reported to campus and will begin offseason training and team meetings in the month of June.
One of those players is Jevon Porter, whose older siblings Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter, Bri Porter and Cierra Porter each played for the Tigers at various points between 2014-19.
Mizzou has seven new players in Columbia, including five newcomers out of the transfer portal. Porter was the first transfer to commit to the Tigers this offseason, with the report first surfacing back in late March.
With the offseason in full swing, the Tribune is going to profile each of the Tigers’ newcomers, with an eye toward how the new crew may impact the upcoming season.
Here’s how Porter fits into Mizzou’s rotation:
Missouri basketball transfer Jevon Porter college stats
Porter, listed at 6 foot 11, 235 pounds, has spent his full career to this point in the West Coast Conference, first with Pepperdine, where he spent two seasons before transferring to Loyola Marymount for the 2024-25 campaign. He has played 83 career games, with 79 starts and an average of more than 30 minutes of floor time per contest.
Last season in Los Angeles, Porter averaged 12.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 blocks per game with LMU. He had seven double-doubles and was a 31.6% shooter from 3-point range, which is where more than a third of his total attempts from the field came from.
The Tolton High alum’s numbers have been fairly consistent throughout his three-year career, as he has averaged 13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 blocks per game in college.
Porter’s strengths, weaknesses
It’s pretty clear where Dennis Gates sees Porter fitting into his plans.
“Jevon has the ability to be a mismatch on the perimeter with great size and length,” Gates said in a news release when the Porter signing was announced. “He also has a scoring mentality and the versatility that he provides will be a key to our team’s success next season.”
Porter has been a good shooter for his size throughout his career. His best shooting year was as a freshman, when he went 35.1% from behind the arc and was 48.5% from the field. Those numbers have dipped since then, but he’s still got a 32.1% mark from deep over the course of his career.
That’s potentially a positive, certainly, but maybe not his best asset.
Analytics suggest his greatest impact may be on the defensive side. The analytics site EvanMiya.com gave Porter a ‘Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating’ — which essentially measures a player’s defensive value for his team — of +1.68, much higher than his offensive rating of +0.33. That, for reference, is a similar rating to what center Josh Gray posted for MU last season.
Porter is likely to play a different role. While he may spend some time at the five in quote-unquote smaller lineups, that’s unlikely to be his primary position. But, that metric at least offers some encouragement in terms of his rebounding and block percentages — especially on a team that was dismantled defensively toward the end of last season.
How will Porter fit into Mizzou lineup?
The staff seems to be more optimistic with the addition of Porter than your average prognosticator. The reason: He’s a 6-11 body who can shoot. That’s not easy to defend, if the Tigers can get him firing.
Another positive: The way MU can construct its lineup with him in it offers some options.
You can expect Mizzou to primarily play Porter on the perimeter, exploiting some mismatches on the wing. He’ll likely split time with returners Trent Pierce and Jacob Crews in that role.
You can also likely expect to see all three of those players on the floor at the same time when the Tigers want to play some more zone defense and catch-and-shoot offense, with all three checking in at 6-8 or taller and possessing the ability to shoot the 3. If they’re all firing, that could be fun. Porter would likely be an untraditional five in those sets.
Mizzou doesn’t need Porter to play more than 30 minutes per game, like he has at his past two stops. In all likelihood, he won’t be a starter when the team comes out for its season-opener Nov. 3 against Howard in Washington, D.C.
But there’s a good chance he will be one of the first players off the bench for MU, and you can expect to see him in the lineup for extended periods — and in varying roles.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri basketball newcomers: What Jevon Porter’s role will be for MU