Missouri Tigers land second incoming basketball player from NCAA transfer portal

Coach Dennis Gates’ Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team, looking to rebuild after going winless in the Southeastern Conference last season, has landed a second player from the NCAA transfer portal.

Former Iowa Hawkeyes guard Tony Perkins announced via Instagram on Monday that he’d committed to Mizzou, joining former UT Martin wing Jacob Crews, who pledged to the Tigers last month.

Gates’ Tigers are looking to replace the production of former standout guards Sean East II and Nick Honor, who’ve graduated out of the program.

Perkins, 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, averaged 9.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in four years at Iowa. He was second-team All-Big Ten in 2023-24 after scoring 14 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.

Perkins scored a season-high 25 points in a Jan. 2 game against Wisconsin and 10 days later dished a season-most 15 assists in a game against Nebraska.

An Indianapolis, Indiana native, Perkins reportedly chose Missouri as a transfer destination for a “super-senior” season over a list of suitors that also included Indiana, Oregon, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Oklahoma.

Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery recently indicated that name, image and likeness (NIL) money may have played a role in Perkins’ decision to leave Iowa City.

The coach told the university’s Presidential Committee on Athletics that Perkins is “leaving here because he has a market value probably in the neighborhood of $500,000. We were not going to be able to pay him that ...”

Crews, meanwhile, was MU’s first incoming transfer during what’s proving to be a busy offseason. A senior-to-be, he averaged 19.1 points per game for UT Martin last season and was the No. 22-ranked shooter in Division I.