UT Martin guard transfer Jacob Crews commits to Missouri

Former UT Martin guard Jacob Crews has committed to Missouri, via the NCAA Transfer Portal, according to On3’s Joe Tipton.

This past season, Crews averaged 19.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 41.4% from beyond the arc. For his efforts, Crews was named an All-OVC First Team member and selected for the OVC All-Newcomer Team.

Crews is currently ranked as the No. 5 overall player in the transfer portal, according to On3. He is the first player Missouri has landed in the transfer portal during this cycle. Crews averaged 19.9 points per game in the 2022-23 season at Daytona State and previously averaged 2.6 at North Florida in his debut campaign.

Jacob Crews played high school basketball at Superior Collegiate Academy (FL), where he was an unranked prospect, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Missouri looks to bounce back from painful season

Unlike many of its fellow SEC programs, Missouri’s season is over. The team went 8-24 this year and was the lone program in the SEC that went winless in conference play. Despite Missouri’s failure to find success, Missouri head coach Dennis Gates never used the team’s shortcomings as motivation.

“I focus on one day at a time, one game at a time,” Gates said. “I’ve never done that in a winning streak and I definitely don’t count anything outside of that. I thought our guys mentally prepared in the right way. Our spirits are high. Our coaching staff is doing a great job. At the end of the day, what you see is a team playing hard and giving their very best no matter what our circumstances are, and there’s no excuses.”

While many outsiders called for Missouri to part ways with Gates, other coaches came to his defense. Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard provided particularly heartfelt praise of Gates.

“Mizzou is well coached. Period,” Chris Beard said. “A reflection of what kind of organization you have is obviously how you handle success. You see a lot of kind of one-hit wonders in this business. That’s certainly not Missouri.

“Unfortunately, we all go through kind of seasons like Missouri is having right now, and you absolutely see a team’s kind of character under tough times,” Beard said. “I’ve watched every game they’ve played and there’s zero quit in this team. So, lot of respect for [the] coaching staff here.”