Game 1 of Dennis Gates’ third season in Columbia is reportedly set.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported Thursday that Missouri basketball will open its season Nov. 4 — the first day of the 2024-25 college basketball slate — on the road at Memphis for the second leg of a home-and-home series.

The Mizzou roster is likely set, and the schedule is taking shape.

The Tigers have two series under agreement. Kansas is scheduled to visit Mizzou Arena for the Border War, which likely will be played in early December. The Braggin’ Rights series against Illinois, which was extended through 2029, will take place in St. Louis later that month.

Missouri is expected to play the second leg of another home-and-home series against Minnesota this season, with the game taking place in Columbia.

Mizzou returns five scholarship players from the 2023-24 team that went 8-24 without a win against SEC opposition. Missouri has acquired five players via the transfer portal, which On3 ranks as the No. 18. class in the country, and is set to bring in four of the top 150 prospects in the Class of 2024.

Now that the Tigers know their next matchup, who will the Tigers trot out to open the 2024-25 season and who is likely to see the most floor time for the Tigers? The combinations are variable, but the Tribune analyzed the options here:

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Iowa transfer Tony Perkins likely to start at point guard for Missouri basketball

The options: Tony Perkins, gr.; Anthony Robinson II, so.; T.O. Barrett, fr.

Procuring some experience at point guard was high on the list of priorities for Missouri basketball this offseason. Sean East II and Nick Honor each exhausted their eligibility after last season, leaving the Tigers with a first- and second-year as options running the point.

Tony Perkins is an instant-plug signing. He averaged 14.0 points, 4.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game last season. The second-team All-Big Ten selection from last season has four years and 126 career games of experience, and at 6 foot 4, 205 pounds provides excellent size on defense at the position.

Robinson, like he did last season, will likely play significant minutes as MU's backup PG. He needs to add some weight and some productivity on offense, but showed promise on the defensive end as a rookie. T.O. Barrett figures to be a reserve for his freshman year.

Guards/wings

The options: Tamar Bates, sr.; Marques Warrick, gr.; Caleb Grill, gr. Annor Boateng, fr.; Marcus Allen, fr.

If any of the players from Missouri were going to return from the calamitous 2023-24 season, Bates was the one the Tigers could not lose. The Kansas City, Kansas, native rode a 40-50-90 shooting mark into the final game of the season, ultimately falling just short of the feat.

Warrick is an intriguing mid-major grab, and will likely see significant time in the lineup. The Northern Kentucky all-time points leader and first-team All-Horizon League selection averaged 19.9 points per game last season.

Grill, who qualified for a medical waiver, was a valuable piece to bring back. He’s among MU’s grittier, more effective players on the defensive end. The timing of his season-ending wrist injury directly correlated with the Tigers’ downward spiral last season, as they went 7-2 with him available and 1-22 without him.

Boateng and Allen provide some position flexibility and will likely see floor time as freshmen. Boateng is the reigning Gatorade Arkansas Boys Basketball Player of the Year, and Allen is the No. 64 player in his class, per 247Sports.

Bates, barring any surprises, will start for Mizzou, and how the Tigers rotate from there is likely dependent on matchups and situations.

Forwards

The options: Mark Mitchell, jr.; Jacob Crews, sr.; Trent Pierce, so.; Aidan Shaw, jr.

Mitchell, who spent two seasons at Duke before committing to Mizzou in April, was the No. 15 player available in the transfer portal this offseason, per 247Sports’ rankings. The 6-9 forward averaged 10.3 points and 5.2 rebounds over 68 appearances, 67 of which were starts, for the Blue Devils.

In short: He figures to be a core member at the four in the MU lineup next season.

Crews was Missouri’s first portal addition this offseason, and could be an instant-impact player if his game translates from the mid- to high-major level. He was among the nation’s most efficient players on offense last year at UT Martin, shooting 41.4% from 3 and 48.5% from the field as part of a 19.1-point-per-game average.

How Shaw and Pierce are utilized could be an intriguing storyline. With Mitchell and Crews on board, both likely will need to show significant offseason improvement to see substantial floor time.

Center

The options: Josh Gray, gr.; Peyton Marshall, fr.; Trent Burns, fr.

The Tigers took some time — exactly one month after Mitchell, the Tigers’ penultimate transfer grab, committed to play for MU — to land its big man for next season. But, on May 19, Missouri found some experience and size in South Carolina center Josh Gray.

Gray isn’t a showstopper of a signing … nor does he really need to be. The center, who started his career under Will Wade at LSU, averaged a rebound every three-and-a-half minutes last season for the Gamecocks, which equates to about 11 every 40 minutes.

That’s what Mizzou gets in Gray. At 7-0, 265 pounds, he’s a safe bet to be among MU’s better rebounders and can use his size to get the working-man’s buckets down low — both of which Missouri sorely missed last season.

Peyton Marshall, a 7-foot freshman out of Georgia, is probably still going to see significant floor time in his rookie season, and if his No. 59 Class of 2024 ranking translates quickly to college, could even end up being Missouri’s starter. Trent Burns is 7-3, but at a listed 210 pounds may need to add some bulk to be a productive SEC big man.

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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri basketball roster outlook for 2024-25 season. Who will play?