Missouri basketball continues hot portal run, lands former 5-star Mark Mitchell from Duke

Inbound, from Durham, North Carolina …

Missouri basketball landed its fourth transfer portal commitment of an important offseason Friday, and it’s a big one. Duke transfer forward Mark Mitchell, a former five-star and one of the top-ranked players available via the portal, committed to Dennis Gates’ Tigers, announcing his decision in an Instagram post.

Mitchell, who stands at 6-foot-9, 232 pounds, averaged 11.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the Blue Devils last season. He is rated as the No. 9-ranked player available in the transfer portal by 247Sports.

Missouri was heavily involved in Mitchell’s recruitment out of Sunrise High in Kansas City, Kansas, but the five-star opted to head to Duke, where he spent two seasons.

The Tigers didn’t miss on him twice.

Mitchell follows Iowa point guard Tony Perkins, UT Martin wing Jacob Crews and Northern Kentucky guard Marques Warrick to Columbia. 

Gates and his staff also put together the No. 4-ranked Class of 2024, with five top-150 ranked freshmen joining the team this summer, as the Tigers look to rebound from an 8-25 season that saw them go winless in SEC play.

On Tuesday in Jefferson City, Gates told the Tribune that Missouri fans should expect “two to three” more bat signals, social media posts that indicated incoming commitments, by the end of the week. Mitchell marks No. 2 since he made those comments.

And the week isn’t over.

Missouri is in the running for Pepperdine transfer Jevon Porter, whose brothers Michael Porter Jr. and Jontay Porter played for the Tigers. Jayden Quaintance, a top-ranked freshman in the Class of 2024, also was recently released from his national letter of intent after John Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas. Missouri was a finalist during his original recruitment.

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