Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking an individual look at the strengths, weaknesses and expectations of each of Missouri’s scholarship players.

Isiaih Mosley thrived throughout three years at Missouri State, becoming a top-25 scorer in the nation in back-to-back seasons. Mosley posted 20.4 points per game in 2021-22, his final season with the Bears, shooting 50.4% from the floor, 42.7% from deep and 90.2% from the free throw line. He became just the third player of the last 20 years to average 20 points on 50/40/90 shooting, Nevada’s Luke Babbitt in 2009-10 and Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll in 2007-08 being the other two.

After leading Missouri State to its first NIT appearance in a decade, Mosley entered his name into both the NBA Draft and NCAA transfer portal. While the 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard wasn’t invited to the combine, he still had an outside shot at getting drafted, albeit in the second round. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic first had Mosley ranked on his Big Board of the top-100 NBA prospects in January, slotting him in at No. 75. Mosley fell to No. 96 in March’s edition of the Big Board, then creeped up to No. 90 in May’s.

Mosley ultimately chose to withdraw his name from the draft, turning his attention to the portal and drawing interest from numerous high-major programs with two years of eligibility remaining. He told Rivals National Basketball Recruiting Analyst in May he was looking for “a school that deals with pros. A school that is willing to make their best player run suicides or make their best player get disciplined as much as their worst player. A school that holds everybody accountable. I’m just looking for a good team. A family first team like Missouri State is.”

Joining the Tigers represented a chance for the Columbia Rock Bridge High School graduate to both return to his hometown and improve his professional stock by getting more exposure on a bigger stage. Mosley is a walking bucket, and a desperately-needed high-volume shooter for a Mizzou team that ranked fourth-worst in the country hitting just 28.1% of its 3s last year. Mosley’s shooting numbers dipped in 26 games against KenPom top-100 teams across his career, but were still respectable at 44.6% from the field and 35.2% from deep, averaging 16.9 points per game. He’s also an exceptional rebounder for his position, averaging more than six boards and securing 18.9% of Missouri State’s defensive rebounds each of the last two seasons, per KenPom.

Mosley credited the Bears’ system for his success, but much of Missouri’s success this season depends on how well Mosley can adapt to head coach Dennis Gates’ system. He took north of 30% of Missouri State’s shots the past two years — he likely won’t get as many touches with the Tigers and will need to find new ways to get into rhythm. He might also end up being vulnerable on defense guarding against SEC athletes.

Gates seems optimistic about the transition so far.

“I did not know that he was a great passer and a great teammate,” the head coach told The Field of 68. “I had no clue. He averaged 20 points, you think guys that do that come with a different disposition.”

There’s an opportunity for a win-win with Mosley coming to Mizzou. Both sides will need to figure out how to best help each other.