Dennis Gates continues to restock his roster through the transfer portal. The Tigers have landed a commitment from former Indiana shooting guard Tamar Bates. Bates, who is on his official visit to Missouri this weekend, just announced his commitment on social media.
The 6-foot-5, 180-pound Bates grew up in Kansas City, KS and spent three years at Piper High School before playing his senior season at IMG Academy. Bates averaged 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and won the DiRenna Award as Kansas City's best high school basketball player in his junior season.
He had Missouri in his final group of seven schools before originally committing to Texas. When Shaka Smart was let go in Austin, Bates re-opened his recruitment and landed at Indiana. Bates ended up as the No. 34 player in the country with a four-star ranking out of high school.
During two seasons with the Hoosiers, Bates appeared in 67 games. He averaged 5.1 points and 1.9 rebounds over those two years. As a sophomore, his averages were 6.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 20 minutes a game. He shot 37% from three-point range last season. Bates had seven double-figure scoring games last season, including a career-high 22 against Jackson State and 19 against Nebraska, a game in which he made five three-pointers.
"Last season looked to be one of renewal for Bates, but once again he never seemed to find his place on the floor," Jim Coyle, who covers Indiana for TheHoosier.com, said. "A big part of that was because the bulk of the Hoosiers scoring would come from Wooden Award winner Trayce Jackson-Davis and expected NBA first round draft pick Jalen Hood-Schifino. Even though Bates hit 37.4% from behind the arc in '22-'23 he was often the 4th option for IU, getting up only 2-5 shots per game. With Indiana bringing in seven new faces and a most likely completely revamped offense it was probably a great time for a fresh start for all involved."
Bates joins John Tonje as backcourt transfers into Mizzou this year. As of today, the Tigers have 13 scholarship players on the roster, which is the NCAA limit. However, that number includes Mabor Majak, who came to Mizzou as a walk-on but received a scholarship last year, and Kobe Brown, who has a fifth year of eligibility available but it also expected to explore the NBA Draft process.
With the addition of Bates, Mizzou's major focus in the portal is finding a big man. The Tigers were expected to host Virginia transfer Kadin Shedrick on an official visit on April 19, though Shedrick has had to reschedule. Shedrick has the Tigers in his final five with Texas, Xavier, Kansas State and Duke.
Rivals.com ranks Bates as the No. 50 available transfer. You can follow all of the Tigers' activity in the portal in our transfer tracker.
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