Over the next few weeks, PowerMizzou.com will take a look back at the season for each of the Tigers’ rotational players.
Aidan Shaw was disappointed when former Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin got let go last year. The four-star forward knew Martin and his staff well and had committed to the Tigers on Oct. 9, 2021. But with Martin no longer on the team, the No. 58 prospect of the 2022 class felt it would be best for him to reopen his recruitment and talk to other teams to explore his options.
However, deep down, the Overland Park, Kan. native still had a desire to help Mizzou return to prominence. And after new head coach Dennis Gates met with Shaw during an at-home visit, Shaw chose to re-commit to Mizzou on June 19, becoming the only freshman on scholarship for the Tigers.
At 6-foot-8 and 195 pounds, Shaw carved out a role as an energy-provider in the frontcourt. On June 25, Shaw tweeted a video of himself leaping for a 49-inch vertical, which would have broken the all-time record at the NBA Draft Combine. Missouri put Shaw’s bounce to good use, finding the big man on the end of lobs around the rim and sending him in off the bench when the team was in desperate need of rebounding.
As a result, 42 of Shaw’s field goal attempts came in the paint while he took just 22 shots from everywhere else according to CBB Analytics. He became the Tigers’ most efficient finisher, connecting on a team-high 69.8% of his 2-pointers on the year.
Shaw did occasionally flash an ability to pull up from distance. He canned a pair of 3-pointers in MU’s home game against Arkansas on Jan. 18, his season high, to help the hosts earn a 79-76 win. Shaw finished the year shooting 33.0% on above-the-break treys — just slightly below the national average of 34.0% — but was 2-9 on corner triples.
Gates' biggest goal for Shaw has always been for the rookie to add on weight. There were times when Shaw was too thin to make much of an impact against bigger forwards. He sat out both of Missouri’s games against Mississippi State because Gates thought that 7-foot-2 junior center Mabor Majak matched up better against the Bulldogs’ size.
Shaw ended the season averaging 2.7 points and 1.7 rebounds playing 10.6 minutes per game. Gates thinks Shaw could end up being the Tigers’ best player down the line.
“I'm excited about his future,” Gates said in February. “There's no doubt about it, Aidan Shaw is gonna go down as one of the all-time great players at Mizzou and I'm encouraged to see him work every day because he's in the weight room, he's in getting extra shots, his personality is infectious in terms of having fun. Being that lone freshman is sometimes a lonely place. Between he and (walk-on guard) Jackson Francois, those are the only freshmen in our program ... They're growing, so I'm excited about where he's at.”
Shaw hasn’t publicly announced whether he’s returning to Missouri or plans to enter the transfer portal. But if he does choose to come back to Columbia, he should see his role expand with the departures of junior forwards Ronnie DeGray III and Mohamed Diarra.
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