Mizzou Central

Mizzou's Jacob Crews Confirms Intentions to Return for 2025-26 Season

The Missouri Tigers' guard has one more year of college eligibility left, and plans to use it with the program next season.

Chase Gemes

Feb. 19, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers Jacob Crews (35) against Alabama Crimson Tide guard Chris Youngblood at Mizzou Arena.
Feb. 19, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers Jacob Crews (35) against Alabama Crimson Tide guard Chris Youngblood at Mizzou Arena. / Amber Winkler / Missouri On SI
In this story:

WICHITA, Kan. — Though the NCAA Tournament is at the forefront of the mind of the Missouri Tigers, they received some news for the 2025-26 season ahead of practice on Wednesday.

Graduate forward Jacob Crews confirmed his intentions to return to Missouri for a second season, using his added year of eligibility from the NCAA's new rules for junior college players; every current player who previously played at the JUCO level was granted an additional year of eligibility.

When asked if he planned to come back to the Tigers for next season and use that eligibility, Crews confidently stated that he would.

"I'm glad I'm here now, but I'm good to come back next year and it's going to be amazing too," Crews told MissouriOnSI Wednesday. "Obviously it's been an up and down season for me, but I think it's ended very well ... I'm definitely going to be a Missouri Tiger next year."

After two seasons with the North Florida Ospreys and a stop in-between with the UT Martin Skyhawks, Crews transferred to Missouri last offseason. Coming off a campaign of 19.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game on 41.4% shooting from 3-point range, he was a hot commodity in an elite transfer portal class for the Tigers.

After some struggles early on in the year, Crews began to figure things out as Missouri got deeper into the schedule. It hasn't been a seamless transition to the Southeastern Conference, but his averages of 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game with a 33.6% clip from behind the arc have added quality production on the bench unit.

On a roster that will lose experienced players in Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates next season — to mention just a couple — Crews could prove valuable as a connective piece. For now at least, the focus will be having a successful run in March Madness.

The No. 6-seeded Tigers (22-11) will take on the No. 11-seeded Drake Bulldogs in a first round matchup at 6:35 p.m. CT Thursday inside INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan.

Read more Missouri Tigers news:

Published |Modified
Chase Gemes
CHASE GEMES

Chase Gemes is a journalism student at the University of Missouri, and serves as sports editor for its student newspaper, The Maneater. He's covered Missouri football, men's basketball and baseball, along with the Oklahoma City Thunder for FanNation. He's contributed to MizzouCentral since 2023.   

Home/Basketball