COLUMBIA, MO.— Mizzou Men’s Basketball has signed transfer guard DaJuan Gordon, head coach Cuonzo Martin announced Thursday. Gordon played two seasons at Kansas State, and will have three years of eligibility remaining for the Tigers.
Pronounced Day-Schwann Gordon, the 6-foot-4 electric guard started 22 of 25 games as a sophomore at Kansas State, averaging 9.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 26.1 minutes per contest. Gordon led the Wildcats’ starting lineup in rebounding from the guard position and boasted a team-best four double-doubles in 2020-21.
“DaJuan is a really athletic, gifted guard who brings a high level of passion and intensity to the court every single day,” Martin said. “He plays physical, tough basketball on both ends, and we’re excited to have him be a part of that culture we’ve built at Mizzou.”
As a sophomore, Gordon ranked third on the Wildcats’ roster in scoring, total points (228) and double-digit scoring games (13). Ten of those 13 double-figure scoring performances came against Big 12 opponents. On the glass, he snagged at least five boards in 15 games, one of four guards in the Big 12 to rank in the league’s Top 15 in rebounding.
“I wanted to come to Mizzou because I want to play for Coach Martin,” Gordon said. “He’s a tough coach, and he’s all about winning.”
As a freshman, Gordon earned 2020 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team honors and Spring 2020 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll recognition with a 4.0 GPA. He was the only true freshman to play in all 32 games for the Wildcats, averaging 6.3 points on 44.3 percent shooting, 3.4 boards and 1.3 steals.
Gordon hails from Chicago, where was Rivals’ No. 71 recruit nationally in the 2019 class. He played at Curie Metropolitan High School, leading the Condors to a 61-7 combined record, back-to-back Class 4A State Tournament appearances and league and city championships as a senior. The 2019 Chicago Sun-Times City Player of the Year helped Curie to a 35-2 record, city and conference championships in his final prep season when he averaged 17.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Gordon also earned first-team all-state honors from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, City/Suburban Hoops Report and the Champaign News-Gazette after shooting 54.4 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from 3-point range.
He scored in double figures in all 36 games as a senior with two, 30-point games and 11 games of at least 20 points. He posted a season-high 34 points vs. East St. Louis (11/24/18) and registered five double-doubles (all points/rebounds) as a senior for coach Mike Oliver’s team, including 20-point/10-rebound efforts against Simeon (12/13/18) and Fenger (2/5/19). Gordon was rated as the No. 3 prospect in Illinois by 247Sports, the City/Suburban Hoops Report and Chicago Sun-Times.
