Mizzou Hoops Player Review: Luke Northweather

In 2022 when Dennis Gates accepted the head coaching job at the University of Missouri, he was tasked with assembling a basketball roster.

That same spring, Luke Northweather was coming off his high school senior season where he led Blair Oaks High in Jefferson City to a 26-2 record. His season ended in the District championship game to a Jevon Porter-led Father Tolton team (Aaron Rowe was also on that team) who would make it all the way to the Class 4 championship, before losing to Vashon. Northweather was terrific in the loss, and all season. He averaged 29 points per game and was eventually named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri.

Missouri and Northweather had conversations, but the Tigers were in need of immediate help and it’s hard envisioning freshmen bigs contributing early. So Northweather headed to Oklahoma to play for Porter Moser. He redshirted his first year, then played very sparingly early as a redshirt freshman, before injuries forced him onto the floor more later in the year. As a redshirt sophomore he played a little more, but not much.

Luke was a Missouri boy though, and wanted to be home in Missouri. So he entered the transfer portal, contacted Mizzou, and said he wanted to come home.

When he committed, there was some skepticism from the fans, as he was so lightly used on some not-great OU teams.

But Missouri wasn’t planning on him being a major factor in their rotation… at least at first. But things can change when practices start, and suddenly Luke looked useful. There was evidence early on in non-conference play that he would be able to carve out a role. After all he offered the one thing the team lacked: shooting.

With Trent Pierce sidelined, and then Jaden Stone hurt for a bit as well, the 2025-26 Tigers were in serious need of a floor spacer. Jacob Crews was shooting the ball well, but nobody else provided consistent shotmaking beyond the arc. Before Pierce returned to the lineup at the start of SEC play, Mizzou attempted 279 threes as a team over 13 games. Northweather provided 29 of those attempts (10.3%) and was averaging around 17.7 minutes per game. The team made 102 3FGA over those 13 games, and Northweather sank 13 of them (12.7%). Together with Crews, Northweather hit 50% of the Tigers non-conference three point makes.

But while Northweather looked like he was positioning himself as a fixture in the lineup, his playing time fell off a cliff.

From the start of conference play to the NCAA Tournament, Luke played a total of 20 minutes, and did not make a field goal on three attempts.

Watching Synergy clips of Luke last season is a stark example of the evaporation of his playing time. There are only four clips of him in conference play. Two each from Florida and Auburn. Nothing else.

Northweather knew what he was signing up for when he came to Missouri. He knew the path to playing time was going to be tough. And as Pierce returned to the lineup, his presence meant Mizzou had a reliable shooter. He also had similar size to Northweather but was more versatile defensively. On top of that, Gates shrunk his rotation like he hasn’t done in recent years. And Northweather was left out.