GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Over his first three seasons at Missouri-Kansas City, guard Brandon McKissic put up decent numbers on a team that mostly struggled to be competitive in the Western Athletic Conference.
Something changed for McKissic and the Kangaroos in 2020-21, however.
For openers, MKC took the program to the Summit League. McKissic, in turn, took his game to another level. After averaging 9.8 points and shooting 47.6 percent from the floor and 37 from deep during his freshman-through-junior seasons, the 6-foot-3, 195-pounder from Ferguson, Mo., upped those digits; and his all-around game. When the season concluded, McKissic had posted a 17.2-point average, made nearly 51 percent of his shots, including just shy of 43 percent from deep, and improved his free-throw percentage by eight points (.667).
Oh, and he also was named the Summit's 2021 Defensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference.
McKissic quickly became a hot name in the transfer portal and the Florida Gators were hot to land him. It all came together a couple weeks ago, with his grad-transfer track now official with the approval of his paperwork Thursday, along with three other incoming transfers. The Gators will be getting a battle-tested veteran with 107 college games on his resume, including 86 starts, to go with a bunch of points. McKissic will leave Missouri-KC as the program's No. 9 all-time scorer with 1,178 points, having five times hit 20 during the past season (with a career-high 29 against Nebraska-Omaha). He can go get a shot and create one when necessary; probably not along the lines of
Tre Mann (arguably, the best shot-creator at Florida since Scottie Wilbekin), but good enough to do so night in and out in the Southeastern Conference, his new coaches believe.
Where McKissic provides UF with a major upgrade over out-going transfer guards
Noah Locke and
Ques Glover is on the defensive end. On that front he has a reputation as a lockdown guy. "Yeah, but in the Summit League," you say? OK, fine.
The Summit, you might recall, produced a tournament champion by the name of Oral Roberts, which happened to end the Florida season in second-round play of the NCAA Tournament. ORU had a dude by the name of Max Abmas, who led the the nation in scoring. Abmas and McKissic had a couple nice battles in 2021, with the two teams splitting their matchups. The Golden Eagles won the first, 60-58, with Abmas going for 21 points over 40 minutes to McKissic's 21 points over 40 minutes. The Kangaroos returned the favor, 81-76, with both players scoring 24 in the rematch.
Yes, Abmas got his points, but the consensus from both sides was McKissic made Abmas work for them.
In their class of four (for now) incoming transfers, half are elite defenders on the perimeter, with McKissic taking his spot alongside Big South Defensive Player of the Year Phlandrous Fleming Jr.
The Gators just got a lot more experienced in the backcourt. On paper, it looks like they got better, as well. Repeat: On paper.
