Will BYU transfer Kennard Davis Jr bounce back in his new home or repeat last season

BYU transfer Kennard Davis Jr. has officially committed to the Missouri Tigers of the SEC, and will play his senior season there with his third team in four years. A native of St. Louis, Mizzou is the school that can bring Davis closest to home for his final season of college hoops.

He picked Missouri over offers from Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and more power conference programs. It's clear that despite a rocky junior year in the Big 12, the highest level of college basketball still holds interest in this former Missouri Valley Conference star. After mysteriously entering his name in the NBA draft and picking up zero buzz from pro scouts who kept a close eye on BYU's big three of Wright, Saunders, and Dybantsa, Davis will have one final shot to make his NBA case in Columbia.

Kennard Davis Jr.'s nightmare season with BYU basketball has been very well-documented. He shot below 30% from three-point land for the majority of the season, with his final 32% clip being redeemed by a late-season hot streak.

While his defense was often Davis' redeeming grace -- he was practically the team's only competent perimeter defender once Richie Saunders went down with an ACL injury -- this Southern Illinois transfer was lured to Provo to be a 3-and-D outlet for the talented starting unit. A pressure-release valve for when Dybantsa was triple-teamed, Wright penetrated the paint, or Saunders' three-point gravity shifted the defensive constallation.

But he was pitiful as a shooter, especially once the Big 12 gauntlet appeared over the horizon. Frozen by the increased athleticism and physicality of the toughest conference in college hoops, BYU's 3-and-D only lived up to half of his billing.

Here's what I wrote about Davis' performance at the midway point of the season.

"The ice-cold shooting is beginning to pile up, and I can't help but wonder if he'll find his groove again this season.

"Against Utah, he was 2-for-7. Just 1-for-5 at Kansas State. 0-for-7 against Pacific. In the climactic comeback against Clemson, he was just 1-for-6.

[...] "I've gone into agonizing detail as to why BYU's over-reliance on their big three of Dybantsa, Saunders, and Wright could be deadly against the best teams in the nation. A sure scoring punch from Davis will be critical to making the Cougars' attack truly undefendable. If he continues to struggle from deep, however, BYU's ceiling becomes uncomfortably limited."

Becoming the 10th seed in the Big 12 Tournament and receiving an early exit in the NCAA Tournament should tell you how prophetic that final sentence proved to be.

But was that just a blip on the radar? Was his year at BYU a poor indicator of his talent as a player, or was that the authentic version of Kennard Davis Jr., simply masked after a good season at SIU?

Kennard Davis Jr. year-by-year statistics

FR: 21 MPG, 4.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 30% 3PT, 41.7% FG
SO: 34 MPG, 16.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 37.6% 3PT, 45.5% FG
JR: 29.6 MPG, 8.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 32.1% 3PT, 39.5% FG

Italics: Career-low
Bold: Career-high

Davis posted career-highs in literally every major category as a sophomore, including in stats that I didn't list, like assists, steals, and even free-throw percentage.

It's clear that he is much more comfortable playing in a ball-dominant role, creating his own offense, and putting his fingerprints all over the game. It worked very well in Southern Illinois, but not so well when sharing the floor with superior talent at BYU.

It's hard to say how much of his decline should be attributed to how Kevin Young's offense operates, and how Davis finds his flow as a player. It wasn't a seamless fit at BYU, like both sides had hoped, so taking to the transfer portal wasn't only expected, but it was certainly the right choice.

At Missouri, I'm not optimistic that he'll find a role that can replicate the ball-dominant play style he enjoyed as a sophomore. He took noticable steps backward in 2025-26, even when compared to his freshman season. Unfortunately, I think Kennard Davis' best production is behind him.

All the same, I wish him nothing but success in the next chapter of his career. Once a Cougar.

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