After making her first splash of the offseason on Wednesday, Missouri head coach Kellie Harper hinted at the addition of another incoming Tiger on social media on Saturday. Returning just two of their top eight scorers, the Tigers still have plenty of roster spots left to fill throughout the offseason.
The newest Tiger was revealed on Sunday. They earned a commitment from Indiana transfer and former Missouri prep standout Nevaeh Caffey. Across her four years with Incarnate Word, she led her squad to four straight Class 6 Missouri State Championships. The team dominance included a national record of 139 consecutive wins. She was named a third-team All-American honoree in her senior year.
The 2025 Missouri Miss Show-Me Basketball honoree, from Warrenton, returns to her home state after a single year with the Hoosiers. Caffey entered her freshman season as the No. 65 in the 2025 ESPN Top 100. She started all 32 games for Indiana this past season, averaging 8.5 points, 2.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game - all of which ranked top-5 on the team.
Caffey is a versatile point guard with two-way talents. She showcased her diverse skill set throughout her debut college season. On seven separate occasions, she recorded multiple steals. Offensively, the best game of her career thus far came against Penn State on Feb. 28. Caffey totaled a career-best 18 points while contributing five assists, which also matched a personal best.
If Caffey can replicate the standout showings with the Tigers, she will be among the team's strongest contributors; if it becomes a frequent occurrence, she will likely be featured in a starring role moving forward. Caffey has three years of eligibility remaining.
The official college basketball transfer window opened on Tuesday, and Missouri took little before landing its first commitment. McKenzie Mathurn, ESPN's No. 39 recruit from the 2025 class and a former Michigan Wolverine, was the first step into rebuilding the depleted roster. Mathurin , from the same high school class as Caffey, has a similar timeline with three years remaining as she enters he sophomore year with the Tigers.
Missouri has lost five players to the transfer portal, along with three more to graduation. Despite losing most of their production, the Tigers retained the most important member of last season's roster. Grace Slaughter, returning for her senior season, will be a focal point of Missouri's roster next season, and Harper continues to build the team around her.
With the recent guard commitments, the Tigers' biggest weakness remains the frontcourt. In year one under coach Harper, Missouri struggled with frontcourt depth. Now, it lacks a frontcourt altogether. The need for quality bigs is prevalent across the country, and Missouri is no different. As the roster fills, the need for size and an interior presence grows by the day.
Given her strong start to the current offseason, along with one of the nation's best incoming freshman classes, Harper has displayed fantastic recruiting capabilities, which was often considered a weak spot in her time as coach of Tennessee. After recording the best debut coaching season in program history, she seems to have Missouri trending in the right direction.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/missouri as Mizzou Women's Basketball Lands Indiana Transfer .
