COLUMBIA, Mo. – The 2022 Junior College Player of the Year, Sean East, has signed with Mizzou basketball for the upcoming 2022-23 season. East has previous Division 1 experience with playing time at UMass and Bradley, before his success at John A. Logan Junior College. He will have two remaining years of eligibility.
"Overall Coach Gates showed nothing but his plan, vision and hunger to get this program to the top," East said. "I like that as a player, because you want your coach to be just as hungry as you are. Mizzou felt like home when I arrived and after going on other visits I had a gut feeling. I loved campus and fell in love with the arena. Basketball is a big priority here and I want to be a part of Mizzou getting back to where it belongs."
East averaged 20.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game last season at John A. Logan, including 43 points in the national tournament. He shot at a 53 percent clip in 2021-22 and was a 41 percent sniper from three-point range. With two seasons of Division 1 experience, East has averaged 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. He has one of the best active career assist-to-turnover ratios in the country, sitting at 2.0.
"Sean comes to us from John A. Logan Junior College where he played for Kyle Smithpeters and earned NJCAA Player of the Year honors," Gates said. "He possesses a great pace and electric ability to score the ball. He knows how to get his teammates involved and takes pride on the defensive side of the ball. Sean's work ethic extends into the classroom and checks every box we look for in a student-athlete."
East also reunites with his junior college coach, Kyle Smithpeters, who joined the Mizzou staff last month. He most recently played in the NJCAA All-Star Game where he scored a game-high 28 points with eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
East played at Bradley in 2020-21 where he averaged 9.0 points and 3.7 assists per game and was second in the Missouri Valley in assist-to-turnover ratio. In his freshman season at UMass, East appeared in all 31 games, including 20 starts. He led the Minutemen with 4.9 assists per game and 34 steals. His assist average ranked fourth nationally among freshman and he also contributed 9.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
"Overall Coach Gates showed nothing but his plan, vision and hunger to get this program to the top," East said. "I like that as a player, because you want your coach to be just as hungry as you are. Mizzou felt like home when I arrived and after going on other visits I had a gut feeling. I loved campus and fell in love with the arena. Basketball is a big priority here and I want to be a part of Mizzou getting back to where it belongs."
East averaged 20.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game last season at John A. Logan, including 43 points in the national tournament. He shot at a 53 percent clip in 2021-22 and was a 41 percent sniper from three-point range. With two seasons of Division 1 experience, East has averaged 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. He has one of the best active career assist-to-turnover ratios in the country, sitting at 2.0.
"Sean comes to us from John A. Logan Junior College where he played for Kyle Smithpeters and earned NJCAA Player of the Year honors," Gates said. "He possesses a great pace and electric ability to score the ball. He knows how to get his teammates involved and takes pride on the defensive side of the ball. Sean's work ethic extends into the classroom and checks every box we look for in a student-athlete."
East also reunites with his junior college coach, Kyle Smithpeters, who joined the Mizzou staff last month. He most recently played in the NJCAA All-Star Game where he scored a game-high 28 points with eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
East played at Bradley in 2020-21 where he averaged 9.0 points and 3.7 assists per game and was second in the Missouri Valley in assist-to-turnover ratio. In his freshman season at UMass, East appeared in all 31 games, including 20 starts. He led the Minutemen with 4.9 assists per game and 34 steals. His assist average ranked fourth nationally among freshman and he also contributed 9.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
