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COLUMBIA, Mo. — In every team huddle and layup line, there’s possibility looming over the Missouri men’s basketball team.

It’s only partially metaphorical for the NCAA Tournament-bound team that can now secure a top-four seed in the Southeastern Conference tournament by winning its final three regular season games. In those instances, 7-foot-5 freshman Trent Burns towers over his teammates.

He has yet to play this season after an illness and foot injury kept him sidelined. And even though the No. 14 Tigers are reaching a critical stage in the season, coach Dennis Gates was staunch this week in suggesting that Burns could play yet this season.

“No decision has been made on Trent Burns,� Gates said Thursday.

For the first time this season, Burns was considered a game-time decision — versus being ruled out in advance — for Tuesday’s win over South Carolina. He’s likely to be in a similar spot Saturday when Mizzou (21-7 overall, 10-5 SEC) visits Vanderbilt (19-9, 7-8) for a game at 5 p.m. to be televised on SEC Network.

The Tigers beat the Commodores 75-66 in Columbia in January, with the usual suspects Mark Mitchell, Anthony Robinson II, Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill all scoring in double figures.

The ’Dores have proven to be tough since then, though, beating Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi at home — and then stealing a win at Texas A&M on Wednesday behind a hot shooting night from Tyler Nickel, who made seven 3-pointers.

As a result, Vanderbilt has the makings of a tournament team that the Tigers will try to sweep, one week after missing a chance to sweep the season series against Arkansas.

“They have experience, they have toughness, they have defensive prowess,� Gates said.

The defensive point might be a little too much glaze. Vanderbilt has posted the worst defensive rating in SEC play, giving league opponents 118 points per 100 possessions. MU, for reference, is sixth with a defensive rating of 108.9 points per 100 possessions.

Six of the Commodores’ last eight opponents have scored 80-plus points, which is a key threshold for Missouri: The Tigers are 18-2 this season when scoring at least 80 points.

Still, it’s a road game on a unique floor that has been stormed twice this season after big Vandy wins. Is that the place to give Burns his first-ever college minutes?

He’d certainly have a significant height advantage over anyone on the Vanderbilt roster, which lists 6-foot-8 Jaylen Carey as the tallest player. But it’s been quite some time — pushing one year — since Burns played in a competitive basketball game. He didn’t get a chance to get his feet wet in nonconference play, or even when the bench has cleared at the end of a blowout. Asking Burns to check in and immediately contribute to the SEC play stretch could be (no pun intended) a tall task.

“We’re trying to figure that out,� Gates said. “We don’t have an answer. But again, we’re preparing and trending in that direction. It was great to see his name change on that injury report. Those are signals and signs that a young man is moving forward in his progress. You’ve gotta look at the big picture, and the big picture is this: Trent Burns is a heck of a basketball player. Trent Burns makes our team better.�

One of the reasons why it could be helpful to incorporate Burns, who hails from Cypress, Texas, would be to diversify Missouri’s center room.

The Tigers start games relatively small with power forward Mitchell playing the 5. Josh Gray, a traditionally built 7-footer, then checks in and plays 15-20 minutes per game. Peyton Marshall, a similarly sized freshman, and Aidan Shaw, a lankier option, also can be part of the mix.

But Burns can shoot better than any of those players and has at least five inches of height on any of them.

“He gives us a vertical threat at the rim,� Gates said. “(He’s) a completely different basketball player than Peyton Marshall, than Josh Gray at that position.�

The implications of Burns debuting this late in the season aren’t just about his on-court fit or ability to slot into the rotation. Playing him would end his ability to redshirt this season and prevent him from being able to add an extra year of eligibility at the end of his college career.

Unlike in football, which permits players to see limited game action and still redshirt, any participation in basketball takes away the ability to receive a redshirt. Medical redshirts require a player to miss the latter stages of the season, not begin play in that period.

There could be the thinking that Burns doesn’t need a redshirt. With a frame more than a little reminiscent of San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, “Tremby,� as Mizzou fans have nicknamed Burns in a nod to his slight elder of a similar build, might not stay in college ball long enough to need a fifth year. The reality of college sports also is such that coaches who redshirt a player are giving them a year that could very well be used at another school after transferring.

But Missouri doesn’t seem to have gone far down any of those rabbit holes with Burns’ situation.

“I’ve always been in communication with Trent Burns,� Gates said, “and I’ve never used the word ‘redshirt’ with him because I don’t want to stifle a young man’s growth in the moment where he sees himself potentially fitting in while we are taking our doctors’ and trainers’ orders on his situation. … He’s practicing, he’s cleared to do a lot more things that he was previously, so I’m just going to continue to monitor it and see what’s best from a mental, emotional as well as physical (standpoints) and also communicate with his parents.�