Photos of the week: 11.17.2025

Last week, Missouri basketball took on the Panthers of Prairie View A&M and the South Dakota Coyotes. The Tigers remain undefeated with a 6-0 record and will face South Carolina State and Cleveland State this week. Here are the photos of the week!

This is probably one of my favorite basketball photos I’ve taken so far this season. I try to get photos of the inside of the pre-game huddle but usually struggle because: 1. the players bunch together closely and 2. I’m 5’ 3” and these guys are super tall. I’m also super conscious of where I am to make sure I’m not standing somewhere I shouldn’t be and that I’m not in the way. To get this shot, I lifted my camera high above my head and looked at the screen to see that my framing was correct.

What I came away with was this really beautifully composed picture of Dennis Gates talking to the team, framed nicely between Shawn Phillips Jr. and Jacob Crews. I don’t remember what lights were being used here, but the lighting situation is amazing, with the crowd behind them completely falling in the shadows to the point where it almost looks like they’re not in an arena with thousands of people watching. I only wish Jevon Porter’s head wasn’t directly behind Gates!

Here we have another shot from that same huddle, this time focused on Anthony Robinson II. I really love the fun light displays the different arenas and stadiums have begun featuring, and I knew if I could get a clear view of the players inside the huddle it could be a cool portrait-style shot. This time I used my longer lens instead of my wide-angle lens, like in the one above, and was waiting for a good moment where I could see clearly before having to head back to my assigned seat on the court just ahead of tipoff.

I brought this up last week, but basketball is one of the few sports where you can get so physically close to players during the action. This photo really demonstrates that closeness with the angle I’m taking this photo from and how large the players loom in the frame. My favorite part about this photo though is the halo effect the overhead lights have on Jevon Porter when they shine through his hair and around his arm.

One negative (or positive, in terms of photo-taking) to being able to get this close to players is that if someone falls to the ground or a fight breaks out, you’re right in the middle of it. Luckily, this scuffle between Sebastian Mack and Marcel Bryant, broken up by one of the referees, didn’t move off the court. I got a few photos of the actual moment this began, but this referee was a bit in my way and I found I liked these photos of him breaking things up better, considering the players have their hands up and the referee is grabbing tightly onto Mack and has his whistle in his mouth.

I originally took this photo trying to get the moment where everyone jumps up to get the rebound, but found that I liked this photo the best in that series. It’s a quieter moment – still tense as the players wait for the ball to fall back down, but just before the peak action – and I find that to be almost more dramatic, despite the fact that we can only see the net for context and not the ball in this photo. I also love how the players are all tangled together ready to fight for the ball and looking in the same direction.

Ah yes, a quintessential basketball photo of a player going to shoot the ball while an opposing player tries to block. The photo itself isn’t all that special in that aspect, but I really like that Stone’s arms frame his head in a way that we can still see his face clearly, along with his hair as it flies around. My favorite detail here is that he’s chewing on his mouthguard mid-shot, which reminds me of Mark Mitchell’s repeated habit of sticking out his tongue while playing.

It’s always preferred to shoot the team you’re covering as they’re coming towards you so you can see their faces better, which is why I was happy when we came back from halftime and I was placed on this side for the second half. I really like this photo because we can see the intensity of Robinson’s focus on Buntyn in this moment. I do wish I hadn’t have cut off Robinson’s hands here and that there was as much empty space between him and the ball.

Our last photo for this week is this one of T.O. Barrett and South Dakota’s Jesse McIntosh scrambling for the ball. The contrast in this photo is something I really like. Barrett is wearing white while McIntosh is wearing black, and Barrett is wearing these bright green shoes, complementing McIntosh’s red ones. Those aspects are very visually appealing and in my opinion add more to a photo that’s of a pretty intense moment of the game.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of photos of the week! I’ll be taking the week off for fall break, but we’ll be back in two weeks with more coverage. Enjoy the holiday!