COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Men's Basketball's Jontay Porter has announced that he will return to Mizzou for his sophomore season, he made the decision before Wednesday's deadline. After testing the waters without hiring an agent, Porter has withdrawn his name from the NBA Draft.

"We are excited that Jontay will return," head coach Cuonzo Martin said. "He had a great experience going through the pre-Draft process, got the feedback that he needed to do what is best for him and he will learn from it to improve in all areas of his game. Jontay has the potential to make a big jump from his freshman season and he'll be a great leader for us on and off the court next year."

In his debut season, Porter averaged 11.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game during Southeastern Conference play. He earned SEC Co-Sixth Man of the Year honors and SEC All-Freshman Team recognition after a stellar campaign. Porter became just the third Tiger in program history receive a conference Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Porter finished the 2017-18 season with a team-high 55 blocked shots, the third-most in program history by a Mizzou freshman. He shot 43.7 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, draining 40 three-pointers. He reached double figures nine times in the last 12 games of the campaign, averaging 13.3 points and 7.1 rebounds during that stretch.

For all the latest on Mizzou Men's Basketball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team at @MizzouHoops (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).­