Women's Basketball Releases 2000-01 Schedule
7/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
July 21, 2000
COLUMBIA, Mo.- The University of Missouri released its' 2000-01 women's basketball schedule on Friday, a schedule that is filled with several intriguing match-ups. The Tigers will play 10 games against seven opponents who played in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Six of those teams are conference opponents (Texas Tech, Texas, Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma).
The other NCAA Tournament opponent from a year ago will be Illinois, who the Tigers will face for the first time since 1996. The two teams will meet at the Kiel Center in St. Louis on Dec. 20, the night before the annual "Busch Braggin Rights Game" between the Missouri and Illinois men's teams. The Tigers and Fighting Illini have split six games, each posting a 3-3 record.
On Nov. 20, the Tigers will play their second regular season game of the year at the Hearnes Center against the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks, the same Arkansas teamed that ended Missouri's run in the WNIT last year with an overtime victory in Fayetteville, Ark. The two teams met earlier in the year in Columbia and provided fans with one of the most exciting games of the season.
Missouri will once again participate in two tournaments. On Nov. 25, the Tigers will open play in Malibu, Calif. in a four-team tournament at Pepperdine University. The competitive field also features the University of Houston and the University of Kentucky.
The Tigers will then return home to host the 22nd Unilever Missouri Lady Tiger Classic (Dec. 1-2). Missouri will defend its' title against San Diego State, Alcorn State and David Lipscomb.
Mizzou's schedule also offers an exciting intrastate battle with Saint Louis University. The Tigers defeated the Billikens on SLU's home floor last season. Missouri will defend its' home court at the Hearnes Center on Dec. 7.
The Tigers will begin Big 12 Conference play on Jan. 3 in Lubbock, Texas against the nationally-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders. Missouri pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season last year with a 52-49 victory over the seventh-ranked Lady Raiders.
Missouri will return home for back-to-back games with Texas (Jan. 6) and Texas A&M (Jan. 10) before embarking on a tough two-game road swing to Colorado (Jan. 14) and Iowa State (Jan. 17). The Tigers must also get through a tough four-game stretch that includes a game at Nebraska (Jan. 27), a home game against defending Big 12 Champion Iowa State (Jan. 31), and then road games at Oklahoma (Feb 3) and Kansas State (Feb. 7).
Missouri will also enjoy back-to-back home games against Kansas and Nebraska on Feb. 10 and 13 respectively, both of whom played in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Tip-off times for Big 12 Conference games have not been set. The conference is still awaiting a television schedule from Fox Sports Net. Times will be released as soon as they are available.
