Feb. 15, 2002
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues play in the Big 12 Conference this week against:
*Missouri (14-9, 5-7 Big 12) at Texas A&M (12-12, 4-8 Big 12)
*Saturday - 1:05 p.m., Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Saturday's game will be shown nationally on Fox Sports Net. Bill Land is the play-by-play announcer while Debbie Antonelli will provide color commentary.
Ouch!: Evan Unrau, a sophomore forward, suffered a fractured ring finger on her right (shooting) hand during Wednesday night's game against Colorado. Unrau, the Tigers' leading rebounder, will have surgery Friday morning and Missouri head coach Cindy Stein is hopeful Unrau will be able to return before the end of the season. A native of Fort Collins, Colo., Unrau averages 12.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She has recorded six double-doubles this season. A two-year starter, she has snared 417 rebounds in her career.
Saturday's Foe: Texas A&M enters Saturday's game after suffering an 81-68 loss to No. 11/11 Baylor on Wednesday. The Aggies have three players, Meg Banahan (11.6 ppg), LaToya Rose (10.9 ppg) and Kim Moore (10.5 ppg) scoring in double figures while Toccara Williams (9.9 ppg) falls just shy. Williams leads the team (and the Big 12 Conference) with 154 assists (6.41 apg) and 97 steals (4.04 spg) and ranks among the nation's best in those categories. Head coach Peggy Gillom is in her fourth season as the Aggies' head coach and has a 42-64 record during that time.
MU-Texas A&M Series: The Tigers lead the series, 4-2. Each team is unbeaten on its home floor, Missouri winning all three meetings in Columbia and the Aggies winning both games in College Station. Missouri also recorded a 75-65 win over Texas A&M in the 2001 Big 12 Tournament. Missouri won the last regular-season game between the teams, handing Texas A&M a 69-61 loss on Jan. 10, 2001, in the Hearnes Center.
Last Meeting (Big 12 Tournament): Marlena Williams led Missouri with 18 points and four assists as the Tigers picked up the 85-75 first-round win. She also pulled down nine rebounds and tied her career-high netting eight free throws. Amanda Lassiter and Kerensa Barr also tallied 13 points. Freshman Evan Unrau led the Tigers with 11 rebounds. Toccara Williams led Texas A&M with 19 points.
Last Meeting IN COLLEGE STATION (MU vs. Texas A&M): Jaynetta Saunders scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Aggies to the 66-55 victory on Feb. 16, 2000. Julie Helm had a team-high 16 points for the Tigers. Missouri shot 37.3 percent (22-of-59) from the floor. Marlena Williams (11 points) and Amanda Lassiter (10 points) also scored in double figures.
The Matchup: Texas A&M and Missouri rank one-two in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds during league play. The Aggies average 16.42 offensive rebounds per league game while the Tigers are right behind at 16.25. Texas A&M leads the league with 15.50 steals per game and force its opposition into a league-high 23.7 turnovers per game. Missouri averages 18.4 turnovers per contest.
Missouri's Last Time Out: The Tigers suffered a 78-47 loss to No. 13/13 Colorado on Wednesday. Missouri committed a season-high 29 turnovers and suffered from 16-of-56 (28.7 percent) field goal shooting. Evan Unrau led the Tigers with 13 points and nine rebounds while Kerensa Barr had 11 points and nine rebounds. Colorado's Jenny Roulier had a game-high 21 points while Tera Bjorklund added 18 points as CU shot 29-of-63 (46 percent) from the field.
Rebound Queen: By snaring nine rebounds against Colorado (2/13), Evan Unrau now has led the Tigers in rebounds 12 times. Unrau has collected 10 or more rebounds in seven games this season.
Get That Out Of Here: Amy Loftus became the first Tiger to block three shots this season as she had three rejections, all in the first half, against Kansas (2/9). The three blocked shots are a career best for Loftus.
Television Coverage: MU improved to 5-0 this season on TV with the win over Kansas on Feb. 9. MU's next game on TV will be Saturday's Texas A&M game on Fox Sports Net.
60,000 Points: Missouri has now scored 60,247 points during its time as a women's basketball program. Kerensa Barr scored the program's 60,000th point on a free throw this season at Iowa State (1/30).
Single-Season Marks: Natalie Bright and Kerensa Barr continue making an assault on the single-season Missouri records. Bright ranks third all-time with her 37 3-point field goals made and her 107 attempts rank third as well. Barr's 29 made 3-pointers rank eighth all-time at Missouri. Barr's 91 3-point field goal attempts rank fifth all-time at MU. Barr's free throw percentage mark of 90.5 percent would be the program's all-time best mark if the season would end before the Texas A&M contest. In case you were or were not wondering, Barr needs 36 more made foul shots to crack the program's top 10 list for made free throws in a season.
In the starting lineup: Kerensa Barr has started 57 games and has made a team-high 55 consecutive starts in her career. Natalie Bright leads the Tigers with 64 all-time starts and Evan Unrau has made 53 starts.
Now Out: Missouri did not receive a vote the Feb. 4th Associated Press poll. MU had appeared seven times in the last nine editions of the AP poll. The Tigers had received votes for three consecutive weeks in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches poll but that streak ended with the Dec. 24 poll.
Miss Saturday Night (or Day): In the past five Saturday games, Evan Unrau has averaged 11.4 points (57 points) and 11.2 rebounds (56 rebounds) per game. Unrau has collected three of her team-high six double-doubles during that stretch.
In Wins, In Losses: In Missouri's 14 wins this season, the Tigers average 75.9 points per game and allow opponents only 55.7 points. MU shoots 42.9 percent from the field when it wins and forces opponents into shooting 38.9 percent and committing an average of 22.6 turnovers per game. When the Tigers lose, opponents average 77.1 points and 17.88 turnovers per game and shoot an impressive 51.2 percent from the field. By comparison, MU, when it loses, averages 56.1 points and 21.44 turnovers per game while shooting 36.0 percent from the field.
A Win Would ...: If Missouri defeats Texas A&M, it would ... *be Missouri's first-ever win at Texas A&M *push head coach Cindy Stein's record at MU to 68-46 *give Missouri 499 all-time victories *give Missouri its third-straight win in the series and push its series lead to 5-2
NCAA Picks: From the 'I guess it's never too early to talk about the NCAA Tournament' department ... CollegeRPI.com has had Missouri making the NCAA's field of 64. On Jan. 21, it predicted Missouri would face Iowa in the first round of the East Region as the region's eighth seed. On Jan. 28, CollegeRPI.com predicted that Missouri would play Virginia Tech in the Midwest Region and be the region's 12 seed. The predictions for Feb. 4 and Feb. 11 did not have Missouri in the field of 64.
Offensive Rebounds: In addition to serving as the Tigers' top rebounders, Melanie Fisher and Evan Unrau are cleaning the glass on Missouri's offensive end of the floor, too. Of Fisher's 144 rebounds, 63 (43.75 percent) are offensive while of Unrau's team-high 187 rebounds, 78 (41.7 percent) are offensive end.
Offensive Rebounds II: Missouri grabbed a season-high 23 offensive boards in the win over Texas Tech (1/9). MU's previous high of 18 offensive rebounds came against Southeast Missouri (12/1) and UMKC (11/16). For the third time in four Saturday games, Missouri snared at least 20 offensive rebounds. The Tigers recorded 20 offensive rebounds (38 total) against Baylor (1/19), 21 (47 total) against Nebraska (2/2) and 20 against Kansas (2/9)
Career Year: Kerensa Barr is within six points (almost her per-game scoring average) of scoring as many points this season as she did in her first two seasons combined. Barr has scored 362 points this season (16 points per game) and Barr scored a total of 368 points during her freshman and sophomore seasons.
Career Year II: Natalie Bright has scored 265 points this season, more than she has scored in any other season during her Missouri career.
Forcing Turnovers: Missouri has forced opponents to commit 477 turnovers this season (average of 20.7). Opponents have committed 20 or more turnovers in 13 of Missouri's 23 games this year.
Barr and Free Throws: Kerensa Barr is back in first place all-time in career free throw percentage at Missouri after making all three of her free throw attempts against Kansas (2/9). Barr has made 191-of-239 foul shots (79.9 percent) while Julie Helm (1997-2000) ranks second at 79.7 percent. Barr's performance this season (if it ended prior to the Texas A&M game) would set a school record. Barr's mark of 95-of-105 free throws for 90.5 percent easily surpasses the previous mark of 84.6 percent by Lisa Plummer in the 1980-81 season. Barr saw her streak of 26 consecutive made free throws fall against Colorado (1/26). She also had a streak of 23 consecutive made foul shots earlier this year.
NCAA Stats: Kerensa Barr ranks seventh nationally in free throw percentage, according to the Feb. 11 statistical report released by the NCAA. Barr, who led the nation until that report, is not doing poorly from the free-throw line this season, now making 90.3 percent of her shots (93x103).
Long Time, No Three: Missouri went almost 33 minutes without making a 3-point field goal against Texas Tech (1/9). Natalie Bright finally made one with 7:24 left in the game to break the shutout. While the one 3-point field goal ties the low this season (also done against Davidson on Nov. 24), the last time MU was blanked in the 3-point field goal category was on Jan. 27, 1999, in a 78-54 loss at Baylor. Missouri's last time at home without a 3-pointer came on Dec. 5, 1998, in an 87-76 victory over Louisville. Since the Baylor game, the streak of Missouri making at least one 3-point field goal in a game is at 96 games.
Tough At Home: The Tigers are an impressive 261-84 during their 27 seasons in the Hearnes Center. Missouri has won its last 18 non-conference home games. MU is 9-3 overall this season. Ranked teams have also found the going tough in the Hearnes Center as MU has defeated three ranked teams (out of six games) in the past two seasons.
Top Performances: Evan Unrau's 5-of-5 effort from beyond the 3-point field goal line against Southeastern Louisiana ranks as the top mark in the Big 12. Kerensa Barr's 17 made free throws (and her 18 attempts) are the most this season in one game in the Big 12. Barr's 10-of-10 effort from the free-throw line against Southwest Missouri State is one of four such performances in the Big 12 this season. Missouri's 32 made free throws against Davidson are the second-most this season in the Big 12.
Nearing 500: Missouri has won 498 games in its 28 seasons and could become the 51st NCAA Division I program to equal or surpass the 500-win total.
Fans, Fans, Fans: The record-setting crowd of 10,321 against Kansas (2/9) has moved Missouri to 31st in the 2001-02 National Women's Basketball Home Attendance Poll. This poll is an unofficial and voluntary collection of NCAA Division I home attendance statistics compiled weekly by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sports Information Office. Missouri was 48th prior to the Feb. 9 crowd, which is the nation's 42nd-largest crowd this season. The Tigers average 2,688 fans per game this season, well above last season's average of 2,255 during the same number of home games.
Who's Next? Missouri will close the home schedule against a pair of nationally ranked teams, first meeting Iowa State on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. and Oklahoma on Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. The Missouri/Oklahoma game, MU's senior day, will also be televised by Fox Sports Net.