March 26, 2003
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| TIPOFF: 8:00 p.m. CST. | ||||
| ARENA: Moby Arena (8,745). Missouri is 13-6 on a non-conference opponent's home floor under Cindy Stein. | ||||
| RADIO: KFRU-AM 1400 (Sean Secrease, play-by-play/Gary Link, color). Also available on the Internet at www.mutigers.com. | ||||
| TV: None. | ||||
| SERIES: First meeting. Missouri is 10-2 all-time against members of the Mountain West Conference (5-0 against BYU, 2-0 vs. New Mexico, 2-2 vs. San Diego State and 1-0 vs. Wyoming). | ||||
| COACHES: | ||||
| Missouri: Cindy Stein (Illinois '84), 84-65 at MU (5th season), 149-90 overall (8th season).
Colorado State: Chris Denker (Oregon '90), 20-12 at CSU (1st season), 61-31 overall (3rd season). |
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UNRAU MAKES HOMECOMING, STEIN GOES FOR NO. 150 AT CSU
The Missouri women's basketball team, which is in the quarterfinals of a national postseason tournament for the first time in school history, plays its first road game of the Women's National Invitation Tournament on Thursday. Colorado State is the opposition for the quarterfinal round. Junior forward Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) makes her homecoming in the game, in which Head Coach Cindy Stein will go for career win No. 150.
MU CONTINUES POSTSEASON STREAK
With acceptance of its invitation to the 2003 Women's National Invitation Tournament, the Tigers have now advanced to the postseason in each of the past four years. It's the longest such streak since the Tigers went to five straight NCAA Tournaments from 1981-82 through 1985-86.
? ? ? The streak of success began with a trip to the second round of the WNIT in 1999-2000 - Cindy Stein's second season as head coach at Mizzou - and continued in 2001-02 with the Tigers' first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1994, as MU advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Missouri has also advanced to the WNIT each of the past two seasons.
LAST TIME OUT: MISSOURI 88, BALL STATE 77
Evan Unrau scored a team-high 21 points to lead five Missouri players in double figures, and the Tigers shot 50 percent as a team in posting an 88-77 win over Ball State in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament at the Hearnes Center on Monday.
ABOUT COLORADO STATE
The Rams are hosting their third straight WNIT game, after defeating Montana State (87-74) and Wyoming (73-64) in the first two rounds. CSU has won its last 15 games in the friendly confines of Moby Arena dating back to a second-round loss to Southern Cal in the preseason WNIT.
? ? ? Colorado State, under first-year Head Coach Chris Denker, is led by 6-1 senior forward Ashley Augspurger. An all-Mountain West selection for the third straight year, Augspurger leads the Rams with her 13.0 points-per-game scoring average and her 95 assists.
? ? ? The Rams tied for third place in the Mountain West with BYU and UNLV with an 8-6 league mark.
TIGERS SET WNIT STEALS RECORD
With its 22 steals against Western Illinois in the first round, Missouri set a single-game WNIT record, surpassing the previous standard of 19.
HIT ON 17
With its win over Ball State on Monday, the Tigers have reached the 17-win plateau in a season for just the third time in 10 years. All three have come in the last four years under Cindy Stein, including a 22-10 mark two seasons ago that gave Mizzou its best record since 1984-85.
EIGHTY IS ENOUGH ...
The 88 points scored against Ball State not only came within one of its season high, it also gave the Tigers a 4-0 record this year when scoring 80 or more points.
? ? ? In addition, Mizzou's defense has been strong enough this year that when the Tigers score 70 points, they are 13-1. The only loss came on Nov. 29 against SMU (72-70).
... FROM HOT SHOOTING
Much of that scoring success comes from strong shooting from the field, so it's no surprise that Mizzou is a perfect 12-0 when shooting 45 percent or better from the field.
WNIT = CLOSE GAMES
One interesting aspect of the WNIT is that it usually involves games against teams more evenly matched than in the NCAA Tournament, and the Missouri women are certainly proving that belief.
? ? ? The Tigers have played five WNIT games in their three appearances, and only two games have NOT gone into overtime; one of those two was decided by just one point (Alabama won, 68-67, in Columbia last year).
? ? ? The latest addition to that list - which became just the third multi-overtime game in Missouri history - came on Wednesday vs. Western Illinois, when the Tigers prevailed by a 72-69 margin in double overtime.
? ? ? The overtime trend was started with an 84-81 home win over Evansville in the 2000 first round, and was followed just three days later, when Arkansas sent the visiting Tigers home, 89-88.
? ? ? Mizzou may have finally put its close games behind on Monday, as its 11-point win was a larger margin that its other four games - won or lost - combined.