Feb. 8, 2014
Arena: Mizzou Arena (15,061)
Live Scoring: www.mizzoustats.com
Radio: KTGR 100.5 FM, 103.1 FM and 1580 AM
Live Video: www.MizzouNetwork.com
MU Head Coach: Robin Pingeton
(St. Ambrose `90) 57-60 at MU (4th season)
UA Head Coach: Kristi Curry
(Northeast Louisiana, `88) 10-12 at UA (1st season)
MIZZOU PLAYS 4KAY AT HOME ON SUNDAY
Mizzou welcomes the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday in a 2 p.m. contest. As always, Sunday will be the Family Funday, featuring a Mizzou bounce house and other activities on the concourse. Following the game, Seniors Bri Kulas and Tania Jackson will be signing limited edition posters on the court. The game will mark Mizzou's annual Play 4Kay game, supporting the Kay Yow Foundation and promoting breast cancer awareness. Mizzou and Alabama have met four times over the course of program history, the Tigers hold a 3-1 advantage over the Crimson Tide with the last meeting coming March 3. The Tigers took home an 88-64 victory.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will have another free Thursday this week before heading to Auburn to face the Tigers in a 2 p.m. contest on Feb. 16. The game will be televised on CSS. Auburn holds the series advantage with Mizzou, 3-1. Mizzou topped the Auburn Tigers in their SEC home opener last season, but later fell at Auburn, 67-59.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
the Crimson Tide are now 10-12 on the season and 3-6 in Southeastern Conference play. The team is coming off of a loss to the 10th-ranked Lady Volunteers in front of a Foster-Auditorium record 3,002 fans. Daisha Simmons and Shefontaye Myers are leading the team in scoring with Myers average 15.2 ppg and Simmons averaging about 13.5 ppg. Another notable scorer for the Tide is freshman Ashley Williams who is averaging 11.5 ppg this season. Alabama is 12th in the SEC for turnovers with 344. Simmons, Williams, and Nikki Hegstetter combine for 175 of those turnovers.
LAST TIME OUT
• The Tigers could not keep up with No. 16 LSU last Thursday, falling 75-58 in Baton Rouge, La.
• Senior Bri Kulas finished with 23 points and five rebounds on the night, marking the tenth time she has scored 20 or more points this season and her eleventh consecutive game scoring in double figures.
• The Tigers forced six second-half turnovers for the Lady Tigers, compared to just two in the first half.
QUICK HITS
• LSU (#16/14) was the seventh ranked opponent in the last seven games for the Tigers this season. Last season Missouri faced six total ranked teams during conference play, that number will continue to increase this year with No. 8 Tennessee still left on the schedule. This is the first time in Coach Pingeton's career at Missouri that the Tigers have faced four consecutive ranked teams, they played three consecutive in her first season with Missouri.
• The Tigers' win over No. 16 Vanderbilt marks Mizzou's second win over a ranked opponent this season. Mizzou has earned two or more wins over ranked opponents in three of Head Coach Robin Pingeton's four years at MU. Should the Tigers top Tennessee, it will be the first time since the 2010-11 season that the Tigers have earned three top-25 wins. Prior to that, the last time Mizzou picked up three top-25 wins was the 2000-01 season.
• With an 11-2 record in the non-conference, the Tigers gained momentum leading to conference play. In Tiger victories this season, Mizzou is holding its opponents to just 59.3 points per game with an average scoring margin of +17.5 points. Mizzou averages 5.0 blocks per game in winning contests and also outrebounds opponents by almost seven rebounds per game. Proving that the Tigers unselfish strategy works, the Tigers average 18.2 assists six victory, eight more than opponents.
• As the team, the Tigers aim for 80-percent free-throw shooting during practices and in games. Mizzou is now shooting 75.8-percent from the line this season, just under its season goal. That mark sits second in the SEC and checks in at No. 20 nationally. Seven players are shooting 70-percent or better and Mizzou's leader in total free throws - Bri Kulas - is arguably the team's top shooter from the line, checking in at 82.2-percent (97-of-118).
• Speaking of free throws, Mizzou is very good from the free throw line in unfamiliar territory, shooting 79.4-percent from the charity stripe on the road. Kulas plays a big part of that percentage as she is shooting 83.3-percent from the line in road games this season (40-of-48).
• Since we're on the topic of free throws, through the last five games, junior Morgan Eye is shooting 100-percent from the line. She's made 11 of 11 attempts. She's not the only one perfect from the line through, Morgan Stock has made two of two attempts as well.
• Under fourth-year head coach Robin Pingeton, Mizzou is continuing to play great team basketball. That is evidenced by Mizzou's 16.1 assists per game (third in the SEC and 39th nationally).
• In road games this season, the Tigers are sticking together. Mizzou assists on 67.1-percent of its field goals. In fact, that has been a trend under the direction of head coach Robin Pingeton. Last season, Mizzou assisted on 64.4-percent of its field goals - up from 61.7-percent in 2011-12 and just 53.2-percent in 2010-11, Pingeton's first year. The team checks in at 64.7-percent this season, ahead of last season's pace and 11-percent higher than in her first season as the team continues to buy into her team-first coaching style.
• This season the Tigers are averaging 3.9 blocks per game, a number that is much improved from last season when the Tigers averaged 2.3 blocks per game. Freshman Jordan Frericks is dominating in this category, she leads the team with 33 blocks on the season, good for an average of 1.43 per game (sixth-best in the SEC).
• Staying on the topic of blocks, Mizzou has 89 blocks as a team this season, 15 more than it had all of last year (72). In fact, Frericks' 33 blocks are the most by a Tiger since Christine Flores (who was drafted in the WNBA draft) had 93 during her senior season in 2011-12.
• The Tiger staff is stressing a defensive mindset this season, and Missouri's numbers are showing it. The Tigers are amongst leaders in the SEC: second in defensive rebounding at 28.7 per game and the Tigers are third in the league in defensive rebounding percentage at 69.3-percent.
• Speaking of rebounding, the Tigers are very good after the break this season, outrebounding opponents by 3.8 in the second half of games as the team averages 21.3 rebounds in the second half this season.
• In SEC play, Kulas is averaging a league-best 21.2 points per game. Kulas also ranks in the league's top-five in FG% (4th, .458), 3-point FG% (first, .471), 3-point FG made (third, 2.4) and defensive rebounds (first, 6.6 per game) during league play as she is putting together an All-SEC-type season.
• Staying on the topic of Kulas, she is in elite company this season. She joins Tennessee's Meighan Simmons as the only players in the SEC to score 10 or more field goals in at least four games this season. Simmons was an All-American last season and the SEC Co-Player of the Year and the Preseason Player of the Year in the league and Kulas is averaging more points, more rebounds and shooting at a higher clip (both inside and outside the arc) than Simmons this season.