Feb. 14, 2014
Arena: Auburn Arena (9,121)
Live Scoring: www.AuburnTigers.com
Radio: KTGR 100.5 FM, 103.1 FM and 1580 AM
TV: SportSouth
Live Video: www.AuburnTigers.com/allaccess
MU Head Coach: Robin Pingeton
(St. Ambrose `90) 57-61 at MU (4th season)
AU Head Coach: Terri Williams-Flournoy
(Penn State, `91) 33-25 at AU (2nd season)
MIZZOU STARTS ROAD SWING AT AUBURN SUNDAY The Tigers had another free Thursday this week before heading to Auburn to face the Tigers in a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday, Feb. 16. The game will be televised on SportSouth. 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.
UP NEXT Mizzou will be on the road again Thursday in Gainesville, Fla. for a 6 p.m. contest against the Florida Gators. The Tigers have a 1-0 advantage over Florida, meeting the team at Mizzou Arena last season. The Tigers earned a 69-54 victory, and look to improve to 2-0 on the series in their first-ever trip to Gainesville.
A LITTLE ABOUT AUBURN At 14-10 on the season, the Auburn Tigers are coming off of a historic win over No. 16 Vanderbilt. The Tigers' 68-62 victory broke a 14 year, 21 game losing streak to the Commodores. The win came thanks to Tiger scoring leader Tyrese Tanner. Tanner averages 16.3 points per game to sit at No. 4 in the league, and she also grabs a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game. Tanner ranks seventh in league for her team-leading 1.95 steals per game as well. Teammate Hasina Muhammad has just one less steal than Tanner this season as she has snatched 43 so far this year. Four Tigers are averaging more than 10 points per game this season including Tanner, Muhammad, Brandy Montgomery and Tra'Cee Tanner.
LAST TIME OUT
• The Tigers fell to Alabama, 59-56 last Sunday. The game marked just the second unranked opponent for Mizzou has faced in the last eight games.
• With 18 points on the night, Bri Kulas recorded her 12th consecutive double-figure scoring game.
• Kayla McDowell earned her second double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
• A season-high 2,356 fans attended Sunday's Play 4Kay contest.
QUICK HITS
• The Tigers have been on top of things on the road this season, out-shooting opponents in every category: Mizzou shoots 40.6-percent from the floor to opponents' 38.5, 40.4 percent from distance to opponents' 34.7 and 79.4-percent from the charity stripe to opponents' 67.2-percent. The Tigers also hold a slight rebounding edge on the road,
• 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 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.
• Under fourth-year head coach Robin Pingeton, Mizzou is continuing to play great team basketball. That is evidenced by Mizzou's 15.9 assists per game (fourth in the SEC and 46th 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 3.8 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 1.42 per game (seventh-best in the SEC).
• Staying on the topic of blocks, Mizzou has 92 blocks as a team this season, 20 more than it had all of last year (72). In fact, Frericks' 35 blocks are the most by a Tiger since Christine Flores (who was drafted in the WNBA draft) who 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 29.3 per game and the Tigers are fifth in the league in defensive rebounding percentage at 65-percent.
• Speaking of rebounding, the Tigers are very good after the break this season, outrebounding opponents by 4.1 in the second half of games as the team averages 21.5 rebounds in the second half this season.
• In SEC play, Kulas is averaging 18.9 points per game. Kulas also ranks in the league's top-ten in FG% (5th, .469), 3-point FG made (seventh, 1.9), and defensive rebounds (seventh, 5.1 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.