Newcomer Feature: Shug Dickson
10/15/2019 9:40:00 AM | Women's Basketball
St. Louis native hopes to continue #Lou2theZou trend
Mizzou Women's Basketball senior Shug Dickson's (St. Louis, Mo.) decision to transfer to Mizzou means more than just your ordinary transfer. For Dickson, it means she is finally coming home.
"I'm excited to get the chance to play in front of my friends and family again," Dickson said. "Columbia isn't far from St. Louis, so that is something I'm looking forward to."
A graduate from Lutheran North High School, Dickson, a 5-9 guard, averaged 24.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.8 steals during her senior campaign. She earned a spot on the all-state squad twice and was ranked as the 25th-best player in the nation in the class of 2016 by espnW.
Out of high school, Dickson originally committed to Tulsa. After spending two seasons with the Golden Hurricanes, in which she started 36 games and scored in double-digits in 28 games, Dickson decided to transfer to Texas Tech. However, after one semester at Tech, Dickson made the decision to transfer again, where she landed with the Tigers.
"Mizzou is so family-oriented, and that's what I loved and was looking for," Dickson said. "I love Coach P and the big family vibe that everybody gave me on my visit. The family is just so tight here. Everybody is just close and very welcoming."
When announcing her decision to transfer to Mizzou on Twitter, Dickson captioned her tweet with "Lou to the Zou," something that other St. Louis-born athletes have recently been using.
"Lou to the Zou is a movement. Anyone from St. Louis, coming here, that's our little thing that we say. We're just trying to give kids from St. Louis the encouragement to know that they can do it too."
With her commitment, Dickson is looking to set a trend among St. Louis athletes. She hopes others follow in her and her teammates footsteps.
"They will have somebody that they know here," Dickson said. "Someone they can look up to in Aijha (Blackwell), Jordan (Roundtree) and I. If they want to know things about the program, I feel like we are a good resource that they can reach out to and ask questions."
Now at Mizzou, Dickson will have to sit out this season per NCAA transfer requirements.
"Sitting out, to me, is honestly the best time for me to work on my game and also make my teammates better by pushing every day at practice," Dickson said. "Just learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable is a big thing that I'm looking forward to."
With a slightly different role than Dickson is familiar with, she is also looking to capitalize on the opportunity to help her teammates.
"I just have to be a leader on and off the court," Dickson said. "At practice, leading my teammates, making sure they are doing the right thing and holding everyone accountable. I'm not used to sitting out, so that will be a big thing."
While Dickson has some high individual goals when she does hit the court, like being an All-SEC player, she is also taking it one step at a time on her way to fulfilling larger team goals.
"I've just been taking it day by day. But, obviously, we want to do big things here and hopefully win us a title and make it farther in the NCAA tournament."
