Can Mizzou finally break through to Sweet 16 in NCAA women's tournament?
Coach Robin Pingeton's best Missouri team ever will play in the program's third straight NCAA Tournament on Saturday, and the Tigers' goal is clear.
“We are getting to that Sweet 16,” MU women’s basketball star Sophie Cunningham said. “Whatever it takes, we have to get there.”
Though Cunningham, a former McDonald’s All-American, still has one year of eligibility left after this season, this tournament might be Mizzou’s best chance to make a postseason run with the star guard. Once their season ends, the Tigers will lose All-SEC senior forward Jordan Frericks, who has complemented Cunningham with inside scoring and rebounding.
The Tigers (24-7) said most of the season that one of their goals was being a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would have allowed them to host the final two rounds. They were in position to do so as the regular season neared its end, but a late stumble — they have lost two of their past three games — caused them to fall short.
Instead, Mizzou, which has lost in the Round of 32 each of the past two years, is a No. 5 seed in the Lexington (Ky.) regional. That’s still the highest seed the program has ever had in the 64-team tournament.
Immediately after Missouri learned its seed on Monday evening, Cunningham said her team has to “set the bar a little higher” than being a top-16 seed. The Tigers have to be one of the final 16 teams remaining for the first time since 2011.
Missouri will first have to knock off No. 12 seed Florida Gulf Coast (30-4). The Eagles lead the country with an average of 33.1 three-point attempts per game. Six FGCU players have attempted at least 100 threes this season, and all of them have shot 34 percent or better from beyond the arc. So the Tigers — whose opponents have converted 32.2 percent of three-point attempts this season — will need to defend the perimeter.
If Mizzou advances past the first round, the Tigers will likely face No. 4 Stanford, which finished second in the Pac-12 during the regular season and is hosting the first two rounds.
The Cardinal — led by senior guard Brittany McPhee, a third-team USA Today All-American — played one of the toughest schedules in the country. During non-conference play, Stanford played five games against ranked teams: at Ohio State, vs. Connecticut, vs. Ohio State, at Baylor and vs. Tennessee. The Cardinal (22-10) lost every game and has gone 4-8 against ranked teams this season.
Missouri has been tested, too. Seven Southeastern Conference teams made the tournament, and five of them earned top-16 overall seeds.
“I’m excited to play someone different,” Cunningham said. “I’m ready for just a different experience, almost. I’m really confident in our team. I know everybody is kind of biting at the bit to get going.”
When Missouri plays Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2, it will be the Tigers first game in more than two weeks. Georgia bounced Mizzou from the SEC Tournament in just the quarterfinal round; the Tigers scored just 41 points, their lowest total of the season.
In the time since, Cunningham said, the Tigers have focused on tweaking their motion offense, which they also struggled to execute in their regular-season finale at Texas A&M. Mizzou mustered just seven points in the second quarter of that game, which became MU’s most lopsided loss of the season.
“Things are starting to feel normal again,” point guard Lauren Aldridge said of the Tigers' offense.
Mizzou will hope its offense looks normal again, too. If Missouri again plays like a team that flirted with a top-10 ranking for much of the season, then Cunningham’s goal of a Sweet 16 becomes much more attainable.
This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Can Mizzou finally break through to Sweet 16 in NCAA women's tournament?."