Mizzou women’s basketball enters SEC Tournament with March Madness hopes on the line
The Missouri Tigers women’s basketball team enters the SEC Tournament in Nashville this week with a lot of unknowns.
The biggest, of course, is whether the team has done enough to make the NCAA Tournament. Mizzou (18-11, 7-9 SEC) was one of the “last four in” in the latest projections released by ESPN on Tuesday. Were that to turn out to be the case, the Tigers would compete in a play-in game for an 11-seed, which isn’t ideal.
“I think we’ve been in the conversation,” coach Robin Pingeton said on Sunday of Missouri’s NCAA Tournament chances. “But I have no idea. Honestly, there’s so many things that go into that. I definitely think we’ve put ourselves in a position to be in the mix for sure. And I think that’s huge.”
Getting at least one win in the SEC Tournament feels like a must for Mizzou, which ranks 49th in the NET, to get into March Madness safely. Certainly if it wants to avoid a play-in game.
But the path to doing so won’t be easy. The Tigers enter as a 9-seed and will face 8-seed Arkansas (17-12, 7-9 SEC) at noon on Thursday. If they win, they’ll be tasked with facing top-seeded South Carolina in the quarterfinals.
That’s where another unknown comes into the picture. Star guard Aijha Blackwell, redshirt freshman Skylah Travis and freshman Kiya Dorroh were held out of the last two contests of the regular season for not meeting program “standards and expectations.” They received a citation from University of Missouri police for marijuana possession, in violation of a Columbia city ordinance, last week.
“We have really high standards and expectations for our program,” Pingeton said of the player absences. “There’s got to be an accountability piece to it.
“I know everybody wants the story, but nobody knows each other’s journeys. We have high standards. We’ve got expectations. There’s a lot on these young ladies’ plates being a student-athlete. There’s a lot that comes with that. As a coach it’s hard, but there’s got to be that accountability piece. That’s something we can’t waver on.”
Blackwell, a junior, has averaged 15.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season. She received Second Team All-SEC honors on Tuesday, along with forward Hayley Frank, who has shot 47.5% from three-point range and put up 15.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest.
“In regards to getting players back for the tournament, yes, there is a strong possibility we could,” Pingeton said on Sunday. “But we’ll see how that goes over the next couple of days.”
With or without Blackwell, beating the Razorbacks will be a tall task. The Tigers have lost six consecutive games to Arkansas since 2020, including both matchups by double digits this season.
The first meeting, a 83-73 result back on Jan. 9, was Missouri’s first conference loss of the season. The team started SEC play with a 2-0 record, including the biggest win in program history, over No. 1 South Carolina shorthanded on Dec. 30.
The Tigers were picked to finish 11th in the league in the preseason after finishing with just nine total wins across each of the last two years. But at that point, boasting a 12-2 record after knocking off the Gamecocks, it appeared as if they were primed to have their best season in recent memory. Reaching the NCAA Tournament seemed like a given; Mizzou was even projected as a 7-seed.
The loss to Arkansas started a three-game losing streak, but two of those were against ranked opponents and Missouri nearly beat then-No. 12 LSU in overtime during that stretch.
The Tigers then went on to win three of their next four games, bringing their SEC record to 5-4 through January. They were in seventh place, behind programs that are all now ranked or receiving votes in The Associated Press poll, and had a 16-6 record the year.
But then things started to spiral. Missouri lost five of its next seven games to end the regular season, including a four-game stretch with consecutive losses by at least 14 points.
“We have to — all 14 of us — keep believing and just weather the storm and the adversity,” Frank said on Feb. 13 after Missouri lost to Arkansas, 88-71, despite leading by 11 points in the third quarter. “Stick together, go back to work, keep embracing the ugly, the tough conversations and figure it out. Because we definitely still have an opportunity and it can be done this season.”
Mizzou is one of the best shooting teams in the country — the team’s three-point percentage of 38.9% ranks second nationally and its field goal percentage of 45.8% is 12th — but defense has been an issue all season. The team has allowed opponents to score an average of 67.1 points per game, which ranks 246th in the country and has a defensive rating of 90.1, which ranks 140th in the country, according to Her Hoop Stats.
Wins over Mississippi State and at then-No. 15 Florida to end the regular season kept the Tigers in the tournament picture. But they also dropped a winnable game at home to Kentucky in between those results after being outdone in the first and fourth quarters. In addition to Blackwell, Travis and Dorroh, center LaDazhia Williams was also held out against the Wildcats for not meeting teams expectations and standards — though she did not face possession charges and was back for the final game.
Pingeton and her players have repeated the phrase “mission first, team always” all year, in reference to their goals of making the NCAA Tournament. They’ve also commonly stated that this season is “a marathon, not a sprint.”
Now, as Missouri finds itself in jeopardy of not making the cut for March Madness — or at the very least sweating things out on Selection Sunday — it’s time to run with full force.
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
