Missouri women’s basketball enters the Southeastern Conference Tournament needing a win over rival Arkansas to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
The ninth-seeded Tigers and eighth-seeded Razorbacks begin second-round play at 11 a.m. Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina.
Top-seeded South Carolina enters postseason play looking to repeat as national champions, while No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Ole Miss are looking to make statements, as well.
Missouri (17-12, 6-10 SEC) lacks signature wins, boasting only a road win against Alabama, and losses to Kentucky and Florida are weighing down their resume.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme dropped the Tigers off of the NCAA Tournament bubble following their loss to Florida. MU needs multiple wins in Greenville, as it will likely take a championship run for Robin Pingeton’s team to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
The Tigers join Arkansas, Mississippi State, Alabama and Georgia in needing to pick up quality wins in the conference tournament. They all sit near the bubble, meaning that every game could be the difference between playing later into March or going home.
Third times the charm?
Arkansas is looking for its third win of the season against Missouri. In the previous two meetings, the Tigers lost by a combined score of 138-88.
The Razorbacks (20-11, 7-9) have won nine straight in the series, with the Tigers’ last win coming Feb. 28, 2019, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Arkansas held the Tigers to less than 30% shooting in both regular-season matchups, a mark that Missouri has not shot below in any other game this season.
Another common theme in both meetings was Hayley Frank’s struggles. The Tigers’ leading scorer recorded just 13 points on 6-of-21 shooting across the two games. After scoring a team-high 16 points against Florida, Frank’s production is key to a run in the conference tournament.
Arkansas’ season progressed similar to Missouri’s. After starting SEC play 3-1, the Razorbacks lost five of six in the middle of the season. Then, after a win over Missouri on Feb. 12, Arkansas lost three in a row before closing the season with a 78-65 win over Texas A&M.
The Razorbacks excel on the defensive end, forcing 16.7 turnovers per game and holding teams to 30.8% shooting from behind the arc. However, they do not shoot well from 3-point range, converting at a 29.9% clip.
The Razorbacks have four players averaging double figures. Senior forward Erynn Barnum leads the way with 16.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She combined for 35 points in the two wins over MU.
Sophomore point guard Samara Spencer is averaging 14.0 points and a team-leading 4.3 assists per game. Makayla Daniels complements Spencer well, scoring 12.9 points per game while also serving as the best perimeter defender. Daniels leads the Razorbacks with 1.8 steals per game.
Senior Chrissy Carr is a matchup problem on the perimeter, scoring 18 points in the most recent meeting with the Tigers. Freshman guard Saylor Poffenbarger leads the team in blocks with 1.1 per game, and she exploded for a season-high 24 points on Jan. 8 against Missouri.
The journey ahead
This has been an up-and-down season for Missouri, to say the least.
The Tigers started the season 12-2 in nonconference play, and they reeled off three wins to start SEC play.
Then, the wheels fell off. After suffering through a stretch in which they lost eight of nine in the middle of the season, Missouri rekindled some of its early-season success in wins over Mississippi State and Texas A&M. However, MU lost its final two games to Ole Miss and Florida.
The road to an NCAA Tournament berth will not be easy. Missouri will have to take down Arkansas and South Carolina to reach the SEC semifinals.
If chalk holds, No. 4 Ole Miss would await the Tigers in the semifinals, although the Rebels could match up with rival Mississippi State in the quarterfinals.
LSU and Tennessee figure to be the dominant teams in the bottom half of the bracket.
