Tiger women have their sights set on the postseason

With the regular season on the books, Mizzou’s hopes of an NCAA tournament bid hang by a thread with a first-round game against Arkansas Thursday morning in Greenville, South Carolina.

Although Missouri was dying to celebrate Hayley squadIn the final game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon, the TIgers finally lost to Florida 61-52 in a disappointing end to an unconvincing regular season. head coach Robin Pingeton could do nothing but repeat testimonies of previous losses, the need to study film and her admiration for the attitude and ambition of the team.

“We need to be able to close the book on this season and open it up for this postseason and get ready for the SEC tournament,” Pingeton said. “We all know that March is a special month and you have to find magic in a bottle and it has to be quick.”

Movie and dressing room presence only gets one team that far at this point in the season. The Tigers face a Razorback roster that has defeated them in both encounters and has won nine straight straight games. Still, Pingeton and the Tigers go into Thursday’s game with a sense of determination and determination befitting such a tenured team.

“We knew we had to go to the SEC [tournament] and win,” Pingeton said. “If we go in with our heads down and feel sorry for ourselves, we don’t stand a chance, Arkansas is too good.”

In their two encounters this season, the Razorbacks’ defense dominated and held the Tigers’ offense at 55 and 33 points, with 28.7% shooting from the field and 20% shooting from off the arc. On the other side of the ball, Arkansas thrived with 77 and 61 points, shooting 44.9% from field and 36.1% from beyond the arc.

Should Missouri win in the first round, it would need to defeat defending champion South Carolina in the quarterfinals and then win two more to earn a spot in the national tournament. Any other result leaves the Tigers squarely out of legitimate tournament competition and looks to the WNIT.

“I think every time you get to play Arkansas, a border rival, in the postseason, it’s cool to get that win,” Troup said. “But most of all, it would be tremendous for our team to attack the postseason and do things that we know we can do and achieve.”

While Missouri had every chance of staying in the tournament bubble with a few key wins in its conference schedule, the Tigers finished 3-10 after starting 3-0. The Tigers’ loss to Florida on Sunday, as well as home losses to Tennessee and Alabama just weeks earlier, leave a grim prospect for a Tigers team that could easily enter tournaments this selection Sunday.

The Tigers are also worn out in their lineup. You missed Jayla Kelly in her last three games, and Pingeton thinks she’s close to a return. Sarah Rose Smith, the Tigers’ best player off the bench and a key player at depth, is ending the season with a sore hamstring. With an extensive rotation and the absence of one of their best frontcourt players, the Tigers will certainly have a challenge Thursday morning.