Hoopin’ and Hollerin: Battling BYU in bracket play

Mizzou women’s hoops is still dancing successful nan WBIT aft defeating Seton Hall successful New Jersey 67-57 aft a awesome 4th quarter. But nan occupation isn’t done, arsenic nan Tigers deed nan roadworthy against BYU, nan top-seed successful nan region.

This crippled is being played connected Monday owed to BYU’s belief argumentation to not playing connected Sundays, erstwhile nan remainder of nan WBIT games took place. The victor of this matchup will play Stanford, nan two-seed successful nan region, successful nan Quarterfinals.

For this week’s Hoopin’ and Hollerin, I will break down really Mizzou knocked disconnected nan Pirates connected nan roadworthy and what has to beryllium done to upset nan Cougars successful Provo.

In nan opening round, Seton Hall seemed to person Mizzou connected nan ropes. The Pirates led for nan immense mostly of nan first half, opening up a seven-point lead a small complete halfway done nan 3rd quarter. At first it was nan Tigers’ offense, going connected a 14-7 tally to adjacent nan 4th and necktie nan crippled astatine 52. Shannon Dowell was a large portion of that comeback, pinch 5 points successful nan agelong including a steal-and-score to necktie nan crippled heading into nan last frame.

The 4th fourth was each astir nan defense, arsenic Mizzou outscored Seton Hall 15-5 to propulsion disconnected nan comeback triumph connected nan road. The Tigers kept them distant from nan basket, forcing nan Pirates into 14 attempts from agelong range; of which they only made one. Plus they were disciplined, committing only 3 fouls successful nan quarter. All of those fouls were connected nan floor, meaning Seton Hall changeable nary free throws successful nan last 10 minutes.

This was rather nan protect capacity for a squad that struggled connected that extremity of nan level each season. This was nan first clip nan Tigers held their force beneath 60 points since non-conference playback successful December. To beryllium fair, portion of that is conscionable nan offensively proficiency of SEC teams.

While nan discourtesy didn’t do thing fancy to triumph nan game, Grace Slaughter came up large pinch 7 points successful nan last framework including a 3 and 2-2 from nan line.

This benignant of late-game occurrence is conscionable nan extremity of nan extremity of nan iceberg for what Mizzou has to do if they want to hit BYU.

While BYU is nan higher seed successful nan tournament, history has favored nan Tigers. Mizzou has won each six erstwhile showdowns betwixt nan teams, nan past being a 78-69 triumph successful nan 2016 NCAA Tournament. Sophie Cunningham led nan measurement pinch 20 points successful nan first information win.

But this year’s Cougars squad is nan top-seed successful nan region for a reason, finishing nan regular play 23-11 and conscionable narrowly missing nan NCAA Tournament. BYU was 9-9 successful Big 12 play, picking up large wins against tourney teams for illustration Texas Tech, Colorado and Arizona State (twice).

The Cougars reached nan 2nd information of nan WBIT pinch a throttling triumph complete Alabama A&M 72-47. BYU held a 7-point advantage astatine nan extremity of nan first 4th and ne'er looked back, arsenic nan Cougars ne'er trailed successful nan win. The biggest advantage for BYU was its size, outrebounding nan Bulldogs 49-32 while holding a 34-16 advantage successful overgarment points. Plus nan squad held clear advantage connected 3-pointers, making 8-16 of agelong balls compared to 4-21 for their opponents.

It was offense-by-committee, pinch 4 different Cougars ending nan crippled successful double-digits. Sydney Benally led nan measurement scoring nan hoops pinch a team-high 18 points. She was highly efficient, shooting 7-of-11 from nan section positive 4-of-5 connected 3-pointers. This was rather nan outburst from Benally, only averaging 7.7 points connected 26% shooting from 3 this season. So while I wouldn’t expect her to spell disconnected pinch that benignant of scoring output against nan Tigers, this benignant of 3-point outburst from immoderate of BYU’s guards is thing coach Kellie Harper should beryllium mindful of heading into Monday.

For my past piece, I picked Reisma arsenic my “Player to Watch”. In move she scored 17 points and was a cardinal portion successful Mizzou’s triumph complete Seton Hall. This time, let’s spot if this grant tin bestow Dowell pinch that aforesaid luck.

Since Dowell missed astir of January pinch an injury, she has been rather inconsistent. She’s had phenomenal performances, for illustration scoring 33 points successful nan regular play finale against Oklahoma. But since that crippled she’s struggled offensively, combining for 12 points successful her past 2 games against Seton Hall and Alabama.

While immoderate of it has been efficiency, nan bigger rumor has been nan constricted volume. Against Oklahoma, nan inferior changeable nan shot 22 times from nan section positive 10 free throws. In her past 2 games, Dowell has averaged 7.5 section extremity attempts and 3 free throws. If she wants to spark nan Tiger discourtesy successful Provo, they request to get nan shot into her hands more.

Dowell and nan remainder of nan Tigers look disconnected against BYU astatine 8 p.m. connected Monday successful Provo, Utah. The crippled is disposable to watch done ESPN+ connected nan ESPN app.