Starting Five - Storylines for the Season Opener
1) Missouri State begins its 51st season of varsity competition Tuesday with a 3 p.m. contest at No. 23 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers will mark MSU's fifth consecutive AP Top-25 opponent, as the Lady Bears ended last season by defeating No. 21 Drake, No. 23 DePaul and 13th-ranked Iowa State in succession before falling to No. 6 Stanford in the Sweet 16.
2) Head Coach
Amaka Agugua-Hamilton makes her debut as the Lady Bears' eighth head coach. Coach Mox is familiar with the Big Ten after spending the last six seasons at Michigan State, and actually owns a victory at Minnesota, winning 93-74 on Jan. 30, 2017, in an interim capacity with the Spartans. Additionally, Missouri State assistant and former Spartan
Tori Jankoska recorded a triple-double against the Gophers later that season, with 24 points, 10 boards and 10 assists on Feb. 16. Coach Mox is looking to become the third MSU coach to win her debut, alongside Reba Sims (1969) and Cheryl Burnett (1987).
3) Missouri State brings a school-record 10-game road win streak into the Twin Cities. The Lady Bears last lost a true road game on Dec. 9, 2018 at Indiana, and since then are 16-1 away from home including neutral-site contests.
4) The Lady Bears return 12 players from last season's roster with one newcomer, freshman
Trinity Knapp. MSU closed last year with 24 wins in 27 games, and returns at least 73 percent of its production in every statistical category.
5) Last season, Missouri State won the rebounding battle 29 times in 35 games, and finished in the top 22 nationally in rebound margin, as well as free throw makes and attempts.
Series History
Missouri State has never played Minnesota in women's basketball. The Lady Bears are 10-15 against current Big Ten membership with wins over six separate schools, the most recent victory a 90-59 home triumph against Northwestern in December 2017.
Scouting Minnesota
Minnesota is ranked 23rd in the preseason AP poll under second-year head coach, alum, and five-time all-WNBA selection Lindsay Whalen. The Gophers went 21-11 overall last season, 9-9 in Big Ten play, and advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Minnesota is picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten this year, with preseason all-conference pick Destiny Pitts leading the way. The Gophers return three of the top four scorers from a team that averaged 69.6 points per game in 2018-19, allowed 60.5, and shot 41.8 percent overall, 32.9 percent from 3-point range, and 71 percent from the foul line with a plus-6.6 rebound margin.
Scouting the Lady Bears/2018-19 in Review
Missouri State finished 25-10 overall and 16-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play last season, winning its 11th MVC Tournament title and advancing to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in program history. The Lady Bears closed the 2018-19 season with 24 wins in their final 27 games, and bring back 79 percent of scoring, 84 percent of rebounds, 73 percent of assists, 78 percent of steals, 90 percent of blocked shots and 83 percent of minutes played.
   Three Lady Bears –
Brice Calip,
Jasmine Franklin and
Alexa Willard – earned honorable mention all-MVC honors last season, nine players on the roster appeared in at least 32 games with a minimum 12 minutes per contest, and all 12 returners played in at least 10 games a season ago.
   Willard (12.3 ppg), Calip (10.1) and Franklin (9.2) provide a balanced offensive attack for a team that had at least eight scorers in all but four games last year, while Franklin established MSU freshman records with 267 rebounds and 47 blocks shots a season ago as the first player in school history and only freshman nationally with at least 40 blocks and 40 steals.
   Missouri State lost only one letterwinner from last year's club - senior
Danielle Gitzen - while head coach Kellie Harper departed for the same position at Tennessee, her alma mater, after the season.
   The Lady Bears averaged 72.8 points per game last season, allowed 63.2, and shot 42.6 percent overall, 33.3 percent from long range and 68.8 percent at the foul line with a plus-8.3 rebound margin, the second-highest in school history.
Exhibition Recap
Missouri State won a pair of exhibition games at JQH Arena, topping Lincoln by a 109-32 final and Southwest Baptist, 92-49. The Lady Bears shot 58 percent overall and 46 percent from 3-point range in the wins, averaging plus-24.5 on the boards and forcing 52 total turnovers.
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Jasmine Franklin averaged 18 points and 8.5 boards while shooting 15-of-17 from the floor after 13 consecutive makes to begin the year.
Alexa Willard followed with 16 points, while
Sydney Wilson,
Abby Hipp,
Elle Ruffridge and
Emily Gartner all averaged from 8-10 points per game. Hipp had a team-high 9.5 boards per contest, and
Mya Bhinhar averaged six assists.
MSU Versus the Top 25
Missouri State has had relatively good success all-time against ranked opponents, going 22-50 versus AP top-25 foes with a 7-24 mark in true road games. MSU's last top-25 road win was a 69-60 victory at No. 13 Iowa State in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
For Openers
The Lady Bears are 22-28 all time in season openers following last season's 63-60 overtime loss at Wichita State. MSU has lost 13 of its last 15 openers.
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