After the first three games of the season, in order to prepare for SEC play, the Tigers will need to “clean things up,” according to head coach Robin Pingeton. These are four takeaways from the Tigers’ seemingly perfect start.
Three games into the season, Missouri women’s basketball recorded three wins, defeating Missouri State, Bradley and Southeast Missouri State. Missouri has outscored its opponents by a total of 74 points between the first three games and looks to continue rolling in nonconference play before facing SEC opponents in late December.
After Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton detailed her expectations for the team before the season started, the Tigers, thus far, have met the standards of their veteran coach. However, certain aspects of their playing style could prove costly as opponents get tougher.
With a long season still ahead, the Tigers will need to play smart basketball to improve their 18-13 overall record from last season.
Through the first 120 minutes of play, here are four takeaways from Missouri’s opening games:
Jayla Kelly needs to be fed the basketball
The Tigers have named junior Jayla Kelly, who stands at 6 feet, 3 inches, the starting center to begin the season. It was a quiet year for her in 2021, only averaging 2.1 points and 5.4 minutes of play a game throughout the season. After seeing her progress in the offseason, Pingeton wanted to give Kelly the chance to be more involved with the offense.
“The thing that’s going to help [her] is getting her game minutes,” Pingeton said. “She doesn’t have a lot of those under her belt … [but Kelly] is going to be special.”
In her first three starts, Kelly nearly tripled her minutes average from last season. The junior spaces the floor well for the Tigers, providing a down-low threat on offense and a solid defensive anchor for the team.
During the game against Bradley, Kelly finished second on the team in points, with almost all of them coming from within the paint. As a whole, the Tigers have dominated their opponents down low, outscoring their opponents in paint points by double digits each time.
“[Kelly’s] got great athleticism, great explosiveness, and she craves coaching,” Pingeton said. “When you’ve got those three going for you, good things are going to happen.”
Kelly gave credit to her teammates during a press conference following the Tigers’ 45-point victory against Bradley, stating that their ability to give her successful passes under the rim was what allowed for her success.
“Just my teammates moving [and] getting open [helps us],” she said. “Coach P’s play calls … we’re moving in that zone and it’s good. Our movement is good … my teammates just made the good passes.”
While Kelly has found high levels of success under the rim, Pingeton said she wants to see an improvement in shot selection from her center elsewhere on the court.
“There’s a little bit of a process that goes with that,” Pingeton said. “[It’s about] understanding shot selection. She took a 15-foot contested shot early in the shot clock — she can hit those — but we don’t need that if it’s contested early.”
Apart from taking smart shots, a big challenge Missouri faces regarding Kelly will continue to be the offense’s ability to get her the ball.
In the two games that proved to be more competitive in comparison to the blowout against Bradley, Kelly was only able to shoot the ball eight times — the same amount as she did in the single game against the Braves.
The offense must find roles for the newcomers within its system
Step one for Missouri was welcoming three new faces to the team: highly-rated freshmen guards Averi Kroenke and Ashton Judd, as well as standout graduate transfer guard Katlyn Gilbert.
Now, the Tigers face step two — finding a productive role for all three players within their offense, especially for the two freshmen.
In the season opener against Missouri State, Gilbert found success, shooting 4-7 from the floor with 9 points, but the opposite was true for the two freshmen, who each only tallied 2 points.
Despite low numbers, Pingeton said she was proud of both Judd and Kroenke.
“They choose to compete,” she said. “They’re going to compete every single day and they do not take days off … When you go from being that player in high school that has to do everything to being surrounded by other people that can carry some of the load for you, it just takes time to settle into that.”
In the subsequent games, both of the freshmen found their footing. Judd stepped up behind the arc, scoring three 3-pointers in a season-high 12-point performance against Bradley, followed by an 11-point showing against Southeast Missouri State.
“I’m just trying to help my team out any way I can,” she said. “Those extra passes really helped and I was open.”
Though her point total remained similar, Kroenke improved from game one to game two in a different way. She registered more minutes and grabbed four rebounds as the primary point guard during the fourth quarter against Bradley. She facilitated the offensive ball movement and made it to the free throw line, making her on-court presence felt.
“I love the fact that we’re having a chance to look at different rotations and different lineups,” Pingeton said. “Getting some feet wet with our younger players, I think that’s huge. That’s only going to help us down the road.”
Pingeton said she intended to continue experimenting with rotations to find a role for all three new players, along with the rest of the returning players on the team.
“I think it’s still a work in progress for all of them to understand,” she said. “I think there’s more elements to our game that you haven’t seen yet, but it’s growing. Every day it just continues to get a little bit better, so [I’m] really excited.”
Turnovers have to be limited
As goes for any team entering a new season, figuring out what works and what does not is a key role in starting off on the right foot. For Missouri, winning the turnover battle could be the make-or-break between winning and losing.
In the first three games, the Tigers have won the turnover battle once. In the other two games, the other team has committed fewer turnovers and kept the game closer as a result.
“We’ve got to execute a little bit better,” Pingeton said. “I felt like our timing wasn’t the greatest at all. We didn’t deliver the pass the way we needed to … so [we] definitely have to clean things up. That’s what practice is for, so we’ll continue to hone in on that.”
Most of the Tigers’ turnovers occurred on fast break situations when players attempted to force a pass down low — ending with a steal that went the other way for two.
“[Connectivity] is something that [Pingeton] says everyday,” Kelly said. “We struggle with it at times, whether we’re not communicating well enough, calling for the ball, or something as simple as that. Just focusing on the little small details has helped our connectivity a lot.”
As the Tigers play more games, Pingeton said her goal for the team is to record 12 turnovers or fewer per game — something they successfully did in their win against the Braves.
A lack of consistent 3-point shooting makes winning difficult
As the SEC standings for 3-point shooting reads, Missouri has proven it can shoot the ball behind the arc well but has yet to do it consistently.
In three games, the Tigers averaged a 3-point percentage of 30.6%. After an abysmal night behind the arc in game one where the Tigers shot only 8% from 3, the team bounced back, making nearly half of their attempts against Bradley.
“I wasn’t too alarmed with the Missouri State game,” Pingeton said. “I don’t think that’s really typical of what you’ll see from us, but there are going to be nights when the ball doesn’t fall.”
The key to the Tigers’ successful 3-point shooting in game two came from Judd, who leads the team with a 50% success rate, followed by senior guard Lauren Hansen, who made three.
“It definitely helps when you’re getting those rhythm shots,” Pingeton said.
Pingeton said she has confidence in the team’s shooting ability — specifically from 3, as she has noticed great shooting from numerous players who have the ability to score from deep.
“I feel like we’ve got a pretty strong roster of shooters,” she said. “It just makes the game so much easier when you can just spread the defense a little bit more, loosen them up.”
As the Tigers continue their 2022-23 campaign, one thing stands out to Pingeton about her players: their selfless attitudes toward one another.
“This is a really close-knit group, she said. “I don’t think any of them care who gets the credit. They’re really in it for the front of the jersey.”
Missouri faces UT Martin in its next game before traveling to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship — the team’s first regular-season tournament.
Edited by Riley Gearhart | rgearhart@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Jacob Richeyy
