Mizzou women’s hoops looks to recuperate in much-needed bye week

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A bye week could not have come at a more perfect time for the Mizzou women's basketball team, as the group has been grappling with injuries through Southeastern Conference action.

However, the seven-day stretch that head coach Kellie Harper and team have between their next game is being used very intentionally. During a Tuesday meeting with local media members, Harper said she wants her players to get some extra days off, before traveling to Starkville, Mississippi for action, on Sunday.

"[We're going to] take the opportunity to maybe do some things for us, instead of game prep, because you get in the middle of the season and you feel like so much of your practice is about your opponent. We'll try to take advantage of maybe some things this week that we need to look at," Harper said.

You can watch the full press conference with Coach Harper in the video player below.

On the injury front, there are still a couple of players that will remain on the injury report for the foreseeable future, as guard Sydney Mains and forward Hannah Linthacum have not played this season due to injuries.

Harper said that Mains is still in the midst of battling lingering injuries, meanwhile Linthacum is considered more week-to-week. When asked if she would explore medical redshirts for those players, the leader of Tiger women's hoops said they will keep their options open and explore everything.

Mizzou's week of rest comes as the group will have eight more games left in Southeastern Conference action. In Coach Harper's first year, the group sits with at 14-9 overall and has a 2-6 mark in league play.

"We are so critical, as coaches, of our own team and we see constantly what we're not doing well and you know, where we want more. Then, just a comment from a peer, a phone call from a peer, text from a peer, somebody in our in our world, when they complement your team and they talk about how your team is playing hard and doing some really good things. It makes you sit back and kind of appreciate what we've done," Harper said. "It's hard to do sometimes, as coaches, because we do overanalyze everything. I'm proud of our team for their effort and I'm proud of them for really trying to improve on the things we asked them improve on. We don't always get it right and we're not always perfect, by no stretch of imagination. But, I love the try and I love the effort and I love that they come back, win or lose, ready to practice. Ready to try it again. I think that is a huge component of a program trying to push forward. You know, they're they've not shut down on me, they've not quit on me and that's a big deal. I don't expect them to, to be quite honest with you. I don't think they have that make up."

As Coach Harper is in the beginning stages of rebuilding the women's basketball program in Columbia, she stressed the importance of having players on her roster with that kind of fight and patience for the process.

"We want to be competitive here at a high level, we do. We're working towards that. You know, you have to have a foundation of competitiveness and you have to have a foundation of belief and wanting to win, before you can really do those things. This team does. This team has that. You know, we're trying to really build on that and push through the rest of the season with that in mind...It's not easy to do. It is not easy to do. I think you can, you know, you can watch teams in February and see which ones are ready for the season to be over and which ones still enjoy playing basketball. Hopefully, our tam will keep pushing and keep fighting."

The final eight-game push that Coach Harper and her team are entering will prove critical on if the Tigers can earn a postseason berth, beyond just the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

As of the bye week, Mizzou is ranked No. 77 in the NET. In years past, teams ranking just outside of the Top 60-70 are usually prime candidates for at-large spots in the WNIT. So, Harper's team does sit in prime position to make a postseason tournament, if they can finish out the regular-season strong.

"[The postseason] is still on the table," she said. "I know that there's some opportunities out there. We've got some work to do yet to be bowl eligible. So, you know, I think that definitely is something we're looking at and, you know, hopefully we can get to that point."

The Tigers are still look to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball, which is something Harper has harped on in the past few weeks. On Tuesday, she said her team needs to focus on finishing quarters better, especially defensively. Statistically, she's highlighted the fourth quarter as her team's biggest problem.

That problem was on display in MU's dominant win over Texas A&M, on Sunday, when the Tigers allowed the Aggies to come back from down 22 points at the start of the fourth quarter. A&M went on an 11-0 run in those closing 10 minutes and got within 10 of Harper's squad.

Despite that fourth quarter adversity, Mizzou managed to close out the game against the Aggies for their second SEC win of the season, a game where the Tiger offense found quite a bit of success. MU had five players get into double-figures, as veteran Grace Slaughter led the charge with 24 points.

Harper said her offense is at its best when it has multiple producers, like it did on Sunday night.

"I think, you know, playing versatile with our scoring, that's when we're at our best. That means we're scoring in the paint, we're going off the pass, we're scoring in transition and I think our players know that," she said.

The Tigers will look to build off of that win over Texas A&M with a Sunday matinee agains the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday, Feb. 1. Tip off in Starkville is slated for 2 p.m.