Eye sees big things for Mizzou

The first time Robin Pingeton drove through the town of Montrose, she mistakenly passed the gymnasium.

“There is a shop or a gas station on the corner, and on the other side is the gym,” Pingeton recalls. After that, you are back out in country.”

But she was happy to turn around and drive back to Montrose High School. It is where she found her sharp-shooting guard, Morgan Eye.

“Mizzou was my only Division 1 offer,” Eye explains. “I think a lot of that (is because) I did not play AAU ball.”

Eye had to put her own highlight tape together and sent it out to different colleges. Robin Pingeton, who was entering her first season as Missouri women’s basketball head coach, looked at the reel and saw potential.

“We did not have many shooters on our roster,” Pingeton said. “We had to get some kids in here that could knock some shots down for us.

Eye knocked down more than 228 shots from behind the arc, breaking Missouri’s career record for 3-pointers made in just her third season with the Tigers. She also owns the Mizzou and SEC single-season record for 3’s.

Going into Thursday’s game against Florida, Eye knocked down 85 three pointers this year, which leads the league. The next closest player has 16 less 3’s than the junior.

“Morgan Eye is a pure shooter,” said senior forward Bri Kulas, the team’s leading scorer. “If you give her the ball, she is going to make it. I have all the confidence in the world in her so I am going to pass her the ball in games.”

Eye guided her high school to a state championship in 2010. Montrose may get more love if their hometown hero can guide the team into the NCAA tournament at some point in her career. Eye has more than a year to make that happen.

“I think that is something everyone wants to do,” Eye said. “I really want to be part of that team that makes Mizzou basketball where it can go.”