Mizzou forging defense-focused identity ahead of 2024-25 season
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou women's basketball is bringing a new-look roster to the start of the upcoming season. With six new student-athletes and a young group of returners, the Tigers are focused on turning the page from their last campaign and competing in the SEC, following their 11-19 overall and 2-14 conference record last season.
Along with a new-look roster, MU is also forming a new-look identity. After a season where the Tigers allowed the third-most points in the SEC, head coach Robin Pingeton said defense was one area that this year's team is focused on improving. With that in mind, Mizzou is preparing in practice to bring a defensive-minded style of play to the court this season.
"We just want to be a really physical, defensive team. We want to get out in the passing lanes more than we have in the past. We want to get up in that full court, and we're still in the install of some of our full-court pressure defense, so I don't know how quickly you'll see that early on this season. But, we want to be a defensive team that applies pressure, and you feel us for 40 minutes. With the depth that we have on our roster, we can maintain that pressure and wear teams down," Pingeton said.
"We just really implemented some new defensive tactics and some wording I think that will help us understand better what the coaches are looking for on the defensive side," Mizzou guard Grace Slaughter said. "Overall, being more scrappy, being aggressive defensively but knowing our team has our back on defense whether we get the steal or we don't. Just things like that I think have really motivated us to just try to compete up there with other SEC schools."
During the offseason, Pingeton emphasized that she wanted to add more size and athleticism to her team through the transfer portal. MU responded by adding 6'4" center Tionna Herron, 6'0" forward Ma'Riya Vincent and 5'11" forward Laniah Randle to the roster this season. The Tigers will also benefit from having forward Angelique Ngalakulondi and guard Averi Kroenke back this season after they both suffered injuries last year.
Mizzou's new additions and returners are working to elevate an area where the team struggled last season: rebounding. MU is focused on improving that aspect of its game after finishing second-to-last in the SEC in total rebounds per game last season.
"I think rebounding is just a want-to, and you just have to want to go out there and just do the extra dirty work, so just using my strength, my ability and just being able to track down the balls off the rim will help our team out a lot," Ngalakulondi said.
"We've changed some of our methods on offense like this new thing where we tag, so we're in a better position to get offensive rebounds because that's really where we struggled last year," Mizzou forward Hannah Linthacum said. "I think with our new players, especially with how we're being more aggressive and intense than we were last year, I feel like that will really help us get extra possessions and put us in a position to be successful."
Mizzou will also have a different leadership core this season, following the departures of Hayley Frank to graduation and Mama Dembele to South Florida. One of the athletes that the team is relying on to be a leader among a group filled with new players is Ashton Judd, who is entering her third season with the Tigers and focusing on stepping into an even bigger leadership role than last year.
"I think outside of just the intentional communication on the court, leading by example on- and off-the court," Judd said. "Just showing them what practices should look like, what the standard is and I think they've done a great job honestly so far, but just like I said, trying to be somebody [the team] can come to with questions, what things should look like, what the coaches expect from us."
Mizzou tips off its 2024-25 campaign on Monday, Nov. 4 at Vermont.
