Missouri State Entering Season With Strong Expectations
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!
Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?
After Sweet 16 appearances in consecutive NCAA Tournaments, Missouri State will not be sneaking up on opponents anymore. Head coach Amaka “Mox” Agugua-Hamilton welcomes that fact.
“We're walking with confidence that we belong,” said Mox. “It's not a fluke that we are in the Sweet 16 or that we're a top 25 team, we have that confidence.”
The team’s confidence is definitely earned, as they can back it up with individual and team accolades. One of the most experienced teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State returns one sixth-year senior, two fifth-year seniors, and three fourth-year seniors. This includes the top three players in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals from last season.
Speaking about that experience, Agugua-Hamilton said, “We have a lot of leadership coming back. Those kids have been to two Sweet 16s at this point. They know the standard, they know the system, they know me. They know what our goals are, and they hold people accountable every day”
That experience is best exemplified by sixth-year guard Brice Calip, the reigning Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year who took home the MVC Defensive Player of the Year award the previous season. Calip’s steady offensive contributions have been instrumental to Missouri State’s success.
“Brice doesn't really turn that ball over. She's very tight with that ball and makes pretty good decisions. But everybody can get better,” said Agugua-Hamilton. “There are some things that she needed to grow in and she has. She needed to finish through contact better, she needed to shoot the three-ball better.”
Adding to her inside shooting, where Calip made 36.0% of her shots from inside the arc, as well as her outside shooting, where she shot 32.9% at a relatively low volume, would elevate her game to another level altogether. Calip’s ability to get to the line has buoyed her scoring through parts of five seasons, but adding to her overall scoring efficiency could make her one of the most dangerous scorers in the conference.
Also among the extensive experience on the team are frontcourt stalwarts, Jasmine Franklin, Abby Hipp, and Abi Jackson. That trio of forwards is one of the strongest frontcourts in the conference, if not the strongest.
“You never know whose night it’s going to be [among] our post players. I put our post players up with some of the best post players in the country. And I think that's also why our guards open up a lot, because people have to double our posts.”
Franklin is an elite rebounder, ranking ninth in the country with a defensive rebounding rate of 30.3%. At the same time, Franklin’s 4.5% steal rate was the 25th-highest in the nation. Her block rate has been declining since her freshman year, which on paper might look like a decline in her dominance blocking shots.
In reality, it shows that her early reputation as a player who will deny your shots, pick your pockets, and give you no hope of rebounding your own misses has convinced opposing offenses to steer clear of her in the lane. According to CBB Analytics, opponents shot 7.7 percentage points worse at the rim when Franklin was on the floor last season.
“She is freaky athletic,” Agugua-Hamilton said of Franklin. “She really covers up so much ground on the defensive end and she's gotten even better and more skilled on offense, especially this summer. And I don't know if people realize that her IQ is crazy. She really should be a coach in the future.”
Hipp, who is 6-foot-2, is an above-average rebounder on the defensive end--which is artificially limited by Franklin’s excellent rebounding rate--but she really excels rebounding the ball on offense where her 10.5% offensive rebounding rate was second-best on the team last season.
Abi Jackson also made her presence felt coming off the bench in limited minutes last season. Despite averaging just 11.4 minutes per game, the 6-foot-3 Jackson led the team in blocks per game (1.1) thanks to an incredible 10.8% block rate, which ranked 15th in the country.
To top it all off, Missouri State is adding Duke transfer Jennifer Ezeh. Ezeh has missed the past two seasons due to torn ACLs, but is a former top-100 recruit in the nation. If she can get up to speed and stay healthy, that would be yet another elite interior presence for Coach Mox.
In the backcourt, Calip is joined by returning players Sydney Wilson, Paige Rocca, and Mya Bhinhar. A trio of freshmen guards is joining the backcourt as well, including Taylor Woodhouse.
Woodhouse, a 5-foot-7 guard from Southaven, Miss., is a three-star recruit and the No. 20 point guard in the class of 2021, according to ESPN. Woodhouse is coming off of an ACL injury and hasn’t been able to go full speed in practice, according to Coach Mox, but the team hopes to bring her into the fold once she gets healthier.
The last addition to the backcourt for Missouri State is Cleveland State transfer Mariah White. White was a prolific scorer for the Vikings, racking up 19.6 points per game. The 5-foot-8 guard also added a team-high 4.0 assists and 2.7 steals per game during the 2020-21 season.
Looking ahead to this season, the team has high hopes, and they are bringing a confidence to what they do. Missouri State hasn’t been at home in the NCAA Tournament since 1994, something that could change if the team is able to lock up a top-four seed.
Hosting an NCAA Tournament game would be the culmination of many years of ascension for the program, getting to put on a show for the fans that have supported them along the way.
“We love our fans—they add the extra motivation, they're always there supporting us on and off the court. They are a big reason why we win at home. They make this a tough environment and atmosphere for other teams to come into,” said Agugua-Hamilton.
Although being a top-four seed isn’t the ultimate goal, the team knows they’re capable of it.
“It's not cockiness, but it's confidence and belief in ourselves, that we can compete with anybody in the country. That's not just from these players. It's also looking back to the Final Four teams and the history of this program and wanting to try and leave your mark like former players have. That’s the mentality and the expectation.”
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!
Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?