For the first time this season, the Missouri women’s basketball team didn’t play an overtime game.

Unfortunately, Mizzou fell 78-73 to MVC member Northern Iowa as Missouri dropped to 1-2 on the season, despite Amber Smith leading the team with 19 points. Understandably so, it has been a struggling start to 2019 for the Tigers as they’re still looking to find their way without the legend, Sophie Cunningham. Miss you, Sophie!

The Missouri women look to get back on track when they return to action Saturday afternoon (1:00 CST tip-off) at Wisconsin-Green Bay, a team they lost to at Mizzou Arena last season.

It was also, however, National Signing Day on Wednesday, and Robin Pingeton added two intriguing players to her 2020 recruiting class.

Jayla Kelly is a 6-3 center from Parkway Central High School and comes in at No. 79 in the ESPNW 2020 Top 100 recruiting rankings. Sara-Rose Smith is a 6-1 guard from Victoria, Australia (!!!) and was a member of the Australian FIBA U19 World Cup team.

Here’s what Pingeton had to say about the class:

On the men’s side, Cuonzo Martin only added one to the 2020 class. But it was a big one. Like 7’3 BIG, as Jordan Wilmore has officially signed.

Here’s a fun fact: Dave Matter notes that that Wilmore would be the tallest player in Missouri basketball history!

And here’s what Wilmore had to say about committing to Mizzou.

Enough recruiting talk for now. I’ve got one last thing to say about the Xavier game. A road loss against a ranked team in the third game of the season isn’t supposed to hurt so bad, but it did. And I’m glad it did, because being this emotionally invested in Mizzou Basketball again is such a good thing!

KenPom predicted a five-point Xavier win, Xavier was predicted to win by five by Vegas, and Xavier won by five! Funny how things work, right?

All in all, Mizzou is going to be fine, and Tuesday night’s performance was a promising one that should provide a lot of optimism.

And Cuonzo Martin’s message after the game to the team was PERFECT!

Yesterday at Rock M

• Mizzou Football: Is this 2015 all over again?, writes Brandon Kiley
• Film Room: A Bazelak Breakout, by Tim Bussen
• Study Hall: Xavier 63, Missouri 58, from Sam Snelling
• Florida Gators Offensive Preview, by Nate Edwards
• SEC Power Rankings: All Hail our Tiger Overlords, by Nate Edwards
• Missouri officially signs 3-star post Jordan Wilmore, by Sean MacKinnon

More Links:

• From PowerMizzou’s Gabe DeArmond: Rountree’s season similar to 2018, but Tigers need more
• Mizzou’s Bryant expected back to face Gators, writes STLToday’s Dave Matter
• Kelly Bryant is as close to 100 percent as he’s been in several weeks

• Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters has been nominated for the Broyles Award as college football’s top assistant coach of the year. Well deserved!

• ABC17’s Andrew Kauffman provided some numbers on Missouri’s NCAA sanctions. Seems unfair!

• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)