HOLY S$&*. THEY DID IT. THEY REALLY DID IT.

You guys… having to compete against South Carolina with no students is one thing — thanks, SEC — but having to compete against the consensus No. 1 team in the all the land on a night with half your team decimated by Covid protocols? Not what one would call a recipe for success. No double-double/best player on the team/SEC-leading rebounder, Aijha Blackwell? Noooooo. No freshman Izzy Higginbottom, who is good for a bunch of minutes and a solid 7+ points a game? Ugh. No backups in Micah Linthacum, Jayla Kelly, Skylah Travis, and De’Necia Trusty? Sigh. No Ashleen Bracey on the sidelines, who was IN CHARGE of the scout?

But you know what, y’all?

IT DIDN’T F’ING MATTER. BECAUSE THE MISSOURI TIGERS KNOCKED OFF THE NUMBER ONE TEAM IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE COUNTRY ON THURSDAY NIGHT ON A ROTATION OF SEVEN (SEVEN!!!) WITH 0.10 SECONDS LEFT IN OVERTIME AND OMG, I CAN’T STOP TYPING IN CAPS.

Loved every minute of hanging out with my almost 6200 closest friends in the loudest environment I can remember at Mizzou Arena in quite some time.

Let’s get to some highlights, shall we? I honestly wish I could share them all, including the ones on my phone, but this would go on forever and I’m exhausted.

Here’s the winning shot. Lauren Hansen. ICE IN HER VEINS.

And the game-winning call from Mizzou announcer, Brad Trenago. Chills.

From Coach P’s postgame:

From BenFred:

From KOMU Sports Director, Ben Arnet:

Not gonna lie. Shed some tears (I willingly let sports impact my mood, SAM, and I’m good with it). Screamed my lungs out so now my throat hurts and my voice will probably have some issues (sure my coworkers will be thankful for that in the AM, lol). Jumped up and down like a lunatic. It was all worth it. So, a HUGE thanks goes to former Athletic Department marketing twitter friend, Zach Fisher, for donating the the tix for me and my friends and all the strangers I met online who wanted tix… You’re amazing. This school is amazing. Build a damn Robin statue right now.

So if I end up with a hoarse voice and no sleep Thursday night? It was WORTH IT. WORTH.IT. Because OMG, Mizzou beat South Carolina and Dawn Staley (who, while I personally respect and find to be an incredible hoops coach, people reallllly don’t like) and sweet jesus, it was some sort of a magic. The win even brought SHERYL CROW to twitter to talk about it. WHAT??

LaDazhia Williams decided that she was going to do everything possible to get the W against her former school. Still not playing at 100%, but knowing her teammates would need her, she was in the starting lineup, and was instrumental.

But really. Well said, Matt Michaels.

The national media’s responses were also glorious.

And for the love of God, can some of this amazing juju rub off on the men’s team? Some of them were there, after all.

MOVING ON FOR A MINUTE.

Before the game on Thursday, I started working on the links, and I just LOVED this story.

The Tribune’s Chris Kwiecinski looked at recent graduate (and First Gen College Student!) LaDazhia Williams’ journey, which comes full circle vs. South Carolina. It’s a really great, really heart-felt story that I HIGHLY recommend. Here’s a little nugget, regarding LDW’s transfer from South Carolina to Mizzou, where she really found herself:

What she found in Missouri was bigger than just an opportunity to earn more playing time. In the 2020-21 season, Williams started 18 of 21 games for the Tigers and averaged 12.4 points to go with 4.2 rebounds per game.

Williams found an environment that was going to push her forward and lift her up.

“Being in the right environment, just having my teammates and the coaches always supporting me, uplifting me,” Williams said. “It helped on and off the court.”

On to the Links! HAPPY NEW YEAR. Here’s hoping 2022 brings health, happiness, a bunch of W’s (especially unexpected ones) for ALL of Mizzou’s sports teams, and a nationally ranked WBB team.

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Lauren previewed the South Carolina matchup, and then also ran the Live Game Thread along with it.
• Lauren also reviewed the women’s non-con schedule, which left them with their best part since 2017-18.
• Sam published a new Study Hall on the Kentucky loss. (this seems like years ago already)

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More Women’s Hoops Links:

• Conference play kicks off and the ladies get some new threads. LOVE the old school look of these:

• Former Mizzou WBB players, living rent-free in South Carolina fans’ heads. You really love to see this from Jordan Roundtree, Jordan Chavis, and Sierra Michaelis.

• Former Gamecock and current Las Vegas Aces star, A’ja Wilson:

• The Mayor and her sister were back in town for the occasion, and apparently, the tv LOVED them as much as the crowd did. Side Note: I cannot wait to rewatch this game

• The KC Star’s Lila Bromberg said, BOOM! Even shorthanded,the Missouri Tigers women’s basketball team shocks No. 1 South Carolina.
• Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote about the stunner, and how — even without star Aijha Blackwell, the Tigers came out on top.
• The Missourian’s Nate Marcus recapped the historic night.
• Chantel Jennings looked at just how HUGE of an upset this was for Missouri to take down South Carolina over at The Athletic.
• YES!

• Let’s hear it, Chase Daniel

Other Mizzou Links:

• USA Today: Blake Toppmeyer ranked the SEC bowl games, from Texas Bowl to mayonnaise to fans Cotton Bowl.
• Columbia Tribune: Eric Blum looked at 10 Columbia sports stories that captured our attention in 2021, as well as 5 athletes to keep your eyes on in 2022.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave Matter looked at who Tiger fans should keep a lookout for in the new year.
• KC Star: Vahe Gregorian wrote a great story on former Tiger great, Kim English, as the George Mason coach prepares to face off against the Jayhawks in Lawrence.
• On MUTigers.com, you can read about the wrestling team beginning the new year at the Southern Scuffle, which commenterJoe told us about the other day.
• Columbia Missourian: Anthony Kristensen wrote it was more of the same: familiar issues for MU men’s basketball in blowout to Kentucky.
• The Associated Press’ Ralph Russo wrote, For the NCAA, a year of upheaval leads to a need for transformation.

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