No. 13 Missouri hosts No. 11 Tennessee today in crucial SEC matchup

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri has hosted its share of big games in the Robin Pingeton era. But today's 1 p.m. matchup  at Mizzou Arena against Tennessee might just be the biggest.

The game will break up a five-way logjam for third in the conference, as the No. 13 Tigers and No. 11 Lady Volunteers share the same record: 21-5, 9-4 Southeastern Conference. The two teams' conference record ties them with Georgia, LSU and Texas A&M, and Missouri plays the Aggies on the road in a week, the only other time any of the five teams currently tied will meet again in the regular season.

A win today gives the Tigers a vastly improved chance of a double bye in the SEC Tournament and increases the probability of hosting even more important games: the first two rounds of games in the NCAA Tournament.

There are other reasons this game is so important. It's Missouri's annual Play4Kay game, a fundraiser for the Kay Yow cancer fund accompanied by a pink-out to honor the longtime North Carolina State coach and president of the Women's Basketball Coaching Association. Yow passed away in 2009 after 22 years of fighting breast cancer.

Pingeton and the Tigers know the importance of this game, both as a fundraiser and for the program. It's why the team has made a concerted effort to break the attendance record today. Missouri has one win all-time against the historically great Lady Vols, which came in 2013. The last time the two teams faced in Columbia, Mizzou Arena set its women's basketball arena attendance record, just shy of 8,000 fans. The season-high was 5,200 against Arkansas, and the program also broke 5,000 against Mississippi State.

While still extremely talented at the top end, this is a beatable Tennessee squad in Holly Warlick's sixth season as a head coach. The Vols turn the ball over 17 times per game, and had a negative turnover differential in nine of 13 SEC games this season. They run mostly through six players, are in the bottom half of the conference in free throw and 3-point percentage, but score the second-most points per game and lead the SEC in assists per game.

Rennia Davis's 12 points per game and Jaime Nared's 17.5 points per game pace Tennessee, and Mercedes Russell will challenge A'ja Wilson and Teaira McCowan for the best center Missouri faces all season.

Cierra Porter will likely draw the challenge of guarding her, and while Russell possesses game-changing scoring ability on the interior, she can get lost in Tennessee's offense for stretches. She is also not a great free-throw shooter (64.5 percent on 107 attempts this season) and is not a threat beyond the arc.

Meme Jackson is the Vols' sniper, 41-for-108 on the season from deep, and she, Davis, Evina Westbrook and Nared surround Russell with outside scoring. The strategy Missouri used to effect against South Carolina - collapse three or four players into the post to make interior flow all but impossible - did not work a second time against the Gamecocks or against the Bulldogs because 3s fell against Missouri in those games.

Pingeton and company will likely try a similar strategy again, but if Tennessee starts punishing the Tigers with 3s, it will be interesting to see whether they can make the necessary adjustments.

Good teams do.