College basketball: FGCU focused on slowing down Missouri's Sophie Cunningham

STANFORD, Calif. — Everyone knows it’s going to be raining threes wherever Florida Gulf Coast University shows up to play. On Saturday afternoon, star Missouri guard Sophie Cunningham could turn that rain into an outright downpour.

Cunningham shoots 46.6 percent from behind the arc, the fourth-best rate in the NCAA, and with a good tournament run, she could break Missouri’s single-season 3-point percentage record of 47.3 percent, currently held by her sister Lindsey.

Twice named to the All-SEC first team, Cunningham can certainly shoot with the best of them, but she is the focal point of the Missouri offense not just because of her elite shooting, but also because of her ability to adjust to teams taking away the 3, when she can find different ways to put pressure on a defense.

FGCU coach Karl Smesko also noted that Cunningham is particularly skilled at initiating contact and drawing foul calls. And when she gets to the line, she is a career 83.8 percent free-throw shooter, which ranks her 15th nationally among active players.

“She's just a smart player who is really talented and can score in a variety of ways,” Smesko said. “They posted her up a lot this year as well, not just had her shoot 3s. And she scores in conversion a lot, too.”

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A quick examination of Cunningham’s performance in a few conference games shows the different ways in which she can impact a game.

On Feb. 5, against Florida, she shot 0-for-3 from 3-point range but collected nine rebounds. Three days later, against Kentucky, she went 8-for-10 on free throws and dished out five assists. Against Arkansas in the game after that, she went 4-for-5 from 3-point range.

It’s clear that it will take a disciplined team effort from FGCU to limit the damage that Cunningham can do — but it can certainly be done. Cunningham was held to just 3-for-17 shooting and turned the ball over six times in Missouri’s most recent loss to Georgia, a team that Missouri coach Robin Pingeton compared FGCU to.

And in the FGCU locker room, Rosemarie Julien and the Eagles aren’t daunted by the challenge.

“We have faced really good players, and (Julien) has always done an outstanding job on teams' best player and players, and we have other players that, when (Julien) needs a break, have been up to the challenge when called upon this year,” Smesko said. “We understand it's a big challenge, but I feel confident in our team that they're going to compete and they're going to at least make things difficult, and you're going to have to work for it.”