Sophie Cunningham surpassed 2,000 points plus a few more scoring 24 as the Mizzou Tigers upset 5th ranked Mississippi State with a 75-67  victory on Thursday night.

Mizzou trailed until the end of the third quarter when Akira Levy’s layup at the buzzer gave Mizzou a one-point lead.  The Tigers pushed the lead to 60-56 early in the fourth quarter and never trailed.  Missouri shot 55 percent from the field and made 11 three-pointers.

The University of Missouri has filed its Notice of Appeal with the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee, Mizzou Director of Athletics Jim Sterk announced. The appeal was filed late Thursday afternoon.

“We believe that the Committee on Infractions abused its discretion in applying penalties to the University of Missouri Athletics program, and we look forward to appearing before the Appeals Committee in the future to present our case,” Sterk said. “Mizzou’s case involved an isolated incident within our program, however, the penalties applied are overly harsh, not in line with established precedent and negatively impact student-athletes who chose to attend the University of Missouri and had nothing to do with the actions of one rogue individual.

“It appears that our cooperation throughout this process went largely unnoticed, which I believe will have a chilling effect and force other institutions to take a different approach in dealing with these type issues, which will not be in the best interest of the NCAA or intercollegiate athletics,” he added.

The University’s appeal team will be headed by Bond, Schoeneck & King’s Mike Glazier, who has worked side-by-side with Mizzou on this case since the fall of 2016. Mizzou will also be working with other legal advisors throughout the appeals process.

The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee will acknowledge receipt of Mizzou’s Appeal Notice in a timely manner, and the University will then have 30 days to file its written appeal. The entire process is expected to take a minimum of six months to complete.

Mizzou basketball’s Ronnie Suggs who sat out a year after transferring from Bradley played a key role in Tuesday’s win over Arkansas.  In his six minutes, he scored five points including a three-pointer that helped extend the Tigers lead and then he was involved in the defensive stop on the final play of the game and he did it all on his 23rd birthday.  Now the Washington Missouri native has been placed on scholarship by Cuonzo Martin.

In two years at Bradley, Suggs started 20 games and appeared in 35 before sitting out last season due to transfer rules.  Suggs is averaging eight minutes a game this season and 1.8 ppg.

HIGH SCHOOL:

Led Washington (Mo.) High School to consecutive district championships as a junior (2012-13) and senior (2013-14). Averaged 16.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game to earn all-state selection in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association as a junior in 2012-13. Repeated as an all-state selection as a senior in 2013-14 and was one of 10 finalists for Missouri Player of the Year after averaging 23.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.

85 percent of Mizzou’s season tickets in 2019 will see either a decrease or no change from 2018.   The average price decrease in 2019 equals an average savings of $132 per seat, and of the small percentage which did increase, the largest increase for season tickets was only $20/ticket for the year.

In 2019, Mizzou students will pay only $150 for an All-Sport Pass (a savings of $110 from last season) if purchased before Aug. 1. The All-Sport Pass includes tickets for all Mizzou Football & Men’s Basketball games, along with admission into every regular season Mizzou Athletics home event during the school year in all ticketed sports.

Mizzou is also doing away with the confusing lettering system of seat sections, moving to all numbers.   The sections start with 101 on the east side (south end) and move to 110 (north end), and continue on the other side with 116 (west side, north end) through 125 (west side, south end). The brand new seating areas created from the South End Zone structure will be labeled 126 through 132 (running from west-to-east).

Mizzou head coach Barry Odom wants to move his team’s sidelines over to the west end of the stadium and after getting a one-year waiver due to construction, the student section will be split into two sections.  Per Southeastern Conference rules, the new student sections in 2019 will be located in sections 102-103 and 107-110.