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Austin, Texas • Their third straight appearance in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament is not strictly a business trip for coach Jeff Judkins' BYU basketball team.
The Cougars had already seen and heard some of the sights and sounds of Texas' capital city as of Friday afternoon, and said they had a few more outings planned before taking on Missouri at 4:30 p.m. MDT on Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center.
"I want my girls to experience this town, so yeah, we're going to do something," Judkins said Friday. "We are going to go out as a team and see Austin and let these girls experience this town and the excitement of making the NCAA Tournament."
Assistant coach Dan Nielson grew up in nearby Round Rock and is the group's unofficial tour guide.
Nielson said they ate Thursday at the Texas Land & Cattle restaurant in Austin, and then hit Torchy's Tacos for lunch on Friday. The plan for Friday night was to hit The County Line for barbecue.
"We will have a good group of BYU fans at the game," Nielson said. "The [LDS] Church is growing really fast here. My mom keeps asking, 'Hey, how many tickets do we have?' We will have a good support group here."
Judkins says his approach on tournament trips differs from that of his coaching mentor, former Utah coach Rick Majerus, who preferred to "stay in the hotel room the whole time" and watch film.
"It's not like I am doing something special," he said. "We do it all the time, and my girls are used to it."
Confident Tigers
BYU is favored Saturday, if seeding is any indication, because the West Coast Conference champion Cougars (26-6) are the No. 7 seed and the SEC's Missouri (21-9) is the No. 10 seed.
But the Tigers don't lack confidence, judging off their comments in the Friday's news conference.
BYU "has some good shooters," noted UM junior Jordan Frericks. "They have some good post players and nice rebounders. … I think that we need to come out and play good defense, play our game, and be aggressive. I think that we can definitely dominate."
Asked later what she meant by "definitely dominate," Frericks said it is due to UM's confidence.
"It's nothing [out of disrespect] — credit to BYU," she said. "I think there's a lot of talent on that team. It's just how we are going to play and how we're going to play our game."
Get physical
BYU talked Friday about avoiding what happened in last year's NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Louisville, 86-53 in Tampa, Fla. BYU was physically intimidated by the ACC opponent, evidenced by a forearm shiver that Makenzi Pulsipher took to the face that threw BYU off its game.
Louisville also pressured the Cougars from almost the opening tip, causing numerous turnovers.
"Our whole emphasis after that game, in the summer, was preparing us to be more quick and ready to play teams like that," said point guard Kylie Maeda. "I think our coaches did a good job scheduling in the preseason where we played schools that are more aggressive and fast and physical and put more pressure on us."
BYU was 2-2 against teams from Power 5 conferences, beating Penn State 63-51 and Texas A&M 72-64 and losing to Oklahoma 73-47 and Georgia 66-58.
Briefly
Missouri coach Robin Pingeton was an assistant coach on the Iowa State team that lost 75-59 to BYU in an NCAA Tournament second-round game in 2002. … Missouri's roster features two pairs of sisters — Morgan and Maddie Stock of Town & Country, Mo., and Sophie and Lindsey Cunningham of Columbia, Mo. Sophie Cunningham is the SEC Freshman of the Year.
Twitter: @drewjay