After the first five, I have Missouri sitting with a record of 4-1 against Vermont, Southern, Norfolk State, Tulane and Western Illinois. I don’t think that winning percentage is going to be the same at the end of this one.

Now let’s look ahead to Games 6-through-10.

The Billikens have proved to be a pretty tough opponent for the Tigers last year after being a pretty easy ‘W’ on the Missouri schedule before that. Saint Louis won last year’s matchup 93-85, but the Tigers won easily 82-52 last time the matchup was in Columbia.

Saint Louis went 22-18 last season and 8-9 in Atlantic-10 play, but the Billikens finished the year on a six-game win streak, running through the WNIT to claim the tournament championship with a 69-50 win against Minnesota.

The Billikens return four players who started at least 20 games, including their leading scorer in graduate forward Peyton Kennedy. Kennedy led the team with 16.9 points per game to go with 5.3 rebounds per contest.

Kennedy has 21 points and three rebounds in last year’s matchup.

Junior guard Brooklyn Gray is back after averaging 10.7 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest, while senior guard Kennedy Calhoun and her 5.7 points and 3.5 assists per game are back as well.

Senior center Marcavia Shavers is back as well to round out the returning regular starters.

I expect this will be a tough matchup for the Tigers once again. Saint Louis is working its way back into being a serious program and with that amount of returning experience, the Billikens will be a tough out once again.

Alright, we’re back to a cupcake. This one is the first half of a women’s-men’s double header as the men play Pacific at 6:30 p.m.

Little Rock went 12-18 overall last season, but it’s very tough non-conference schedule prepared it to go 11-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Trojans opened last season regularly losing by 30+ to Kansas State, Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Auburn. Though they made better games of it after the first three.

Little Rock’s lone non-conference win last season was against Duquesne.

The Trojans had only two players start more than 20 games last year, though two more started 19. Out of that group, Little Rock returns the two best. Junior forward Faith Lee led the team with 14.5 points per game last season, while graduate guard Jayla Brooks was second at 9.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per contest.

This should be a pretty easy win for the Tigers.

The Tigers’ first big-time matchup of the year comes against the Orange.

Syracuse went 24-8 overall last season and 13-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play to place third in the conference. The Orange lost their first matchup in the ACC Tournament, but made the NCAA Tournament where they beat Arizona before losing to UConn to end the season.

Two of the starters from last year’s squad are back after the team lost leading scorer Dyaisha Fair to the second round of the WNBA draft. Fair ended her college career with 3,403 points for third all-time in NCAA history.

Senior guard Georgia Woolley returns after averaging 13.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game to take the second spot in the team’s leading-scorer column.

Senior forward Kyra Wood returns as well after averaging 6.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

The Orange have big expectations for a couple of players returning from injury-plagued seasons in Izabel Varejao and Dominique Camp.

Varejao played in only 17 games last season and started eight, averaging 5.7 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest. Camp missed all of last season, but averaged 10.8 points, 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds the season before at Akron.

Syracuse will have a very different look without Fair, but I think this is a game the Orange handle pretty easily.

Alright, I’m not going to go into quite as much with two teams possible here.

Creighton went 26-6 overall and 15-3 in Big East play last season to finish second behind eventual Final Four team UConn.

The Bluejays return four-of-five starters, including senior guard and leading scorer Lauren Jensen, who scored 17.4 points per game. Senior guard/forward Morgan Maly also returns after averaging 15.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest.

Wichita State was 10-22 last season and 5-13 in American Conference play.

The Shockers had only three players start more than 20 games and only one is back. Sophomore guard Salese Blow started 20-of-32 games she played in and scored 12.3 points per contest.

Otherwise, there’s not a lot to be said about this team.

If the Tigers face Creighton, it’s a loss. If they face Wichita State, it’s a win.

Let’s get another cupcake into the group.

The Gamecocks went 12-17 last season and 7-9 in Conference USA play.

Jacksonville State played Auburn and Mississippi State last season, losing by 29 and 39, respectively.

The Gamecocks return two-of-three players who started at least 20 games in senior forward Bre’Anna Rhodes and junior forward Brooklyn McDaniel.

Rhodes tied for first on the team with 8.1 points per game, while bringing down 4.6 rebounds for second on the roster. McDaniel averaged 4.2 points and 2.1 rebounds.

This should be a pretty easy one for Missouri.

I had the Tigers at 4-1 when they got to this group.

I think they will lose to Saint Louis and Syracuse, but the loss to Syracuse will most likely match them up with Wichita State in the Emerald Coast Classic. So I’ll say they go 3-2 in these five and take a 7-3 record into the last stretch before conference play.

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss this story and so much more.