Mike Siroky’s SEC Notebook: A Great Week Though Bragging Rights Claimed by ACC

By Mike Siroky

The Southeastern Conference of women’s basketball  – those ranked by the Associated Press – had the top three play three-game tournaments at vacation locales. Two survived to 6-0. A third also hit that mark while an unranked league team stayed unbeaten  as well.

 No. 3 South Carolina

The highest-ranked SEC team lost to the best in the ACC  at the Gulf Coast Shootout  in Estero, Florida. That was a real tournament, unlike the Cancun Challenge.

The Gamecocks ended their unbeaten streak with the national game of the year so far, against No. 6 Notre Dame, the best of the ACC vs. the best of the SEC with two teams headed for high NCAA seeds.

The difference in perception between the men’s and women’s games is a No. 3 defending national champ against a No. 6 at a neutral site would at least be on one of the myriad of ESPN stations.

This was not even SEC channel worthy.

Oh well.

The opener in Florida was hard to explain. South Carolina won every quarter against lowly Rutgers but never ever really pulled away. The Scarlet Knights are coached by C. Vivian Stringer, winding down a long career that saw her take three teams to the Final Four. 

That earned her entry into the women’s hall of fame, which doesn’t require you to actually win anything for inclusion. So that was one aspect with two tough hall of fame coaches, though Stringer also made it to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Rutgers was undefeated and unranked.

But Stringer is only going to a championship sequence again as an observer whereas Dawn Staley is projected for several more as long as she continues to avoid UConn in the elimination games by earning an opposite No. 1 seed.

Leading national player-of-the-year candidate A’ja Wilson was the steadiest, as expected, continuing her double/double average.

Rutgers had two score 16, one a reserve. 

SC fell behind by three in the final quarter and led by as few as  six with 90 seconds left but SC maintained poise. 

Alexis Jennings made a layup assisted by Wilson. Rutgers scored. Doniyah Cliney made a layup. Rutgers missed.

 Jennings got a rebound, Cliney scored and that made the difference 10. 

Rutgers scored after a timeout and called another. Wilson missed a layup, got her lone offensive rebound and scored. 

The Scarlet Knights missed and Tyasha Harris got the final rebound of a 78-68 win that was closer. 

In the end, it was a very nice workout for the defending national champs.

Wilson scored a career- best 33, 9-of-15 from the field, with five blocks and  10 rebounds, nine defensive. No one else had more than three rebounds, Lindsey Spann was 3-of-5 on 3s in her points. Wilson said afterwards she was a bit shaken by the closeness.

''That's something I kept telling my teammates in the huddle, just keep our composure,'' Wilson said. ''Don't let them shake us too much.''

''It's great to have an A’Ja Wilson in your back pocket,'' Staley said. ''She shows up every game that we need her, and truly we needed her today.''

''Too much A'ja, but we had major issues,'' Stringer said. ''We had breakdowns. That's what I'm upset about. It was the defensive transition. And the bad part about it, we spent the only 48 hours we had to get prepared working on that. We lacked the discipline to do what we needed to do.''

In the end, Wilson welcomes non-conference tests.

“''That's how March is,'' Wilson said.

The  Gamecocks finished Saturday the same as the other big dogs in the conference, with a single-digit defensive effort and a 22-6 opener but then had one put on them for a 28-16 half.

 Jennings took the lead, 5-of-5 the field. SC is leading the conference teams at 88 points per game.

  

With three minutes left in the third, Wilson had continued her double/double start, 14 points, 11 defensive rebounds. She was 4-of-4 from the field, 6-of-6 from the line; She finished with  17. 

Jennings hit five of her final six and scored 25 with 17 rebounds.

She was five games into her season after transferring from Kentucky. She knows she is where she wanted to be and feels at home. 

“My team needed me,” she said. 'I think I pretty much knew that it was going to be there,'' Jennings said. ''My teammates, they just found me and I just did what I did, posted up, showed my numbers and they were able to get me the ball.”

Sunday dawned as a challenge game, Notre Dame. 

For Staley it meant a shot at career win 400. ''I truly didn't know,'' Staley said. ''But what a way to do it, against some good competition.'' 

Both coaches are in both national halls of fame in Springfield, Mass., and Knoxville, Tenn.

 Both had had national championship teams. Except in the higher levels of the NCAA eliminations, it would be rare for two national hall of fame members to coach against each other.

So off it went.

Because of other injuries, ND had successfully applied to the NCAA for immediate eligibility for All Big Ten  6-4 junior transfer Jessica Shepherd from Nebraska. She is the tallest Muffeteer. 

She is the leading rebounder and third-best scorer. Junior guard Arike Ogunbowale is the leading scorer, 18 points per game.

Like so many SEC teams this day, SC hit hard and fast, 24-14 in the first. 

Jennings hit a jumper then Cliney hit a 3. Then Harris hit a 3 and it was 8-0. Notre Dame scored twice, but Jennings took a feed from Wilson and Spann hit a 3, then two free throws and it was 13-5.

It was cut to 17-14 before Jennings hit another layup on another feed from Wilson and Spann another free throw, then another 3.

As the quarter ticked away, Wilson fed Mikiah Herbert Harrigan for a layup then made one of her own with one second half, 28-18. The fast start was all they had.

From 33-24, ND figured it out and took the lead at 35-34 in six minutes. 

A Spann 3 were the last SC points of the half. ND was winning, 41-38. SC had never trailed at the half before this.

Ogunbowale had nine with two assists. Spann had 10 and Cliney nine. ND hit nine percent better, 55 percent, from the field.

 The defense was suddenly suspect. It looked over after three, an 11-point deficit. Wilson had 16, but the Gamecocks had allowed second-leading Irish scorer Jackie Young to reach her average of 16, with eight rebounds. ND had scored six straight after halftime.

Notre Dame still had the lead at 10 with a minute to go. The defending national champs have been crushed. 

The ACC claims early bragging rights among conferences. Tennessee gets a shot at the Irish in South Bend in a trap game. The final in this one was 92-85, a solid loss.

The Irish sensed they could make Wilson work for her career-best 34 if they slowed the support staff. 

Spann did not score in the second half. Cliney scored three. All the statistical summaries were close, which means the better team won, with the most points against SC since 2009.

"I thought the best thing about the game was how we handled their first punch," said McGraw. "They came out on fire. We were back on our heels. I really needed to get two posts in the game. I thought we played much better when we had two posts in."

"Our young team, this is great for them," Staley said. "As much as you try to tell them there's another level of competition out there, until they face it -- in defeat -- that's when the learning takes place."

They play two traditional games this week, Western Carolina and Duke.

 No. 7 Mississippi State

The Bulldogs held their national ranking, jumped by UCLA’s win over Baylor.

The seniors are seven wins away from 100 as a career group. Teaira McCown was selected as the conference player of the week prior to the trip to Cancun and the Thanksgiving tournament there.

First up was a matinee against No. 24  Arizona State, a team State had never beaten. All three games in Cancun were early starts, with the next two competitions at 10 a,m, Columbia followed by Green Bay. 

The Sun Devils were an awesome foe.

State started with a 21-10 quarter, but not so fast my friend.

 The Sun Devils hung a second-quarter defensive single digit on the Bulldogs and were ahead, 29-27, at intermission. The game was truly on.

Senior scorers Victoria Vivians ( 13) and Ro Johnson (11) were keeping State in the game, but Vivians had backslid to her old “a shooter must shoot” form and was 4-of-11 from the field, but 4-of-6 from the line.

 McCowan was particularly stymied, more fouls than points, 3-2. It was foreboding. State needed a fix.

It was 43-all with a minute to go in the quarter. Arizona State got the last goal and Mississippi State trailed in the second half for the first time all season. Only Zoe Campbell, of the bench with five, kept them in it.

But they went all in with McCowan to start the fourth, three layups in an 8-0 run and a lead. Everyone else was suddenly tight, missed layups on both ends.

Vivians crashed the boards in a four-point game. 

She got it to Jazzmun Holmes Holmes was fouled and made the first, The Mississippi State defense caused an 18^th turnover. 

It got cut down to three before McCowan hit another, fed by Johnson. Chloe Bibby got her only rebound of the game and fed Johnson for a score. Now Mississippi State steadied. McCowan scored twice off offensive rebounds.

They put together a 22-12 fourth for a 65-57 final.

"Teaira was dominant in the second half,” said coach Vic Schaefer.

“ She was great with offensive boards and defensive boards. She had a double/double in the second half."

" (Jazzmun Holmes and McCowan) were the difference in the fourth quarter. We outscored them. Offensively, we executed much better. We shot 50 percent in the fourth quarter. Our execution was critical.

 "We had some kids really gut it out today," Schaefer said. "We made some big shots in the fourth quarter. Once we got some turnovers and some transition going, we were in good shape. Sometimes, we don't wear the other team down until the fourth quarter."

Vivians had 17, Johnson 16 and a sleepy McCowan 15, with 14 rebounds, half defensive. Campbell’s five points and six rebounds were crucial. 

They beat another ranked team. It was time to exhale. With the loss of two of his taller sophomore players, coach Vic Schaefer is using this tournament to refocus on guards.

Jacaira "Iggy" Allen was injured in the preseason and is not on a return schedule.  Ameshya Williams, at 6-2, has apparently left the team. Both are still on the active roster, though not with the team. Williams has missed five straight games.

“You can’t sit around and have a pity party,” Schaefer said. “This is a chance to respond when nobody thinks you can. To me, this is what it’s about. Life isn't perfect. It’s not a great deal. At the end of the day, my team is the important people to me. If you are not in my locker room, I can’t do anything for you.

“We’re different so we’ve got to coach better and teach better. That’s what I told my staff. We’ve got to get a couple of kids ready that we’re thinking wasn’t going to have to get ready and the rest of us have to get better. It has allowed us to fully invest in the lineup we’re starting with. I think our kids are getting more and more comfortable with it.”

The next afternoon was Columbia. State started 22-20, then amped the defense to a second-quarter single digit for a 37-29 halftime lead. Vivians hit 3-of-5 3s among her 5-of-7 from the floor for 13 with two assists. 

Brianna Schaefer hit 2-of-43 from 3 for eight points overall. McCowan had seven rebounds.

The second half was coast mode as Schaefer worked in more players and the starters rested in a 90-54 win. State won every quarter. McCowan scored 21 with 10 rebounds. Vivians scored 23, Schaefer 14.   State hit 48 percent from the floor, 16 percent better than did the Ivy League Lions.

        

“The second half was really good,” Schaefer said. “We normally wear people down in the second half and we did that today. We shot it so well in the second half. We shared the basketball great. Our point guard play was great again today.”

By halftime, it was 31-20. The second half did not interrupt momentum as State won, 67-46. 

The 17-6 first had been damaging enough. McCowan worked into the fourth to gain a double/double and just missed, nine points, three blocks and 13 rebounds. All the other starters did hit double figures, Vivians with an easy 17.

“Green Bay is really good,”  Schaefer said. “I thought the kids were special today. I am proud of the kids. We had a 6:50 a.m. scout on the outside court. The kids were attentive and they took it to the court.”

 “We knew what were capable of doing,” Vivians said. “We came out focused. We watched film last week and were prepared. When we share the basketball and get everybody involved, we are unstoppable.”

They are back in StarkVegas this week for the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana and start December with Oklahoma State, the first two of five at home. 

No. 12 Tennessee

The Lady Vols moved up one position in the AP poll and remained all so steady compared to a season ago.

Against Wichita State, a slow start found them behind after one quarter but an 8-0 start of the second put them ahead at 21-17. As expected, seniors Jamie Nared (seven) and and Mercedes Russell (eight) had a majority of the points, Russell 4-of-6 from the field. Nared had seven rebounds. Freshman Rennia Davis held her own with six rebounds.

Wichita State, which had yet to win a game this season and has yet to play at home, held their own and held Tennessee scoreless for three minutes late in the half until Russell hit a layup at the one-minute mark on a feed from rookie Anastasia Hayes, who hit two free throws and UT led by one at the break. 

The 7,818 crowd was nervously buzzing.

They slid to a one-point halftime edge.

Coach Holly Warlick fired them up. They posted a single-digit defensive third quarter, won the half by 11 and took an 86-56 win. 

Davis scored her first double/double 15 points and 10 rebounds, Russell scored 17. Hayes finished with a dozen.

“We make layups and free throws, and then we separate early,” said Warlick “We struggled with that tonight. I thought we shot too many 3-point shots, and we needed to get the ball inside. 

“When I say that, it's not just to Mercedes, it's penetration, so I thought we got a little shot-happy from the 3 line. But we fought through and we battled. I was really proud of our kids for doing that. 

“I had four timeouts and didn't use them. I just wanted to see how they would fight through it and they did. Their defense stepped up, and it separated us. We had 15 offensive rebounds, so it wasn't our best night, but I thought we played hard. We came out at halftime and changed our defense and got after it. It was a good win for us.

“It wasn't our best game. We missed easy shots around the basket, and we missed free throws. We fought hard. I didn't play a lot of people, so the nucleus of our group battled. When we needed stops, we got stops. I thought our press was really solid. So we did some good things but not up to our standard… we got a win.”

Davis said, “As a team, we just didn't make a lot of shots. We had lapses on defense, but the only thing important to me is we came out with a win.”

Of course the newbies are enjoying the higher level of play.

“As a freshman, these couple of games have been getting a feel for the games,” said Evina Westbrook.

“But coach always tells all four of us that we aren't freshmen. I don't go into a game thinking that. I have to go into a game (thinking) that I'm a leader, and that I have to do what I need to do to for my team for us to be able to win the game. We just need to come out. 

“As Mercedes and Rennia said, we didn't come out offensively like we should of. Defensively we didn't come out with energy, but we have to keep moving forward and learn from our mistakes.”

Russell said, “I would definitely agree with Rennia that against JMU (James Madison University) it seemed we were just hitting everything. Tonight, we were missing a bunch of layups and a bunch of jump shots. I think that really causes a bunch of lapses on the defensive end. Every night we aren't going to hit shots like we did against JMU, so we are really going to have to rely on our defense to win big games.

“The biggest thing, just staying positive and telling everyone that it's going to be OK. Then just getting it back on the defensive end. We had a couple big steals and big plays; I think that really just helps our energy.”

It was off to Cancun, Mexico for back-to-back-io back games.

They needed everything they had earned in practice for an overtime win, 103-99, on Thanksgiving against Marquette.

They stayed unbeaten, though.

It was contested from the start, a 27-25 first and 23-22 second. But after the break, Marquette put a 22-17 on them and it never got safe until the end. UT won the fourth, 22-20 to send it to the extra time and finally a 12-10 OT ended it Thanks giving, indeed.

In the fourth, they fell behind as many as five. Russell rallied them to a one-point deficit with a layup and a free throw. 

When the Golden Eagles pushed ahead again, it was Russell and classmate Nared on drives, then a 3 by rookie Evina Westbrook on a feed from MeMe Jackson at the seven-minute mark that put the Vols up by one. 

Davis hit a jumper and no one scored for about five minutes, when Nared fed Russell. A minute later, Westbrook helped negate some Marquette work when she fed Russell for another layup and another six-point lead.

Later still. A Russell layup and a Nared jumper made it an eight-point lead.

But 3:15 was too much left. Back came Marquette. With one second left, Nared was whistled for her fifth foul on a 3. Marquette hit them all and it was on to overtime.

It says here, last season’s team would have folded before OT and certainly in OT.

But Warlick is no drama mama for a team populated by rookies. And without Nared. Westbrook had also fouled out, Davis fouled out in overtime.

Calmly and efficiently, UT went to work, countering every Marquette move. Russell took an offensive board. Cheridene Green calmly hit her first jumper, on an assist from classmate Davis. 

They did not look like rookies in their first major challenge game. Russell blocked a shot, Davis took a rebound down, Jackson fed a Davis layup. Davis snared a rebound, Green hit another jumper, then her only two rebounds, one at each end.

Russell grabbed a rebound, was fouled and made a free throw for a two-point lead.

Two minutes left.

Marquette also wanted to win and took a one-point lead, countered by Hayes with a jumper, a Kourtney Dunbar steal and a Hayes layin. Hayes made a free throw for UT’s final point. Marquette answered with a basket and 21 seconds left. Russell had two more rebounds left, including the last one.

Nared played 40 minutes, scored 26. She was 11-of-12 from the line, in a game where every point was special. Russell scored 16. Each had 15 rebounds. Russell and Davis each played 36 minutes, UT had 13 more rebounds, 8-of-23 on 3s, but that was twice as many made as Marquette.

Wow.

"I knew when I went to the basket, I was going to make the basket and I was going to make the free throw," Hayes said. "I don't like losing. This experience helped me a whole bunch. We learned a lot."

"We talked a lot about grit today," Warlick said. "It was a gritty game. Give them credit. We battled too."

Oklahoma State put a 5-0 record on the line the next afternoon, A 5-0 sprint to the start showed UT was energized after the previous game, It was a 24-10 first. 

Nared hit both 3s and had 10 on 4-of-6 from the field. Russell scored eight. Davis had five rebounds. Tennessee was hitting 58 percent from the field, allowing 18. 

The Cowgirls opened on a 12-6 second quarter. But Tennessee settled and led by 10 at half. Nared had scored 12 with six rebounds. Davis had eight points. Westbrook had four assists.

But Oklahoma State was focused.

 They won the third quarter as well. 

Tennessee’s short bench was sorta in play for the first time all season. In the end, the fast start did it. They only had to win the last quarter by two for the 79-69 win.

Russell hit 11-of-16 from the field, 3-of-4 from the line, for 25 total. Nared scored 21. Davis scored 12. Hayes brought 10 from the bench. Tennessee won rebounds by eight.

“I got a little bit tired but that’s just something you half to play for,” she said “We caught our second wind over the second half. I just tried to play her as hard as I could. I just tried to attack. It takes a lot. Most of the time as post, you want to go to your dominant hand.”

She is so proud of Nared, her homestate Oregon classmate. “She’s so versatile it is hard to guard her. She can rebound shoot and distribute.

“This is really great for the SEC tournament because we will know how good a shape we are in.

“It was a tough game after the previous one,” said Warlick, “But we did well. Different people did different things. We had people step up, get and-ones. Mercedes does that. She steps up and does what needs to be done. Her defense is what she knows, She understand basketball. And she did it at the end with four fouls.

“Jamie does everything. She is leading by the example. She and Mercedes have done a tremendous jib with this basketball team.. Rennia does what is needed to be done. She is huge.”

Tennessee closed down Cancun with South Dakota. As Warlick said, “It was time to close this deal down here.”

The Lady Vols are  leading the conference at 47 rebounds per game.

They hung one of those single-digit defensive markers in the first two quarters, allowing nine each time. Every starter was working hard with Westbrook the first to nine, early in the second. 

Nared had six rebounds. Defensive with two assists. The Vols hit 56 percent from the floor, 90 percent from the line. 

With five minutes to go in the third and more and more bench players in for the Vols, South Dakota had its nine for the period and UT had more than doubled the score. Hayes hit all six free throw attempts and had eight. Westbrook had scored 12 with three assists.

It ended 60-39 and Tennessee had chronologically become the second 6-0 league team. Davis scored 12, Nared scored 11 with two blocks, three assists and nine rebounds, eight defensive. Russell scored 11.

“I knew these were going to be tough teams and we just had to play hard,” Nared said. “Just to bounce back day after day. I knew how we play, getting better every game. I think the way we play depends on how each player is playing. If we just count on each other. These games back after back is all your mental approach.  I  like to call myself a thoroughbred because I never get tired. 

“And we’re just learning how these freshmen play. I threw one up for Re– and she can jump outta the gym—and she was expecting a layup (pass).

“We’re getting better at knowing each other and that comes with time. These freshmen are passtfirst. That’s exciting. Everyone is just unselfish and just want to win. That first game, we coulda hung our heads but just our will and our fight in that game. It came down to overtime and I fouled out, not smart, but it showed how we can count on each other.

“I’m excited how much better we are getting.”

Warlick said, “They’re in great shape. It’s hard to play three solid games. Mentally and physically we hung tough. Our group has been pretty focused. I can’t remember a game we played a 2-3 the entire game.

 “This group is hungry, they fight. From the get-go, we were in the basketball games. In the past we hadn’t done that.

“But now we have many offensive weapons. This group does not care who scores, just that we get great looks.

“It was good preparation for what we might see to come.

“I am proud of Jamie. She does whatever we ask. She has had to be the leader and she us having a great year. She has put a lot of effort in the gym, alone.”

With all her players getting work, with the freshmen graduating past rookie status, Warlick could fly back to America with a major improvement on the past season. Yes, the toughest league in America will be tough. It appears now she’ll only need 10 wins to make the NCAAs. It is the best start since 10-0 in 2013.

Their home challenges this week are fearsome Central Arkansas State and Alabama State.

No. 19 Texas A&M

The Aggies advanced one spot despite losing a game and they’ll take it.

But they stumbled in their start against Arkansas-Little Rock, blowing the first period, 22-14.

The home crowd of 3,123 was not appreciative. They were only hitting 33 percent from the field into the second quarter, Only Danni Williams seemed interested with 13 points (she hit all three 3s) as coach Gary Blair went nine deep early trying to find a working combination. 

Rookie Chennedy Carter  was establishing  double figures for the fourth game of her career, with nine at the break.

The Aggies had hung a single-digit defense quarter on the Trojans and tied it at 30. The bum rush continued in the third, a 22-8 advantage and game over. 

A&M won the third for a three-quarter seep and the 66-49 final. Williams scored 18, Carter 17 and  Anriel Howard 13 with 12 rebounds, seven defensive. The shooting rose to 44 percent.

 “They are a very hard team to guard because they run it and we had to go to a zone, like we did last year, because we couldn’t guard them man-to-man,” said Blair.

“I’ll take all the blame for my offense in the first half. I’m trying to run too many sets to get Khaalia Hillsman isolated and we are throwing the ball away or she’s travelling. 

We need to be more free-wheeling offense and get better up and down the court in transition. If we get it inside fine, but if not don’t worry about it. Let’s just keep attacking and do some other things.

 “I was happy that Khaalia took the adjustments and at halftime and a little bit of butt-chewing and responded and came out to play in the second half. That’s what a senior is supposed to do. I give her a lot of credit for not letting the first half stay on her.”

He is also impressed by Howard.

“When you watch her rebound, I’ve never seen anything like it in 46 years of coaching. She is relentless in how she pursues the ball and gets the loose balls and the hustle plays. Give her credit. 
They were guarding her pretty strong so we weren’t able to give her the shots that we really wanted, but she got to the line.”

Howard said the whole tea, is working on a better start.

“We are trying to figure that out. We just have to come out ready to play,” she said. “:I don’t know what it is right now but we will figure it out and we will make sure it doesn’t happen again against Texas Tech.”

 Williams agrees. 

“I was just trying to find my rhythm early. We were struggling to begin with on defense and our offense wasn't really there either. So I was just trying find rhythm and shots that I felt comfortable with and I just kind of kept going from there.”

They visited Texas Tech for the matinee, keeping their Texas sweep alive. 

A 34-5 opening statement decided the 90-46 win early. The Aggies were never threatened. Carter scored 31 in 30 minutes with seven assists and three steals. She is the only rookie in program history to score 30 or more in a game.  Howard scored 16 and Jennifer Lumpkin 14, among others with double figures. Each had nine rebounds and either would have had a double/double if she played the whole game. The team was 10-of14- on 3s. They hit 50 percent from the floor.

“I did not do a thing,” Blair said. “The kids put the ball in the basket. Between the three of them, they were on fire. We found a way to score on different ways. This team has a lot different weapons. We have some depth on the bench we are trying to develop as we go.”

Lumpkin said they made a statement, “I think it was the knockout punch,” she said of the start. “We  came out with the energy and intensity we needed. We let them know we were trying to dominate the basketball game. If I am not scoring, I want to help on defense and get stops or steals. Everybody is different,, everybody will have their night to score. I was happy to have those points.”

This week they welcome in state rivals Prairie View A&M and Rice, then West Virginia for their Big 12/SEC Challenge game.

No. 22 Kentucky

The Kats earned a Thanksgiving Day off with another blowout at Memorial Coliseum, this time Morehead State, 86-53.

The usual M&M connection – junior Maci Morris and senior Makenzie Cann, provided the push, Cann had a career-best five assists, 10 rebounds and 15 points, a consecutive double/double. Morris scored 19.

Kentucky hit 56.4 percent from the field, 10-of-17 3s. They forced 15 turnovers and scored 15 off of those, Their 23 assists led to 31 baskets.

On the way to winning every quarter, they started 26-12. In the third period, Kentucky hit four of its first six shots and was able to extend the lead to as many as 28. The Kats stretched the lead to as many as 38 in the fourth quarter before winning by 33.

They drew a healthy 4,710.

“The players really shared the ball today,” coach Matthew Mitchell. “They played hard for each other. You know, it’s always a fun day when the ball is going in the basket, but I thought we really worked hard to create some good looks. It was a lot of good shots going in the basket, a lot of good shot selection. Not a lot of forced shots that we were just making. 

He assessed Cann’s contributions.

“Well, you know Makenzie has worked hard. She’s a good player. She is somebody who works at her game, works hard in practice, really can impact the game in many ways.’

He said  Morris has also put in the work.

“Well, you know, I think she probably put up a million shots this summer and she was among the group that stayed in the gym last night until about 7. 

“They just kept shooting and kept working and kept working, and so she’s a worker and she’s taking full advantage of her opportunities.. We’re trying to help them get stronger, quicker, faster, more agile with our strength and quickness program.”

 Morris is enjoying it

“It’s been a really fun year so far,” she said. “ I’m really excited. I said in the summer I was really excited to play with this team. It’s just so many different personalities on and off the court. We have a lot of athletic players, so just to be able to do things, it’s fun to play with and fun to watch.”

Cann said, “Coach has been on me in practice, need me to get some rebounds. Since Evelyn (Akhator)’s gone, there’s a lot more rebounds for people to go out there and get so he needed someone to step up.

“I definitely think I’ve got more confidence, but I think that anybody who plays their first year in the SEC for UK, your first year it’s kind of like my freshman year part two. You know, it’s your first year. So this year I am more comfortable. I know how it works, so I can just calm down and shoot how I know how to shoot.

“Coach actually showed us a video, I think it was Billy Donovan, and he was saying you only have the ball for 5 percent of the time, and 95 percent of the time you don’t have the ball. 

“So, everyone is concerned about the 5 percent, which is the scoring and the nice flashy plays, when in reality you don’t have the ball 95 percent of the time. So, he was just saying press the rebounding and the other things.”

Then came Marshall for a matinee, Kentucky broke open a one-point game after o\ne quarter with a 20-5 second and closed with a 12-3 third in a 69-39 win and a 6-0 record 2ith 4,276 in attendance. 

Alyssa Rice waited until her senior season for a first career double/double and delivered a career-high 19 points with 10 rebounds.

“We’ve just been working hard in practice. Rebounding was really a big emphasis in this game because we knew they were a strong rebounding team,” Rice said. “That is just something that I put to the forefront of my mind, just be on the boards early. And then my teammates did a good job finding me and I just try to score off rebounds as well.

“Just anytime you can put the ball in the hole, it just gives you that confidence and shows you your true capabilities. So just being able to have a game like this did really help my confidence and hopefully it can carry on.

“When we guard and we’re scrimmaging each other, we’ll go make sure that we’re boxing out each other. And on the offensive end, we’re crashing the boards, just battling against each other in practice, constantly emphasizing rebounding. If we’re not rebounding he’ll stop us and call us out on it. So, just keeping it in our minds.” 

 She was 8-of-11 from the field.  Morris  had three 3s among her  15 points; Taylor Murray scored 13. The Kats hit 7-of-15 on 3s and won rebounds 47-22.

After falling behind, 19-17, Kentucky put together a 20-0 run which  included six points from Rice and five each from Morris and  Cann. The Thundering Herd never got closer than 12 again.

“We worked hard to have a big day on the boards” Michell said.  “That was something we really challenged them before the game, to be aggressive on the offensive and defensive boards, but we still need to improve. In our league we will have a challenge every night on the boards and that’s going to be such an important part of us being successful. 

Of course, he is proud of Rice’s growing confidence

“Yeah, I thought she was really poised with the ball. We’ve been working so hard about getting in the right position and we’ve been trying to sharpen up all of post players’ technique and Alyssa showed you what she can do. She can get started fast, she got started fast on the offensive glass. Aggressive. 

“There just came a time for Alyssa where we were so proud of the person she was when she got here and she’s improved and she’s strengthened herself. But I just wanted her to round into the basketball player she can be. She’s just come a million miles since the beginning of last year.

 “It makes me super happy. She puts in a lot of hard work and she does a lot of things besides basketball wise, but off the court; just making sure that we’re all organized and where we need to be. I always tell people she’s like our mom. So, just to see her have a great game, it makes me happy and hopefully she continues to do it.”

The first big test of the season is Thursday at national Top 10 Baylor.

Trend: Alabama, whom we tipped to watch this season, has the seventh-most AP votes in the league, ahead of well-respected Georgia for instance..

For the second straight season, Missouri  a ranked team, has declined to participate in our coverage.