Mike Siroky’s SEC Report: Finals and Holidays Create Schedule Trimming

By Mike Siroky

 

The holiday mode makes for light work for the Southeastern Conference of women’s basketball .

December continues in a meandering path.

Thanks to Michigan State stopping Oregon the league leader moved up one spot in the Associated Press poll. Another ranked conference team lost a state showdown on the road, its first loss, but also moved up one spot in the poll. 

That leaves two unbeatens in conference.

 

No. 5 Mississippi State (9-0)

These ’Dawgs had one minor game, against No. 19 Marquette.

 They are one of those teams playing in the vapid Midwest, with a long-time coach who long ago decided to stay in the Big East when the big dogs left. 

He thus secures an annual NCAA bid and sometimes, if they host the first two NCAA games,  a Sweet 16 experience. They are satisfied with that.

Teaira McCowan, on her way to league Player of the year, won a second McCowan Player of the Week Award, known on other campuses as the SEC Player of the Week Award.

It was more contested than anticipated, but the ’Dawgs were the first league team to 9-0 with an 87-82 win.

Anriel Howard scored her State best 29 with 12 rebounds for her double/double. Howard hit 13-of-18 from the field. McCowan, of course, doubled, 24 points and 18 rebounds. She was 9-of-12 from the field. Jazzmun Holmes had 13 assists.

State has won 45 straight in nonconference. Perhaps the league-best 7,273 in attendance had

something to do with that.

Chloe Bibby blocked a tying 3 attempt to seal the win with two seconds left. McCowan got the rebound and flipped it to Holmes. She was fouled and hit the two free throws.

 Mississippi State got ahead with a 12-0 rally to close the second quarter, ending in a four-point margin. 

It was mostly even after that.

Howard had 17 points, 7-of-8. and eight rebounds, five offensive in the first half.

“I have ben working o my inside game,” she said. “The coaches have bee working with me. W that I have a shot it will be easier for T.”

State could not contain the speed of Marquette, which ran off 10 fastbreak points in the first half. 

Obviously, the transition defense needs work.

"What a heck of a game,” coach Vic Schaefer said. “Want to commend Marquette for coming in here and playing unfazed. It was a tremendous game. 

“Proud of us for finding a way when it was not our best night. Anriel had an unbelievable night. (Teaira) goes for another double/double. They were special tonight.

"We are a long way from being a finished product. Tonight, we had some rough edges that were exposed, but we made enough plays, got enough rebounds, made enough stops there at the end."

They are off for final exams until Friday, an eight-day break.

They drew 4,579.

No. 9 Tennessee (6-0)

One-win Stetson was not a lock; neither was  the trip to Texas.  

UT vs. UT, Big Orange vs. Bigger Orange is the oldest continuous top-flight rivalry in women’s hoops.

 It predates the NCAA and the conference challenges. It was started by two legendary coaches who needed a test before the elimination games. In the AIAW you could still lose a Regional final and get seeded into the Final Four, if you were Tennessee.

Holly Warlick played in those games. 

The Texas coach spent eight years as a primary recruiter for its legend.

Stetson showed why attendance is sliding at Rocky Top. The Hatters took the first quarter by eight and was even better in a 15-7 second.

Rookie guard Zaay Green won the SEC Freshman of the Week Award but only had four at the half.

Sophomore center Kasiyaha Kushiuahwas was not available for a second consecutive game. Sophomore guard Rennia Davis was dependable with nine at halftime, but everyone else was lost. 

The Hatters hit a clean 50 percent from the field. It felt like the biggest upset in Stetson history was at hand; they had never beaten UT.

Evina Westbrook, coming off a career high 29 in the previous game, got suddenly hot,  14 points in the third quarter as UT tied it at 42, with a 22-6 effort. She also had six rebounds.

Stetson had foul trouble all down the lineup.

With Kushiuahwas, UT was No. 3 in the nation in rebounds per game, 48.7, No. 4 in rebound margin (16.3) and No. 5 in rebounds on offense (20). 

In the third, they slowly took over the rebounds, and won it then, pulling ahead by six.

Tennessee maintained in the fourth, not a pretty win, but still undefeated. You might read the 65-55 final and think it was easy. The last several points came off the line when Stetson was fouling, hoping for a mistake.

The rebound stats were statistically close to average  and that’s what pulled it out.

Davis had 24 points and nine rebounds with three steals, 11-of-12 from the line. Westbrook scored 18, 7-of-7 from the line, so those two did enough.

 Tennessee hit 22-of-26 from the line, Stetson only got four chances but made them all.

Coach Holly Warlick said, “Our defense the first two quarters was non-existent; our offense was stagnant, and we turned the ball over too many times.

“Too many three-second calls, push off calls. We just have to get off to a better start.

‘But our team's resilient, I keep telling you all that. We made some corrections at halftime, and they made defense a priority. So, when you go into the second half and you get 13 stops in a row, you understand the importance of defense and you understand the importance of rebounding and attacking the basket.

‘We started attacking the basket, we got and-ones and went to the free throw line, and what has been our Achilles heel was one of the best things we did today, and that's make free throws. I'm really proud of them for stepping up at the line and knocking shots down."

Tennessee’s senior starters have been overcome by the freshmen and sophomores, but the Lady Vols  still needs them to do better. Attendance fell below 7,000 to 6,916. A few seasons ago, the norm was 10,000.

Texas has lost its first two games to the top two SEC teams since the end of the season for senior point guard and top scorer Lashann Higgs. Both losses were at home, this time 88-82.

They drew but 4,275 on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Without its center, Tennessee has reconfigured to the guard game, with no one getting double figures. 

But Warlick obviously stressed the traditional practice-ending free throw drills.

The Vols had been ranked 263rd in the country by making 63.6 percent of their free throws. 

Even after making 25 of 30 in the Stetson massacre.

They hit 24-of-32 against Texas.

Evina Westbrook scored 23, 3-of-4 3s, 4-of-5 from the line, with six assists.

UT started in a 11-point hole. Then Texas helped by folding into an 0-for-11 slump.

The Lady Vols trailed by 11 in the first quarter but strung together an 11-0 run in the second quarter and led 40-35 at halftime. 

Overall, Texas shot miserably in the second quarter, missing 14 of 17.

This caused an ESPN talking head to interrupt the halftime promos for the men’s game by assuring us Tennessee was “well ahead.” OK then.

Senior Meme Jackson showed up for the first time in several games, a career-best 33 against a 10-point average, with 9-of-11 free throws and four 3s. 

Jackson made two free throws with 21.6 seconds left to give Tennessee a five-point lead. UT also took a missed layup and fed Jackson for a 3 for a six-point lead with 4:24 remaining.

Danni Williams, a former Texas A&M, player made a crucial mistake in the second half when she threw an elbow in a breakaway and was called for a flagrant foul which gave UT free throws and possession in a two-point game.  

It showed the Texas coach needs more control over her team’s antics as several player mocked the call during the time out for review rather than huddling for strategy.

“We wanted to limit the fast-break points and we only allowed two, which was huge for us,” Warlick said. “We wanted to be aggressive to the basket. We didn’t want to settle for jump shots We needed our bench to step up and they did and we needed to hit free throws.”

Tennessee started a nine-day break when its second ranked opponent, No. 12 Stanford brings some holiday cheer to Knoxville in another traditional matchup.

The Lady Vols thank Michigan State for upending No. 7 Oregon and allowing another step up in the poll.

No. 18 Kentucky  (9-1)

The Kats earned their ninth straight, against Rhode Island, but then came the annual bluegrass challenge against Louisville, the first ranked opponent all season.

Rhode Island was on a three-game winning streak. UK ended that, 75-52, coasting through a 29-13 third to decide it

The Wildcats were again led by senior guard Maci Morris scoring 29,  including 6-of-6 from the line.25 in the first half.  

Freshman Rhyne Howard had her third straight strong game, 19 points, 3-of-3 from the line with seven steals.

UK caused 30 turnovers and scored 21 off of them. They attracted 3,744.

Howard leads the Kat’s season scoring and rebounds, 18.1 points and 6.9 rebounds. Morris is averaging 16 points per game and has hit 27 3-pointers.

“I asked them to try to have a better effort on the board, and I thought they did that,” said coach Matthew  Mitchell.

“We had a big turnover margin in this game – I felt like those were two areas we really needed to address to win the game and they did a nice job tonight.. I was really proud of the hustle and being able to get it done without defense. Good win for us.”

He said the leadership is stable.

“We are shooting the ball well. It’s just kind of what the game dictates. I think that maybe down in the Virgin Islands people didn’t know a lot about us. We are kind of going on last year’s reputation, and they’re really giving Maci a lot of attention.

“Rhyne broke out and had some big games and Taylor (Murray) has been playing fantastic. I don’t know one thing Maci is doing… she’s shooting 3’s well, and making her free throws, and has the ability to get to the rim. They’re shooting the ball well and we need her to right now, we are not a flawless team by any means.”

No. 5 Louisville showed that in the Kats’ first game away from Memorial Coliseum, the Cardinals’ Asia Durr was unharnessed, 32 points in their 83-75 win. 

After getting to two straight Final Fours, ACC dominatrix Louisville is still the best team in the state. Durr, an All-American on every list, is the reigning ACC Player of the Year. She leads them in scoring (22). She even has her own website.

Coach Jeff Walz always has a plan. He is signed through 2025. He cleared 300 wins with the first one this season. They are likely to be a top seed in the NCAAs again.

And they won the ACC  last season, a conference which includes Notre Dame.  They drew a Sunday best 13,786.

Freshman UK forward Rhyne Howard scored 25 points, doubled again with 10 rebounds and had a career-high six assists.

Kentucky trailed by as many as 18 points before closing.

 It is Howard’s 10th straight double-figure scoring effort. Senior Taylor Murray had 18 and 11.

UK won the backboards, 32-28 and scored 20 second-chance points, compared to just six for Louisville. 

But the Cards only had seven turnovers.  Against lesser foes,  Kentucky had caused 26.9 turnovers per game, third-best in the nation.

Louisville ended the first quarter on a 6-0 run and led by 5. Kentucky cut it at half. But by 15 after three quarters and by 17 in the fourth.

The Kats rallied to trail by six with 5:45 to play, then four with seconds left. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Durr said.

Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell just needed a few more game minutes.

"I really thought we had them in a spot where we could win the game," he said. "I thought we attacked the basket, went really physical to the basket and just came up a little bit short. Louisville made enough plays there at the end."

Not to worry. Kentucky still moved up one spot, with the next three games all winnable after most of this week off.

No. 23 Missouri (8-2)

For the third consecutive year, Missouri has chosen to not participate in our coverage.

No. 25 South Carolina (5-4)

South Carolina edged above .500 with an 80-50 home win against Appalachian State.   Coach Dawn Staley substituted liberally with the game never in doubt. Poll voters nonetheless sent them to the very bottom of the Top 25.

LeLe Grissett third strong game, all in the concluded home stand, with nine off the bench. SC won rebounds by 20 and only needed to be 2-of-8 from the home line.

Bianca Cuevas-Moore scored 12 in 12 minutes.

"I really liked the ball movement,” said Staley. “I think it is more like what we practice. Those extra passes, those skip passes, those moving the defense – having more than one or two passes really breaks a defense down. 

We get ahead of the possession, and then we don't let up. We just keep moving the ball, and they can never catch up."

They nonetheless drew 10,280.

Weather canceled the visit to equally unranked Duke. It had two veteran coaches trying to get their reputations out of the mud.  Duke had won three straight after losing at Missouri, but is undefeated in five tries at home.

However this is an insignificant matchup this season, though another SC loss would put them out of the rankings; Duke is already missing.

The Gamecocks are off until Sunday at rebuilding Purdue.