Mike Siroky’s SEC Report: Unbeatens Become History

By Mike Siroky

 

Happy holidays everyone.

There were only three games this week among ranked teams as anticipation grows for the start of conference play in the Southeastern Conference of women’s basketball.

As we have said, the goal is to win 20 games in the season because no SEC team ever has won 20 and not been in the eliminations. The eighth team selected by the NCAA can get in with 19 sometimes. The RPI of the league causes this. The conference tournament also gives another chance at one or two ranked teams.

So now you want to win at least 10 which makes 20 guaranteed.

The two top teams each lost and ended undefeated possibilities both to Pac 12 teams.

No.8 Mississippi State (11-1)

At No. 8 Oregon, the Determined Ducks were keen to regain footing after their first season loss.

 Mississippi State did not uphold the honor  of the league, 82-74, being outscored by three in the third and by six in the final quarter. This was the last real test before the conference collisions and State failed. It cost them four spot sin the national poll.

Anriel Howard scored 30, 12-of-17 from the field, 5-of-7 from the line but had five turnovers and fouled out in the closing minutes, as did another starter Teaira McCowan, who had her worst offensive game in two seasons, two baskets and one free throw.

 The support players hit double figures but did not make up for the 18.6 McCowan usually provides.

  With the foul trouble, the bench was non-existent. 

Another fail. They allowed ten total rebounds.

 Two foes went for more than 20 points each, one of them in the final three quarters.

 A rough-and-tumble game, each side received a technical foul. One was on McCowan for an unsportsmanlike excessive elbow. The situation was a quick turnaround when the opposing player back-jumped into her space and caught an elbow, did an embarrassing flop and therefore won the foul.

In the men’s game this is the “cylinder” rule which define the offensive player room to land and turn.

 The women’s rule protect the defender to a silly extreme.

Coach Vic Schaefer first got red-faced angry then accepted the rule because it is, well, a rule. His assistants had to initially restrain him.

At halftime he did say McCowan needed to move more as they were double-teaming all the time forfeiting a defender on someone else and why wasn’t the someone else producing.

In a makeup call, the opposing coach got a quick T for protesting, to the free throws offset. At halftime, Schaefer was all smiles and simply encouraged his team to work harder.

State actually rallied for seven-point lead in the third before the collapse, allowing 32 above their defensive average and scoring 18 less than average. They gathered 21 less rebounds than usual.

They drew an 8,951.

"A great environment for women's basketball. Hats off to Oregon for getting in there and creating that type of environment, but that is part of the toughness piece. I pride myself on having tough, aggressive, physical basketball teams,"  Schaefer said. "That is something we have hung our hat on at Mississippi State. Tonight we didn't have it."

They had another Pac 12 road game, at Washington, to recover some semblance of pride.

It started well. They spread the offense around and led 18-3 with four minutes left in the opening quarter, allowing one shot to go in. It was 28-7 at the end of one, Howard had eight rebounds and six points and McCowan had seven and seven.

It accelerated to a sweep of every quarter in a 103-56 runaway and the 10h win. Even with  playing time constraints, McCowan still doubled, 13  points and 12 rebounds, seven defensive and 6-of-8 from the field. Jordan Danberry scored 20 with four assists and four steals. Howard scored 16. Chloe Bibby scored 15. 

Off the bench, sophomore guard Espinoza-Hunter led the bench with a career-best 11. They had 13 steals and 19 assists. They won rebounds by 20. They drew 1,669.

"I thought our transition was good early," Schaefer said. "I thought Jordan was really good tonight. I thought we were really, really good coming out of the gate. 

“The film doesn't lie. We watched a lot of film the last day and a half. Hopefully we learned from it. I was anxious to see tonight how we would respond. I am very pleased obviously."

The preconference season closes on Sunday at home.

No. 10 Tennessee (9-1)

The week off left Tennessee rusty. They couldn’t score at first and could not defend Stanford with zest.

 The Cardinal shot 57 percent well into the second quarter while the Vols hit 20 percent less.

Stanford was 9-of-12 on 3s They fashioned a nine-point lead. They were winning the boards and won the game 93-82. It cost Tennessee a one-spot drop, but kept the ten in Tennessee.

UT senior Meme Jackson scored nine and Evina Westbrook 13. But the tallest Vol, 6-3 senior center Cheridene Green, got a third foul. That’s when center Kasiyaha Kushiuahwas made her return after missing several games with a strained knee, but her eight minutes were the only contribution to the stat line. 

Warlick had said she was good to  go before the game, but she didn’t start and wore a heavy brace so the definition of good to go has changed for her.

Stanford continued a 10-0 run and led by 15. The shooting percentage difference remained the same.

 A Stanford player already had a double/double, 19 points and 10 defensive rebounds. Stanford led by 10.

Tennessee came in 4-0 at home, but this was the first ranked opponent in Knoxville.

The Vols reduced the lead by seven to start the second half, but Stanford never panicked and seemed to be in cruise control. They remained ahead by double figures with four minutes left. 

The undefeated run was embarrassingly over, as was a Top 10 position.

 Faced by a better coach with a better game plan, UT folded. Westbrook scored a career-best  29 and doubled with 10 assists but that was about it. Four other starters scored at least 14. But they gave up 95 points against a defensive average of 58.

Holly Warlick stood as mute as the Pat Head statue just outside. The crowd of 8,051filtered out.

 Stanford had won hosting Baylor and at Tennessee against previously unbeaten teams. The top Cardinal scored 33 and three  other starters had at least 14, 14-of-24 3s.

“They were tougher and more poised,” Warlick said. “ We lacked attention to detail. We knew they were going to shoot the three, and we gave up 14. We did not rebound the basketball. We had 45 opportunities to rebound, and I think we had 12. 

“We rebounded 20 percent of our misses. That is not very good. We just lacked a sense of urgency. We got beat at every position, gave five kids double figure points. We did not play very well today. We are not going to the boards and I don’t know why.”

UT closes the year with three oh so winnable games.

First up in TBall was East Tennessee State, a traditionally woeful and inept team. They had already lost by 46 at home to South Carolina.

UT won, 80-61, ETSU is 0-7 on the road.

It started slowly but with determination, 22-14, having already withstood the best ETSU had to offer.

 Rennia Davis had nine.

Sophomore center Kushkituah, at 6-4 the tallest Lady Vol, is still not ready to go with a strained left knee. Apparently, the coaches are frozen at calling for surgery and may wait too long for a redshirt. She no longer starts and is not among the first three off the bench. She did get one rebound and one point in the second quarter.

The lead was 10 at the break. Green surfaced with eight points, 3-of-4  from the field and 2-of-2 from the line.  The Vols won every quarter. They drew 8,029. Jackson scored 23, seven 3s.5.  UT on rebounds by 17 but no one took charge.

"The effort was definitely better this game," said Davis.

“She wanted the tempo and the energy faster so that’s what we dd,” Jackson said. "My time is kind of limited here, and I just want to get out there and play hard every time I step on the court."

"Meme's been in the gym all summer and been in the gym outside of practice," Warlick said. "When you do that, you get confidence."

Tennessee has Murray State and Belmont to close the year. A 12-1 record is acceptable.

No. 18 Kentucky  (12-1)

The Kats continued the five home games to conclude the preconference season.

When you are in the Top 20 you must dominate lesser teams. Kentucky had a spree  killing, 99-39, when Western Carolina visited.

Freshman Rhyne Howard led the Cats with her average 18 points, her 11th double-figure scoring effort in 12 games this season. She earned Freshman of the Week for the league. 

Sophomore Tatyana Wyatt had a season-high 16 points. Senior Maci Morris scored13. Sophomore guard Jaida Roper had 12 points for the Cats, senior Taylor Murray and junior Amanda Paschal each had 11.

 Kentucky placed six players in double figures for the first time since November 17, 2016 when Makenzie Cann scored 20 points to lead six UK players in double figures in a win over New Hampshire.

The Kats forced 24 turnovers and scored 33 points off those. The home team won rebounding, 41-22, outscored the visitors on second-chance points 15-3, had a 40-20 advantage in points in the paint and held a 35-9 edge in bench scoring. 

The 99 were the most points this season on the best shooting percentage, 58.6, and total assists, 234

.

“I was proud of our team for just playing hard and trying to come into the game focused, disciplined, consistent effort,” said coach Matthew Mitchell . “We have certain areas where we can get better, but just proud of them coming out and hustling tonight. I thought everybody on the team that played had some good moments, and of course, everybody has room for improvement, so we’ll keep working at it.“

They drew 3,903.

They welcomed Murray State for a nooner on National Ugly Sweater Day and Santa Hat Giveaway Day.

 You got in free of your wore an ugly Christmas sweater or you got a free child admission for every paid adult $10 admission. There were free Santa hats as well. 

Murray State delivered the gift of an eight-point second-quarter effort while UK scored 24 for a 14-point halftime edge, assuring a 12th win before Christmas. Nine Kats had already scored, led by Morris’  13, with three 3s. They had 12 steals and had created 18 turnovers.

Then came the first seven points after intermission and a 26-9 third. Howard already had hit four  3s in her 22 points after scoring five in the first half .

It ended 88-49, right about the scoring average. Junior forward Ogechi Anyagaligbo had a career best 10 rebounds, which is by how many team rebounds UK won the boards.

Freshman guard Jaida Roper scored a career high 15 -- 10 in the second half-- on 5-of-8 shooting with six assists. They drew 4,312.

It’s been a very, very long semester, and they’ve worked hard, earned a 3.2 GPA as a team and have #$worked hard in the classroom,” said Mitchell. “12-1 going into the Christmas break is a really great accomplishment,”Roper said,.

“Credit to my teammates because they help my confidence every game. They tell me to either take the shot, or if I’m open, make the play that I know I can make. A lot of credit goes to them because they boost my confidence and I’m just trying to put in the extra work that builds my confidence. 

“We’re so versatile that anybody can have that big night. It definitely helps when Rhyne  is having a very good night especially. When teams start double-teaming her, it leaves our shooters wide open.

“ Just playing off of your teammates helps get you buckets. (Defense)  gives us more layups and that builds our confidence if we aren’t shooting well. Just getting stops on the defensive-end builds confidence and gets our team going. It gives our team energy to score on the offensive end.”

UK got an early Christmas present when the fast-dissolving Texas team lost its point guard, Chasity Patterson, transferring in to Lexington.

She was the top ranked point guard in the class of 2017 and the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year last season. She will enroll at UK immediately and be eligible for the next SEC season. 

“We are extremely excited to welcome Chasity Patterson to our program and cannot wait to get her on campus,” Matthew Mitchell said. “Chasity is an athletic guard with incredible play-making abilities on both ends of the court. She’s a high-energy player who possess a winning pedigree having won 125 games in high school. 

“Chasity fits our system perfectly and when you couple that with the opportunity to compete at the highest level here at Kentucky, it was a perfect match. We are confident that her experience will be a valuable asset to our team.”

 Patterson spent her freshman season at Texas, helping the Longhorns to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 .

 Her high school career was legendary at North Shore High School in Houston, scoring with 3,177 points.

 She was a McDonald’s high school All-American who will gain program familiarity between now and then as a practice player. She is the prototype 5- 5 guard. She will be under the radar as an addition  to the other incoming players, but a powerful addition.

 Only Sacred Heart on Saturday morning remains before the SEC starts.

No. 23 Texas A&M (11-2)

Sophomore Chennedy Carter is the SEC Player of the Week. If not for Teaira McCowan, she’d be SEC player of the year and could well be the other conference All-American.

She showed some signs of the tweaked ankle which slowed her for the last half of the previous effort.

Against visiting and undefeated Southern Cal, they trailed by three at the half. But sophomore guard Kayla Wells was willing to pick up Carter. She was 8-of-12 from the field, hit all three 3s and was 2-of-3 from the line well into the third. 

That’s 21 against a  12-point average and a 9-0 team. Aggieland was exuberant with a 10-point lead. The crowd of 3,269 loved it.

A giveaway draw were 500 T-shirts commemorating Ugly Christmas Sweaters.

It ended a blowout, the fifth straight win, 71-51. Carter hit 12-of-13 from the line among her 23 points and yet another double. A&M had 17 assists and caused 13 turnovers.

N’dea Jones had an impressive 17 rebounds as A&M won the boards by 11, her sixth this season with at least 10.

 They were one win away from 10 preconference victories and two straight over Pac 12 contenders.” 

Coach Gary Blair had praised Wells the previous game.

This time, he said,  “when I could see (Carter) wasn't going, we started calling Kayla Wells plays. I think tonight's game started with what she did against Oregon State. 

“That's what we have to do, have the next person step up. She started being referred to as the third option on the outside, and she is not a third option anymore. I am proud of this basketball team because we can accept when somebody is cold or we are not getting it inside enough.

"I think what you saw in the first half was a little bit of post-Maui. We were lucky in the first quarter, whatever the score was, because we were 2-four-12  to start, they were good shots. But, I just feel we didn't have the legs until the second half. 

“We held a Power 5 team to 19 points in the second half.

“I am proud of this team that handles adversity as good as any team I have ever had. Carter is playing one-legged, it's her foot. Her shot wasn't going in, but she gotta to the line 13 times and got 11 rebounds, and that is a career high.

“ In the first half when Chennedy was there, they got six turnovers, and only one in the second half. They handled the ball really well, and we ran our stuff better when they were in front of me.

“ Chennedy was hurting on both ends sometimes, not making good decisions, but at the same time, she rebounded and played through it, and that is what All-Americans are supposed to do. She got all her free throws at the end, she did the little things at the end, and in the second half.

“N’dea was great, but her shot wasn't dropping. What can you do to stay in the ball game? You can play defense and give me 17 rebounds. What we've done in the last five ball games since the Lamar game has been remarkable. Our legs were tired, I was dead tired, and we had to play a 5 p.m. game.

“ That is what we do, we play through it. I don't think they have played anybody as tough or physical as we have, and we haven't played anybody as quick as they are. They will do well in the Pac-12."

“In the second half…We gave up the baseline on the zone. We have to do a better job of not giving the baseline up against a zone. We will do better."

 Carter said, "I just really was trying to do anything I could for my team, and after the bad tweak against Oregon State, I was just trying to be there for the team. N'dea was like 'Dang, Chennedy, you're stealing my rebounds,' and I said, 'I'm just trying to rebound this ball and do anything I can to help us win.’

"I mean, we all can play, this team is different than last year's team, so I don't have to do it, I don't have to take that many shots, I've got Kayla on the wing, N’dea who can score, Cierra Johnson,  so I have a bunch of options. 

“We all put everything together tonight and that's not just about me. I feel like teams mislead us, you know, we play good together, not just one person. So the points, in my opinion, didn't really matter, I didn't come out here thinking 'I want to get another 46,' I came out here thinking that I wanted to get two big wins against ranked teams and that's what we did."

Wells said, "It opens a lot because a lot of teams play me as I can't shoot the 3 just because last year I didn't shoot the 3 a lot. So whenever I start hitting shots I look for my drive because I know they're going to be coming out hard so it opens up a lot for me in the drive."

"I really wasn't aware (her 26 led scoring). I was just playing, playing hard. I was just taking shots when i was open and just being aggressive.”

They won their sixth straight and eighth of nine.

The Christmas admission gift was $5 adults, $3 youth and the first 500 attendees got an A&M ornament.

 That led to 3,209 in attendance.

They joined the 10-game winners with a 22-4 fourth quarter in an 70-57 win over Prairie View A&M.

 Jones had 15 points and 18 rebounds. Carter was allowed the night off to rest the ankle.

"I think we just came out slow, we basically got slapped in the face,” Jones said. “I do not want to say that we underestimated them, but I think our minds were on trying to get the game over, so we can go home to our families instead of just focusing on the game. 

“We were slow and our shots were not falling, we were fumbling the ball, kind of lazy passes and had 13 turnovers in the first half. We were just struggling. During halftime we all came together as a team, talked it out and decided we need to get busy because we cannot go home like this."

"Our defense and our  (won it). A lot of it was just effort, hustle plays and speeding up the game a little bit knowing that when we put pressure on them they would get a little out of control.

“ We just had to focus on our game and adapt a stop-score, stop-score mentality. We made sure we were taking care of the ball, making sure we rebounded, and try to hit our shots."

But without Carter.

 

"We are so used to her being our point guard,” Jones said “The point guard is supposed to be the coach's voice on our court and  Shambria Washington does a great job when Chennedy is not there. “

 Shambria has stepped up. We are so used to Chennedy having the ball in her hand so sometimes it's hard not seeing that familiar face and just running the plays we know and trying to get open.

“ She basically spreads the court open for us because people know she can shoot, she can drive, she can come off screens—it is just really tough to guard her, so when she is not on the court, it is a lot more pressure on the other guards."

Blair said, "Let's give Prairie View a lot of credit. They played very smart in the first wuarter. I don't like to coach that way, and I'm sure the kids don't like to hear it, but sometimes that's what you got to do, and I think our kids responded very well. We started running a couple set plays for Kayla.

‘She still had a good night even though she missed some moneys. Give our two post players in there some props for battling as hard as they did. It wasn't their night, it wasn't my night, it wasn't our night, it wasn't any of our nights, but it was Prairie View's night until the third quarter and the press started and we were able to turn them over.

“That was the difference in the whole game. They shot seven percent in the fourth quarter and they had three turnovers in the first half but 11 in the second half. We had 13 but only five in the second and that was the difference as well.

“Jackson and Walton, it's not what they scored, it's what they defended and gave us the hustle plays. If you look on that sheet, (Ahliyah) Jackson had zero turnovers and (Jada) Walton had one in 41 minutes.

 That's good basketball knowing they hadn't got that many minutes all year. They came in and did their job, and that's all that counted. 

“It's a W, Stanford struggled with Buffalo yesterday. All the teams that are at the top are always having a couple struggle games and you just got to find a way to get through it. That's all we did we got through it when we went up with the three from Sham.

“(WithoutCarter) We look like our feet were standing still. I thought the forward dominated the first half for them over shot-blocking, over contesting shots, and my post players couldn't score under that pressure.

“They better realize what's coming in the SEC if they're having trouble with 6-2 right now.

“ It's just something we got to do, but we'll keep feeding the ball inside, because I felt like our best shot was to get to the free throw line and nothing else was working, and we did that 42 times.

“ That's the most we've had in several years. Washington had five turnovers, but 40 minutes of playing that pressure, playing against (senior guards Shala)  Dobbins and (Erin) Willis in there, who are so quick, it was hard to stop them. 

“But Sham's coming along, she needed a game like this. Of course that's her career-high. I like how she took charge of the team, and that's what you have to do when you're a point guard when things are not going well for you. 

“ But I tell you what, I'm tired of having to  go in to halftime and coach as hard I'm having to do at halftime instead of teaching. Halftime is supposed to be about being positive, correcting mistakes, 

"I think it'll happen all year. Remember she (Carter) leads our team in fouls too.

“What we got to do is learn how to play without her, she's got to learn how to play smarter and realize how valuable she is. Wednesday in the second half when she wasn't doing anything, I was calling every play for Kayla and responded.

“It's funny how Carter started playing harder after Kayla started knocking down shots. Carter realized her jumper wouldn't going and drive to get to the free throw line, which she did. So, when your game isn't going, find something to do to stay on the floor. Other than that, Carter played pretty well, a couple times she didn't, but that happens."

They didn’t lead until seven minutes were left. The Aggies shot hit 17- of-49 (35 percent) from the field, but 34-of-42 from the line.

The mighty Texas at Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros are all that are left before the SEC. Vaqueros, by the way, are a male persona, meaning cowboys.

 No. 25 South Carolina (7-4)

The only South Carolina challenge of the week was a victory lap for coach Dawn Staley against Temple She has coached 600 games, 129 wins at Temple  and now  11 seasons in Columbia. She has coached SC 348 games, 256 of them wins. She and Temple coach Tonya Cardoza were teammates on Virginia’s 1991 Final Four tournament.  Staley was that Finals MVP.

SC led 25-15 after one. The scoring was well-shared, No one was dominating.

Mikiah Herbert Harrigan is trying to be a real option on the frontline, an assist for steady if gimpy Alexis Jennings. Herbert Harrigan had five halftime rebounds.  

Freshman Destanni Henderson earned her second straight career start. Floor leader Te’a Cooper scored eight, 3-of-5 from the field, 2-of-3 from the line with four assists. It was 44-25 at half, Staley had gone 11 deep searching for the magic combination.

A 27-6 third led to the 88-60 final. Cooper scored 16 with four assists and four of the team’s season-best 15 3s, a personal SC best.

 Her move from Tennessee is paying off individually.  SC won rebounds my 18, but no individual stood out.

"[The 3s are] best coming out of transition when we're pushing the ball, spreading the floor and beating the defense down the floor,” Staley said. “When we have great ball movement, we can also get our feet set and knock them down. With our players, we just try to get them to take balanced 3s and not take rushed 3s."

Attendance set the conference pace, 11,297

SC only has two home games left before the SEC starts.