Mike Siroky’s SEC Report: Focusing On the Finish

Guru note: This was filed in advanced of Monday night’s games but your Guru being on the run had to delay doing an edit and getting it posted just now.

 

By Mike Siroky

The best conference in women’s basketball – the Southeastern – is all about angling for post-season positioning right now.

As a validation of the best conference team, two Mississippi State senior starters earned spots on watch lists for national honors.

Teaira McCowan is one of 20 women’s basketball players still in running for the John Wooden Award after the selection committee released their late season watch list on Monday night.

Anriel Howard is among six additional finalists for the traditional Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, added due to play this season. 

McCowan, Chennedy Carter of Texas A&M and Tyasha Harris of South Carolina, are original nominees from conference.

 The Wade is administered by the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association. It is another step to becoming a WBCA All-American.

Both of them join Kentucky’s Maci Morris and Carter on the Naismith Player of the Year Award watch list announced Monday. Carter and Harris are finalists for the Lieberman award.

Back to the games:

In a not competitive game, State waxed Tennessee in Knoxville.

The ESPN guessers on NCAA bracket placement finally recognized the SEC’s best should project to a No. 1 seed. Kentucky got to 19 wins but Texas A&M got ambushed in overtime at unranked Missouri and each stayed at 18, with Auburn. 

South Carolina is at 17, Arkansas at 16. With a general rise of talented coaches in conference, it is harder than ever to make the 20-win cut for the NCAA.

Here’s how the league’s ranked teams in the AP Top 22 did in the past week.

No. 5 Mississippi State (22-1)

Not too long ago, winning against Tennessee was a major deal. 

Mississippi State never won against them until 2016, shut out by Pat head. 

Nowadays, Tennessee has forfeited the right to host first-round NCAA games and have become a middle-of-the-pack team with a middle-of-the-pack coaching staff. And now they have their biggest loss ever in conference.

They have lost thousands – or what most teams draw – in attendance, yet remain the second-best draw in the league. They are certainly among the top 64 teams in the country in the No. 8 seed and lower range.

Meanwhile, State coach Vic Schaefer continues his unbeaten march through the league, building a reputation before the danger of a falloff next season.

Take a moment here to consider the National Coach of the Year and certainly the SEC Coach of the Year will not win the popularity and discounted SEC honor again. 

He has done more with less this season, including the wrenching loss of his best 3 shooter. But he will not be re elected.

Tennessee can still meet our projection of winning 19 in season, and No. 20 before Selection Sunday. 

They have become more steady recently by fixing the offense of Rennia Davis, still averaging 14 points.

 She was so shady in the one and two-point losses that even hitting her average would have eliminated five of the seven straight flops. 

That looked even worse when she led scoring in this one.

Naturally, Tennessee went without its team leader and leading scorer, Evina Westbrook, suspended for violation of team rules. 

ESPN reported it was skipping a class. 

Skeptics would say that lowered expectations of an unwinnable game, but we will believe the tough decision was vindicated. She traveled, dressed and sat on the bench, a front-row witness.

Freshman Jazmine Massengill got a career first start.

Prior to the game, Schaefer told his team to be focused, like a laser beam. “And like a laser beam comes through a magnifying glass, it gets hot. We have to be focused and hot.”

With that Mr. Science sendoff, it was a pretty competitive game. The Bulldogs went 1-of-8 from the floor.

Anriel Howard was in the groove early on, even displaying a Spinderella move. The 10,200 in attendance loved it.

Davis started 5-of-9 from the floor, carrying the offense as UT cut into an 11-point lead.

 Teaira McCowan answered with 10 first-half points, destined for a double. Jordan Danberry helped balance the scoring with eight, matching Howard. It was close, but State never looked worried. 

Tennessee was playing with nothing to lose.

It was actually a fun game at half, as UT hit two late 3s, Davis at the buzzer for her 18th point.

Tennessee went scoreless for three minutes straight before that, which allowed a 40-34 difference.

“We may give up a hundred,” Schaefer said. “I hope we score a hundred and one.”

State quit foolin’ around.

 They won the third quarter by six and the fourth by 16. It was not a hundred, but 91-63. 

McCowan had 24 with 16 rebounds, three blocks. Howard had 16 with 11 rebounds. Danberry had 20 with four assists. Sophomore Andra Ezpinoza-Hunter is the only non-senior starter. She scored 11. 

Sophomore reserve Bre’Amber Scott scored 13. The two best rebounding teams in the league ended 38-30, State.

Tennessee had 18 turnovers, State eight. Davis finished with 10 more points, six when the lead was 25 at the end,  and that was about it.

The Vols are no match for the Bulldogs right now, especially inside. 

All the previous results of this season proved out again. 

This is the state of the SEC. 

With Davis scoring again, and Westbrook back after this, there is hope in Knoxville.

Mississippi State is 12-0 at home, outscoring opponents by an average of 94.5 to 55.1 per game for a 39.4 margin.

 In four SEC home contests, MSU is winning by a score of 83.4 to 66.3 (17.1 margin).

State had led at halftime all but one game this season.

UT’s biggest upset in the Holly Warlick regime is the ruination of 2017 Senior Day. The Bulldogs have not lost since, 31 straight (26 in conference). 

Neither coach had to shuck a jacket in this one. It was over before it was over. 

Schaefer even ran some sideline sprints in his enthusiasm, wearing triple-striped pink shoes as it was the annual breast cancer awareness game. His team wore pink uniforms.

Warlick said,“We hung tough for three quarters and our youth and Mississippi State – they’re a great basketball team – they went on a run, and we couldn’t answer. I’m proud of our kids and we’ll focus on this for 24 hours and then we’ll regroup.

“We played zone then we had to go man, and we gave up too many middle drives. We knew they were going to do it.

“You can know they are going to do it, but they still had success. They’re very good at it, and that’s what they do. 

“We didn’t have an answer at that point. We were missing shots, and I thought that it affected our defense, but you got to get down and commit to defense. I thought we did that until the fourth quarter.”

“I think the addition of Howard has been tremendous. Anriel Howard, she is a competitor, great rebounder. She’s helped develop her game from the three-point line, and I think she has been an unbelievable addition to this team. 

“You’ve got guards that can get to the basket. Regardless of if you know it or not, they got to the basket today, and we knew what they were going to do so for us to carry out the game plan and be attentive to detail in the fourth quarter.”

“(Danberry) has always been an outstanding player and she’s getting minutes. She was very productive for them today and helped run their team. When you get the opportunity – and she’s given the opportunity – she’s taken advantage of it. 

“She had a great night and, again, the fourth quarter we didn’t have answer for her.”

“This team, Vic has them, they’re athletic players who specialize in a lot of different things and I think they’ve got a great shot at it. can’t make a lot of mistakes against them as you can see, and we didn’t at the beginning but they capitalize on it.

 “These kids, I will tell you this they are competitive. 

“Honestly, I don’t really look them as, ‘Oh, you’re a freshman.’ I always want them to compete, and they got in some situations and they didn’t handle it.

 “Rennia Davis, that’s probably one of the best games I’ve seen Rennia play. It’s about learning, and every loss we have learned. I will promise you that. 

“They are young, but we’re going to roll with them. That’s all we’ve got, but you know what I’m glad I have them. I love this team. 

“For the most part they play hard, and that’s all I ask them. It’s a learning situation for us each, and we’ve played a competitive schedule. 

“Y’all know how the tough the SEC is, and it just challenges you and makes you better. So, we’re going to continue to ride on that and continue to get better.”

“I’m very proud of my team,” Schaefer said. “They were special today. In between the third and fourth quarters, we talked about wanting to come out and punch in the first five minutes. We really did. We were great in the half-court offense. We were great defensively.          

 

“(Jordan Danberry) was as good as she has been in any game she has played here. She makes great decisions with the ball. I love how she attacked. Jazzmun Holmes did a great job of leading the team. In the fourth quarter, things get a little tiresome. We just kept fighting.”

McCowan said, “As far as activity for today, I just gave my team energy. Diving at the ball gets the crowd excited, which excites us, and that’s what makes us want to go harder. Just wanted to give the crowd something to watch and not something that will make them want to fall asleep.”

 “He (Schaefer) made a deal that if I got three or more blocks in a game, he has to run a 34. With this, coach said I also have to keep my cool after blocking a shot and make sure not to get too excited and behave poorly after.”

Danberry said of McCowan’s lead by example, “It’s very exciting. We’re excited to see our post players dive for loose balls and make big hustle plays. Usually, it’s the guards but they (post players) do it too, and it gets us hyped.”

She laughed off an air ball 3 attempt that McCowan caught and converted.

“That was a pass and an assist. Basically, we always pick up all the slack for each other. If something goes off for one person, the next person has got it.”

Schaefer summarized: “I don’t know that I’ve seen us play that well defensively, get out and transition, and execute on the half court. That fourth quarter was really good. I don’t know where the game got to where it is right now. 

“When we were going into the fourth quarter, it was a six or eight-point game. It just happened like that. Our kids just turned it up. They were locked in on defense. We were getting rebounds and getting the outlets. 

“We were going in transition. Jordan was as good today as she’s been in her career. She had four assists, no turnovers, and was 10 for 15. Again, 20 points and one steal. The kid averaged two points a game a year ago. 

“She’s our second leading scorer right now. I knew she could do this. I knew from the moment I saw her play in high school when I tried to get her the first time. She’s just really playing well. 

“She’s another point guard. She sees the floor well. She makes great decisions with the ball. I just love her attack mode right now. She was really locked in today.

“ The other person is Jazzmun. She ran our team: eight assists, one turnover, two steals, 35 minutes. She had everybody where they needed to be all day, everyday and all night. She really just led our team.

“They were really good in the press. We didn’t get a lot of turnovers in the press, but I think it creates the atmosphere. I think it wears down your opponent. I think in that third quarter, things got a little tiring. We had no answer for Rennia Davis. She was as good as I know she can be and knew she can be. I was just proud. We kept fighting.

“I said, ‘Let’s get a score, a stop-score or a stop-score-stop for whoever had it,’ at the beginning of the fourth. We got several stops and several scores. We executed. Our fourth quarter field goal percentage was 66 percent. We really did a nice job, I thought we executed offensively.”

He said McCowan put on a show “I think she shows herself on days like today on how dominating she can be. She’s had other games where she’s scored more and had more rebounds, but I just think she energizes that team and that arena. 

“When she’s going into the scorers’ table, she’s playing hard. That’s what I want my team to do. At the end of the day, she’s doing what I ask all of our players to do. She knows that just because she’s a five player, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have to do it. 

“She understands that Jazzmun does that, she can do it. Just because she’s a little bit taller doesn’t mean she can’t do it. That doesn’t mean she can’t play hard, deny, go after a loose ball and get on the floor.

“She energizes our team and energizes our arena. I’m really proud of her. I just thought all of our kids were focused today. We had three hiccups and they all resulted in 3s for the other team. Other than that, I thought we were really locked in and focused today. 

“Teaira doing those things just shows how unselfish she is. She’s not just somebody that stands back and says, “Well, I don’t have to do that.” She does it. She wants to do it. On a day like today, it helps her teammates.

“I’d like to think they work really hard in practice and games are easier. I’d like to hope that we’re are in great shape and physical condition. We demand that of them. The hardest part of our practice is at the end. It’s where you have to be focused and locked in defensively. We do a lot of defensive work.

“It’s not easy. It’s a product of our system. They know I take great pride in that. I don’t like to be out hustled or out toughed. If I think we’re not in top physical condition because of the way I like to play, they know I will fix that in a hurry. They’re reaping what they sew.

“It’s what they do every day in practice. I tell people all of the time. If you’ve never been to Starkville or never seen us play, you have no idea what my kids do every day in practice. 

“You have no idea how long and how much focus we spend on defense. A lot of teams don’t even work on defense. Some people try to use that against me in recruiting. If you come here, you’re going to learn to play defense, and we’re going to win too. 

“At the end of the day, these kids work hard at that. We take great pride in that. I have four seniors out there that know how to defend. They know how to guard. It’s a product of what we do every day.

“It was a pretty good day. It makes you forget some of the things. They will tell you, it drives me crazy when we have these shot clock things. I’ve got to coach better. That’s the bottom line. I have not done a good job of putting them in a position in practice where the shot clock winds down, and we have to guard somebody.

“I don’t want to have that happen in a game. If you take that away, this is as good as we’ve played in a long time and against a team I have so much respect for who’s really good. 

“Early when they were playing really good, we were answering by playing really good. We were answering each other. I felt like if we could make it to the third or fourth quarter, we would be in a better position with a little more juice.”

State has been in the AP poll 88 straight weeks, including 53 weeks in a row in the Top 10.

The ’Dawgs are the nation’s top scoring offense, averaging 90 and allowing 56.7, for the highest scoring margin (33.3) in Division I.

Tennessee approaches its all-in segment now. 

They must win the majority of its games. This week it’s a rematch with Auburn then another must-win at Missouri. 

All season, they have used the “we’re young” crutch. No one is a rookie anymore and the sophomores must play like veterans in their second full season. No team wants to be the one that ends the record NCAA appearance streak, nor should they be.

State is trying to refute the ESPN wonks and gain a top seed, likely in a bracket with UConn. They welcome in middle-of-the-pack Missouri and then have the trap game at A&M. 

They are just outside the top four nationally, according to the poll. It will take an upset loss among those above them in their conference tournaments to jump up, leaving the Selection Committee to weigh conference values for the final picks. 

State has advanced as a No. 2 seed to the Final Four before.

No. 12 South Carolina (17-5)

South Carolina forward Victaria Saxton earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors.

She was just fine again off the bench in the 76-42 dismissal of visiting Ole Miss. The bench contributed more than 40 for the second straight game. 

Freshmen Saxton and Destanni Henderson each scored a dozen and redshirt senior Nelly Perry,  scored a team-high 13 points, her career best, with three 3s.

The third quarter had the Gamecocks impress their will, allowing five points with nine forced turnovers in that single-digit defensive marker. It is the 11th straight win in the series.

Saxton scored the first five of the fourth quarter.  SC remains solidly in second place in the league.

“What is happening with our freshmen is that they're growing up a little bit,” coach Dawn Staley said.

“They're seeing the pace in which they need to practice and play. What they haven’t done is, they haven’t gotten too high with the highs and too low with the lows. They maintain. They’ve waited until their numbers were called, and they don't know when, but every time that we call their number as of late, they’ve executed and they’ve given us a boost."

The Gamecocks put success on hold Monday night when they went to UConn for an expected whooping, though it didn’t happen until the second half in Hartford.

 Staley owes plenty to UConn coach Geno Auriemma for bringing her along as his national assistant to the point where she now is the national team coach, but she doesn’t owe him nonconsequential losses that interrupt league play.

The Gamecocks will obviously win 20. 

They get back to that at home for Georgia and then are at Florida.

Particularly with Georgia will be a rebound game after UConn against a dangerous team.

They need to keep taking care of business in the league to stay in the top four of conference.

No. 17 Kentucky (19-5)

UK hit its first eight 3s at Auburn as they started their sweep of teams from Alabama in their only game this week, 78-68.

Freshman guard Rhyne Howard hit two 3s in the first quarter. They led 42-28 at the break. The Tigers had one made free throw, the Kats nine Another SEC game decided early. UK has won 11 of the past 12 games in the series. A Friends and family plan – 1,609 – attended.

Senior guard Taylor Murray finished with 17, Howard with 19, 5-of-7 3s. The Kats hit 11 3s. Reserve Blair Green scored 12, 5-of-5 from the field, hitting both 3s. UK hit 52 percent from the field, the best SEC effort all season.

Coach Mathew Mitchell said of Howard, “She was feeling it. She really shot the 3 well tonight. I tell you that it doesn't always translate, but she shot it well yesterday in practice and really well today in practice today in Auburn Arena and it really carried over. 

“The ball reversal and the 3-ball was incredible to start the game and bailed us out tonight because we really got in a spot there defensively. I don't know what exactly happened in the second half; we did not play really good defense, but we played good enough offense to win."

Kentucky started the week at Alabama then takes a week to prepare for Arkansas’ visit. They moved up two spots in the national poll.

No. 22 Texas A&M (18-5)

The Aggies went to the Missouri Madhouse where the home team had a six-game home winning streak, led by Sophie Cunningham, who averages 16.5 per game.

The Aggies won last season’s matchup 82-63 on Senior Day in College Station, with Carter scoring a game-high 23. 

Despite the Aggies’ double-digit wins last season and in the 2017 SEC Tournament Quarterfinals, the three matchups in the series prior to that have come down to the final second of regulation.

Missouri got to its 17th win  in overtime, 70-65.

 A&M folded, losing the fourth 18-9, to allow the overtime. They even missed a final second layup. The single-digit offensive output for a quarter almost always proves deadly. They drew 4,513.

These are two teams battling for the fourth position in the league. It appears it will be down to the wire. 

Each plays both Mississippi State and Tennessee.

Leading the all-sophomore A&M lineup is the SEC leading scorer, Chennedy Carter, averaging 21.8. With double figures she is the fourth Aggie player in the past 28 years with 31 consecutive games of scoring at least 10. She scored 29, but took 33 shots to do it.

A&M’s Kayla Wells entered the game as the SEC’s most-improved scorer, increasing her scoring average from 2.8 in 2017-18 to 13.8 this season. Wells has scored at least 13 points in each of the past five games, averaging 16.3. She hit 18 this time.

“We have to go into Missouri focused, it’s a tough place to play, especially since they just lost,” said Wells. “We’ve been playing good defense, and defense wins games. The defense has been a big part of the win streak.”

Did not happen.

Cunningham scored 22. She scored the final four points at the line and also had a jumper, so six of the nine points.

Cunningham had the SEC commentators in the booster seats. They usually portray her as the best player in conference. She started that way. The Tigers led 14-4, eight by Cunningham, 2-0f-2 on 3s. She hit her other try too. Her team was hitting 55 percent, A&M 12 percent. Yuck.

But the quarter ended just 15-10 and the Aggies opened the second with a basket. 

Cunningham had added two free throws to hit double figures. Carter was chugging along with six points on a lot of shots.

 It was tied at 21 by the time she got to 10 points. She started the quarter 4-for-4.

There were the usual antics that somehow surface in any Cunningham confrontation. She and  Cheah Rael-Whitsitt got in a tangle of legs, both flopping and Cunningham getting the home call. 

Blair told his players not to fall for it, but to think more. Still, in a game where every point counted, the manufactured free throws meant a lot.

“I just loved our grittiness and our toughness,” Said Missouri coach Robin Pingeton.  “I loved our composure, Texas A&M did a great job on Sophie.  We just didn’t get a lot done on Carter but enough to get the job done.”

Losing to unranked Missouri dropped the Aggies four spots in the national poll.

With a week off, they now fixate on LSU before the Mississippi State challenge.