Mike Siroky’s SEC Report: On To The Quarters

By Mike Siroky

The best conference in women’s basketball – the Southeastern – has moved into its quarterfinal round after four more games.

Tennessee already had one more overall win than a team rated above them.

 

That helped lead off Day 2.

There was finally an upset, Arkansas over Georgia. 

Another one was as close as possible and would have been an upset.

 Day 1 winners checked out of their hotels early because there was no reason for players to stay overnight.

 They will not make even the WNIT.

Nothing outstanding happened. The four quality teams join the party tonight. Three should win.

Round 2

No. 8 Tennessee 69 No. 9 LSU 66.

No. 5 Missouri 87, Florida 56

No. 10 Arkansas  86,  No. 7 Georgia 76.

No. 6 Auburn 53 Alabama 52

Quarterfinals

No. 1 seed Mississippi State (27-2) vs. Tennessee

No. 4 seed Kentucky (24 -6) vs. Missouri

No. 2 seed South Carolina (21-8) vs, Arkansas

No. 3 seed Texas A&M (23-6) vs. Auburn

 

 No. 8 Tennessee 69, No. 9 LSU 66 (each 7-8 in conference)

Coach Holly Warlick knows none of the past is prologue, except for the idea Tennessee is the only team to qualify for every NCAA tournament, even if the legendary Pat Head once lost in the first round.

UT cannot possibly host this year but this was the moment she sets the stage for a team dominated by back-to-back top classes.

The 18th win probably got them in, but a 19th overall assured that. 

The Vols missed many such chances throughout the season.

 But they are not the team with the fewest wins in the conference elite eight, seven assured of NCAA invitations.

“We’ve got to win a basketball game,” Warlick said, “and they’re intelligent kids, and they know we need to win. We needed to win at Ole Miss too, so they made it a priority. And I think they’re pretty focused and ready to get down there and ready to start playing. 

“I’m just worried about LSU. I can’t control what the committee is going to decide or not decide. We’ve just got to play as hard as we can and beat LSU right now.”

They won at home in the first confrontation, the game after a blowout loss to Notre Dame which set the unnerving rhythm they could win any game and equally could lose any game. They were ranked as high as No. 10 this season.

She has heard of if not read reports.

 She said earlier she need not pay attention social media, including this report. 

 So she remained unafraid to defend the team she assembled even if it meant her drink of choice was a pink antacid.

“How hard we play, our schedule (would get them in the next tournament). We’ve got to earn it, though,” she said. 

Notice she stopped mentioning the youth of her team. 

Pause here to mention UT has never refused an NIT bid. They’ve never been offered one either.

“There’s not going to be any favors or anything, so we’ve got to play hard. And if our Ole Miss game is any indication and we come out and play like that against LSU, I think we have a legitimate case, but we’ve got to show that we deserve to be there.”

 After the first loss ever at home to a terrible Vanderbilt team, they decimated an equally bad Mississippi squad. Now they have a two-game win streak.

“We met, and the team met, which was really positive, and I just talked about a lot of their self-pride and what they stand for and getting back to playing together as a team,” she said. “ You can talk and you can motivate, and it’s not like we didn’t motivate throughout the whole year, but our kids decided it was important to them, and they played hard (at Ole Miss). 

“When you play hard -- I’ve said this the whole time -- when you play hard and you play with a lot of passion and energy and selflessness, we’re pretty darn good basketball team.

“You’re extremely happy for them and then get mad at the same time. As a coach you’ve got to keep moving forward and keep building on what you saw.

“ We’re going to build on that. I know it’s in them, and I know what they can do. They set a pretty high level of intensity and performance, and we need to have that exact same performance against LSU.”

 LSU coach Nikki Farkas is part of the Big Orange legacy, playing there as an All-American. She well knows what it means. 

They are also not a lock for the NCAA eliminations. A win here could knock Tennessee out and they could slip in as Tennessee slips away.

So intertwined are these teams that Tasha Butts former UT All-American recruited by Warlick and member of two National Championship teams, wore Orange this day.

Shanice Horton is the only senior. She is from London and can go home now.

Of course LSU started ahead because that is what Tennessee always allows. But the Vols erased the two-basket deficit and that was another trend. The quarter ended with UT in front, 15-14. 

It is another favorable sign when UT does not fall into an early hole. By halftime, LSU was up by seven, having won the quarter by eight as the Vol offense stalled out.

Kayla Pointer had already exceeded her LSU average with 13. She scored 21 and two others scored 16.

Tennessee was waiting for Evina Westbrook to come alive after sitting in the first quarter with two fouls. 

But she finished with 21, including the final five points in the final 1:50. Rennia Davis did the same foul dance in the second quarter. But she finished with 19.

The defense really closed in stifling a 3 attempt with two seconds left and contesting the last rebound enough to let time expire.

If they stick around for their final two seasons, they can be the delicious duo they always projected to be. They just need incoming bigs to offset defenses.

Tennessee generally starts the third quarter well against lesser or equal teams. A 6-0 run cut the deficit to one point. It was game on.

The difference was a new bench attitude, dancing and slapping hands and generally showing infectious exuberance instead of dread. They actually never had their heads down, never showed a scintilla of worry. They were having fun as they won.

The Vols won the third and fourth five. 

UT Has not closed well, but they did enough here.

The Cremeologist threatened to reload his dartboard. 

Earlier in the week, ESPN had declared Tennessee dead, then they found a pulse and it was LSU dead. 

The funny part is how serious they take themselves using a dice tower as proof.

 The bracket projections historically are not accurate. 

 Anyone can tell you the best five or six teams in America and Crème follows the AP rankings for his top four. 

Maybe because no one else wastes time doing one, they gain attention and ESPN can then quote itself. 

Now, of course, crickets about the  January predictions.

Before this one, even the SEC broadcasters darkly said UT was through. 

Afterwards, “We always believed in you Holly.” 

Thankfully, Warlick is smart enough to just smile though it and whistle past the graveyard that playing Mississippi State usually means lately.

Of this. one, she said, “Our kids showed up. We had grit. When we got in foul trouble, we stayed the course, and (Davis and Westbrook) stepped up. That’s what great players do. They put their team on their backs.”

Davis had hit a late 3 to keep the game in control and allow breathing room. Westbrook saw that shot as the play of the game and said so.

“It was just a chance to give our program a boost, to play a next game,” Davis said. “It’s all about finishing games. Every shot is a big shot.

“We needed to be defending without fouling, not like we did in the first half. Taking care of the ball. Defensively we had to play Tennessee basketball.”

Westbrook said it is all about defense.

“Once we get our defense, it generates our offense,” she said.” Taking good shots. I was taking shots I remember taking in practice.”

Opening night, the SEC telecasters tried to tell us 3,148 was a great crowd. No comment on the second day’s 1,138.

No. 10 Arkansas (6-10 in conference) 86, No. 7 Georgia (9-7 in conference) 76

Arkansas may have punched the lucky eighth ticket to the NCAA in a turnaround seasons an 18 wins. 

Georgia, also with 18, will be the only home seed for the WNIT once again.

Georgia coach Joni Taylor took a few days off towards the end of the season to deliver her second child. 

She is led by all-conference Caliya Robinson, the only senior and the lone player left from her first recruiting class. Sophomore Que Morrison projects as all-conference after missing 10 games to injury. 

But she has started 12 since.

Arkansas has the most engaging coach. When hey closed the season at Mississippi State, led by the man who brought him into coaching Vic Schaefer, Mike Neighbors was invited to speak at the Starkville Chamber of Commerce.

His team is riding diminutive guards Chelsee Dungee, averaging 21.6 and senior spitfire Malica Monk, 12.3 points with 63 assists.  Her classmates are Raven Norcross-Baker and Bailey Zimmerman.

 All are natives of the state.

 The best newcomer junior college transfer Alexis Toelfree.

They have no height. They need a fast-paced guard game. It is still a wonderful season for a second-year man, the fastest rise in conference history.

He was calm throughout. Very relaxed lounging on the bench before the third.

“What was I supposed to say to them?” he wondered. “Second verse. We all grew up going to church You sing one song, you sing the next verse. Our video guy made a hype video. I have never see our team more ready to play.

“I didn’t need to say a thing. We had a great scouting report. All we did point out was just make one big play. I think every one of our kids made a big play.”

Dungee went off for 31, 10-of-12 from the line and 10-of 15 from the field. Monk and three others were in double figures. 

The Razorbacks controlled the first three quarters and led at half, 48-35. They even took a rare rebounds win by 16.

Neighbors ran  a lot of plays through Dungee.

“I first saw here in summer league and wanted to coach her. I could not get her to come to Washington. 

Then I came here,  a little closer to home and she is the perfect player to run that position we call the Dragon. It’s like she’s running downhill. Plus she had a little chip on her shoulder.”

She was not first team All-Conference.

Dungee said, “But I just gotta continue doing what I am doing. Just work hard. Our ability to press when we need to. Our ability to drop back in the zone.”

So they welcome another team with guards, but better guards, South Carolina. They lost by eight at home in the regular season.

 No. 6 Auburn (9-7 in conference) 53, Alabama 52

The War Eagles are a truly dangerous team, especially after missing the double-bye by two games. That was a doable upgrade for coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.

They had swept ’Bama, winning by 10 there and then by 39 last month, setting an SEC record for defense, allowing just 38.

 Auburn had magnificent years started by Joe Ciampi, winning more SEC tournaments than anyone except Pat Head’s teams, in 1981 1987, 1991 and 1997. 

Terri Williams was a Georgia assistant when that school won in 2001. She played at Penn State.

Williams-Flournoy has the handle on both the league and her own spot in the legacy on the Plains.

 With a clear shot at a wounded A&M if they won this one, the goal was set.

McKay scored 12 in the last-seconds rally. Daisa Alexander made two free throws with 11 seconds left to make the difference three. Alabama’s only score in the final two minutes was a tip at the buzzer.

Was Auburn looking ahead to three seed but significantly damaged A&M in tonight’s quarterfinals? 

Alabama blew a six-point lead in the final seven and a half minutes. Senior Janiah McKay started hitting free throws to start a 10-0 run. She hit 4-of-4, all late. 

They made 14 of 17, had 11 steals, forced 26 turnovers and hit five  3s, which covered for missing two of every three field goals. They had nine score.

Alabama was limited at the line, 2-of-4.

Shaquera Wade led the Tide with 19 points, Cierra Johnson retired with scored 17. Finishing below .500 is not a good sign for a veteran coach.

Williams was befuddled after the win, saying “I don’t know” how they did it. “We had to play our best fourth quarter as we could. It is hard to beat a team three times in one season. You tell them to forget about the first two games, but they have it in their heads.

“We had to up the defense.”

Thy had lost to the full complement of A&M by just two. Williams will accept whoever shows up. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “They got a coach and a whole lotta players on that team.”

McKay said, “Ooh, by the grace of God we wont this game. We just found a way to dig down, get some grit and get the W. The defense starts with our top in the press. We are interchangeable. Wo whoever is there starts it.”

 No. 5 Missouri  (10-6 in conference) 87, Florida 56

After an even first quarter, the Tigers easily erased the Gators, winning the rest by plenty.

Australian graduate student Funda Nakkasoglu departs to the international stage, including being a recruit by the Turkey Senior (Olympics) team. 

She scored14 in her final exam. 

They had upset Mizzou, 58-56, at home.  

Delicia Washington slowed to a pedestrian 10.

No one had to do much for Missouri either. Amber Smith scored 18 with two 3s. Two bench players were among those in double figures.

“It was about being aggressive,” Smith said. “Slow the game down, get the rebounds. We are never the underdog, Earn another game.

“We have a little bit of everything. We have a little bit f fun, a little bit of serious and a little bit of dramatic. Everybody just plays their role very well.”

They get the debut of No. 4 seed Kentucky, having lost there  53-41.