Mike Siroky’s SEC Report: Two Top 4s Survive to Semis

By Mike Siroky

The best conference in women’s basketball – the Southeastern – has its final four with top seed Mississippi State had three seed Texas A&Ms surviving among the top teams in the quarterfinals

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Many unsuspecting seniors found themselves checking out of hotels, home to just practice for a week without playing for anything.

Mississippi State earned a semifinal with Missouri, the only other team to win in Starkville all season.

A&M has not won this season without the league’s top scorer, Chennedy Carter, now rehabbing  a fractured finger from the final game of the regular season.

The Aggies had several days to figure out a new lineup.

When you earn the double-bye, two things can happen. The best is to polish up the machine, clear out the clutter, tweak whatever needs tweaked and run out the race car at full bore. There is this legend that some teams start slowly. That seldom is true.

These superb young athletes are raring to go. 

They are all positioning for NCAA favorable draws. 

The idiots in ESPNland that pretend their own Magic 8 Ball predictions are true now can just shut up.

The best teams seems destined to be in the title game. South Carolina had won the past five, so there is a new champion to come.

Quarterfinals

No. 1 seed Mississippi State 83, Tennessee  68

Arkansas 95, No. 2 seed South Carolina 89.

No. 3 seed Texas A&M 64, Auburn 62.

Missouri 70, No. 4 seed Kentucky 68, overtime.

Semifinals

Mississippi State vs. Missouri

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas

No. 1 seed Mississippi State 83, Tennessee  68

The Vols were not just happy to be here. They had the lesser team. State is just that much better, especially with Teaira McCowan at center.

The best coach in conference, Vic Schaefer, had said the most pride he has is that his team always gets better month to month, that they are never satisfied.

The Bulldogs (15-1 in conference) won their second straight SEC regular-season title on Sunday, the first women’s team in program history to do that.

McCowan was named SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year by the league’s coaches on Monday as well as being selected to the All-SEC First Team and All-Defensive Team.

Schaefer was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second straight year. He is just the sixth coach in SEC history to win the coaches’ voting for the honor three times, joining four Hall of Famers. 

State has been in the AP poll 92 straight weeks, including 56 weeks in a row in the Top 10. State has led at halftime in all but one game this season. The Bulldogs have trailed by more than three points in six games all year and only trailed by double digits twice.

McCowan is averaging 18.6 points and 12.0 rebounds in the past five contests with four double-doubles in that span. She has scored in double figures in 24 of 29 contests this season, including five 20-point efforts. 

If they win two more, McCowan and Holmes will have 129 career wins, fourth-best of their era., second-best of the immediate  past seasons only to UConn. 

A great perspective can be had by asking Anriel Howard — now with 98 career wins -- about the difference between three successful seasons at Texas A&M and this wonderful ride.

State scored first, which is what it usually does. 

Tennessee took a few minutes to get untracked, which is what it usually does. But the Vols did not get hammered from the jump, a recent upward trend. Evina Westbrook went 4-for-4 as UT tied it at nine. 

Howard scored six for State. It was a rollicking start, 23-17, UT, at the first break.

McCowan had two points and two personal fouls. That evened things up a lot. 

Tennessee coach Holly Warlick had already discarded her jacket and was in intensive work mode. She needed Rennia Davis to wake up.

State hit a 12-4 run but UT hung in, behind by a basket with four to go before intermission. 

But then State stayed steady and worked it to an 11-point halftime edge without much McCowan. A deadly 26-9 quarter. Howard had 15, but also two personals. Jazzmun Holmes elevated her offense to score 12 4-of-4 from the line and 4-of-6 from the field, already five above her average.

Tennessee struggled with a disparity at the line. They were only awarded two free throws and made them both. State was 9-of-11 and there was the point differential. Davis had not yet arrived. 

They had 15 turnovers. UT was winning rebounds. Westbrook scored a dozen, 2-of-3 3s. “I told them to take care of the basketball; that’s my whole message,” Warlick said. “We’re doing an adequate job on the defensive end, really.”

Schaefer also discarded his jacket, the better to do the sideline shuffle.

McCowan stayed understated, with 10 points and nine rebounds with six to go in the third quarter. UT has no answer to her. The lead was a dozen. There didn’t seem much margin left. UT had no traction.

No one knew for sure, but it was over. 

The lead ambled to 15 in the fourth. Westbrook had 19, Davis arrived with 11, finished with 16. McCowan had her double/double without another foul, 15 points and 12 rebounds; Howard was 11-of-16 for 26 points.

Besides Westbrook’s energy, the only positive for the Vols was in still winning rebounds.

The foul shots never did even up. UT was 5-of-5. State remained in control by hitting 16-of-21.

“We played hard, we didn’t play smart at times,”  Warlick said, emphasizing you cannot do that against great teams.

“We battled but we just didn’t have enough. That makes it a tough game for us.”

“Our main thing was our turnovers,” said Westbrook.  “They had 30 points off our turnovers and that just killed us. We have to do a better job. (Holmes) job is to keep me busy while I am trying to run things. Her defense comes from all over.”

“I think we have done enough, I would like to think so, wherever we go.”

“I am really proud of our kids,” Schaefer said. “I thought tonight the second quarter was really special after getting off to a sluggish start in the first quarter. We were losing the horse game. We let them stand around and shoot. Good gosh,  If you play horse in this conference, you’re going to lose every night.

“We found a way there in the second quarter,” Schaefer said. “It was kind of the difference in the game. Jazz was as good today as I’ve ever seen her. She just was really special. I couldn’t be prouder of her.

“Man, what she does is special. She ran the show on offense and she gave them problems defensively.”

With more games to come, no seniors had a final appearance.

Opening night, the SEC telecasters tried to tell us 3,148 was a great crowd. No comment on the second day’s 1,138. The top seed and in-state team attracted 4,431 for the quarterfinals.

Arkansas 95, No. 2 seed South Carolina (13-3 in conference) 89.

Arkansas and coach Mike Neighbors did not back down, winning three of four quarters and the game, 95-89.

 An 18th win, unranked against a ranked team, has to help their NCAA placement

Chelsee Dungee, averaging 21.6, had 13 at the 43-19 half, 8-of-8 from the line. She finished with 31, 13-of-13 free throws, two 3s. 

Senior facilitator Malica Monk had six assists two 3s and 16 points. Alexus Toelfree scored 18 with four 3s, 4-of-4 free throws, two under stress ear the end. Jailyn Mason also had four 3s and opened the game with one.  The junior point guard averaged 6.9 points all season.

So much for the SC guard defense. 

If you think 3s made the difference, a conference team tournament record 11 – eight in the second half -- did. 

Hitting 81 percent from the line was huge. 

Neighbors had never beaten Dawn Staley. 

SC will be not in the title game for the first time in six seasons. 

They may not have worried about arrangements to play first round games out of town. They might not be that good. One and done in this tournament is not good.

Reserve Gamecock Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan had 11 at intermission, 27 for the game. Nine scored. SC hit an appreciative seven 3s, great in any other game. No longer starter Te’a Cooper, scored two.

Junior point guard Tyasha Harris was about it for the Gamecocks, 24 points. It was her sixth straight double-figure game.

This is the sixth consecutive seasons the Gamecocks had finished either first or second in the SEC.

“It’s almost like we made the Final Four,” said the coach who has already done that elsewhere. “We were at a high school gym today for practice and someone told me  it looked like chaos. I say practice chaos makes game confidence.”

We had nominated Neighbors for coach of the year in the league. He showed that in this game.

His team runs. SC chose to run with them. The team that plays its own tempo is generally successful. 

Neighbors won the game plan. His team won the game.

“We wanted it for these kids who haven’t done that,” he said. “To be here playing on the weekend . . . they haven’t done that.

“Dungee’s dribble is consistent. The dribble is the hardest thing to guard. She’s just good enough at a lot of things that she can do it. Her teammates have given her a lot of confidence. 

“W got the right kids to stay. We only got five kids to stay (in the two-year transition) and we got the right kids.

“ We changed our identity from Game 1.  It’s everything we missed out on. Everything that Mal has missed out on for four years. Everything Jailyn has missed out on.”

“I don’t know what I’m able to do,” said Monk. “I just try and give it my all. We went out and got the win we were supposed to get.”

“It’s just trying to get to the basket,” said Dungee. “It’s so exciting. So exciting to do this for our seniors.”

They get no. 3 seed Texas A&M in the semifinals. It was 69-67 A&M during the season.

 

No. 3 seed Texas A&M 64, Auburn 62

The expected upset without Chennedy Carter evened up a bit when Auburn barely beat a terrible Alabama team in the previous effort. A&M had never lost to Auburn, winning by three this season.

Coach Gary Blair went with the only guard left on the bench without a start, sophomore Jada Walton. 

She played a career-best 33 minutes,

The Aggies kept adjusting. 

After absorbing an eight-point second quarter, they trailed by four.

They won the next two quarters, but just barely. Neither team led by more than three after that.

With six seconds left, Kayla Wells out them ahead by the final score and they stood strong.  They had trailed by two with 96 seconds left.

“I knew I was getting the last shot,” said Wells. “I just did what I wanted to do with that shot. I didn’t do anything different in the off-season except to work hard.

“For Arkansas, we need to slow them down, to not let it be in the 90s, but the 60s.”

Wells and Ciera Johnson are Texas A&M’s self-described leading “available” scorers. Wells doubled her average with 28, an SEC tournament record for an Aggie. She is the most-improved scorer in the Southeastern Conference, increasing her average 11.9 points from last season. She had six assists. 

Johnson and N’dea Jones scored a dozen each. Jones did what she does on the boards, with 13 for a double/double. A&M won rebounds by 11.

“I think we should have a bye into the NCAA tournament,” Blair said. “Our kids worked so hard. When that player hit a 3 and tied it at 60, back ahead, I thought maybe it is not our night. We had 18 turnovers and only a few after that. 

“We had drawn up the play for Wells and I said into her ear and said, ‘Just get the ball.’ No one else but her was gonna get that ball. We forced them into last-second shots. We were gonna get better shots.

“We couldn’t the ball to Johnson enough. That’s on us. I had a lotta kids play their role. That’s what Aggies do. We’re just one game at a time.”

He said obviously they need to deal with Sophie Cunningham, building her as a conference first-teamer. 

“My SEC coaches should be embarrassed she is not. She is just something.” They had closed their regular home season a week ago with a 66-53 win in the game in which they lost Carter.

The Aggies reached the quarterfinals in all seven league seasons and the semifinals four times. The overall  24-6 is the best program record of the decade.

Terri Williams-Flournoy and her seniors. Erica Sanders,  Emari Jones, and team leader Janiah McKay are done with SEC careers and await an NCAA posting now.

Missouri  70, No. 4 seed Kentucky (11-5 in conference) 68, overtime

Sophie Cunningham was relentless for Missouri. The No. 5 seed was truly matched with the No. 4 seed.

Even when everyone knew she had to have the ball to allow Missouri to win. She still got it and scored 29, with most important points in the endgame. 

 With A&M’s Chennedy Carter out, she is the most natural all-tournament player here. Kentucky and Missouri had never met in the SEC Tournament.

Outstanding rookie Rhyne Howard scored 26, nine points above her average, but No. 13 Kentucky still lost to an unranked team they had dominated by 11. 

This probably ends UK’s chance of hosting a first 

round in the eliminations. They have more than a week to ponder that.

One-and-done is rare for a Matthew Mitchell coached team.

Howard hit 11-of-18 from the field, but missed all six 3s. She made four of six at the free throw line.

Kentucky stayed in it with 18-of-19 free throws and forcing forcing 26 Missouri turnovers, converting them to 22 points. and converting those into 22 points. UK had nine turnovers, with Missouri scoring  eight off those.

In overtime, Howard hit a jumper to give the Cats a 61-59 lead. Cunningham got loose for a layup to tie it at 61-61 with 3:07 to play. This time, it was Kentucky with a quick answer. Howard scored in the paint, giving UK a 63-61 advantage with 2:42 left.

Two Lauren Aldridge free throws with 2:20 remaining tied it. . It got tight. No one scored for more than a minute.  Cunningham ended that with a jumper in the paint. Less than a minute remained UK misfired. 

Aldridge broke lose, was grabbed and made two free throws,. Missouri celebrated a 67-63 lead with 19 seconds remaining.

With 16 seconds left, Howard was fouled and made both free throws. Cunningham was fouled with 12 seconds remaining and calmly hit them both. UK hit one plus the bonus with nine seconds left.

Cunningham was fouled again made one of two at the line.  The Kats’ last gap was a Howard 3 attempt.

In a game in which every point was crucial, Missouri had gotten out to a 7-0 lead, 15-7 at the quarter stop.

Kentucky was held to 1-of-13 shots from the floor. UK hit the first six of the second quarter. As soon as they tied it at 17, Missouri took off on a 10-0 run.

It was 27-19 at halftime, UK hitting 18 percent from the field. Missouri had four 3s. Missouri stayed the curse and led by six after three.

Kentucky cut it down to one to start the fourth period with a 5-0 run. Missouri scored just enough to lead by a point with 3:36 remaining. Howard have UK Its last best chance on a runner with 44 seconds left, The Kats led by one.

So the Tigers got the ball, of course, to Cunningham, who was fouled by Howard. She hit one of two to tie it at 59. She missed the second.

Howard missed the final shot. A putback came after the buzzer.

“You know what, it is my senior year; I am giving it every thing I got,” said Cunningham. They have never made the SEC semifinals before. She is all-in on the “no one else believes” mode. “The whole nation doubts us,” she said.

“I don’t know, we had some really tough possessions,” said Mizzou coach Robin Pingeton. “We made it really, really tough on ourselves.”

Kentucky had 37 more shot attempts

“We contested really, really well. Next possession, new opportunity.” Pingeton said.