Subscribe to Full Court PressForm Holds As Conference Play Gets Underway for SEC Women’s Basketball
Photo Caption: Tennessee freshman Ariel Massengale (5) and senior Alicia Manning (15) provide defensive pressure for the Lady Vols. Tennessee improved to 9-3 overall and 1-0 in Southeastern Conference play after winning their conference season opener against Auburn, 73-52. In the SEC game of the week, No. 17/15 Georgia will visit No. 7/8 Tennessee on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
Photo Credit: Courtesy University of Tennessee Athletics Media Relations
By Mike Siroky
Correspondent
& Lee Michaelson
Publisher
SEC conference play got underway for women’s basketball on New Year’s Day, and the results were pretty much what one might have expected, with all of the conference favorites securing wins in their conference openers.
In the game of the day, the No. 6 Kentucky squeezed out a 59-56 road win against an unranked Florida team that gave the ‘Cats a surprisingly tough time. No. 17/15 Georgia also had more trouble than one might have expected but nonetheless edged past Arkansas, 67-57.
Meanwhile, No. 7/8 Tennessee picked up an easy conference win, routing Auburn, 73-52. South Carolina pummeled Alabama, 68-42, and in the most lopsided “contest” of the day, LSU rolled over the Rebels of Ole Miss, 83-44.
Vanderbilt and Mississippi State were idle; they’ll face their first conference match-ups on Thursday, January 5.
Let’s take a closer look at the opening day match-ups, the current conference standings, and this week’s key game.
Conference Opener Results
No. 6 Kentucky 59, Florida 56.
Kentucky bounced back from a confidence-rattling loss 58-70 loss last week at Middle Tennessee to grab a 59-56 road win in its SEC opener against Florida.
“I think our players might’ve been doubting themselves,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our players bouncing back.”
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, though the Wildcats fared significantly better, netting 38.6 percent (22-of-57) of their shots from the field and 62.5 percent (five-of-eight) from beyond the arc. The Gators shot a paltry 32.8 percent (20-of-61) from the field, and did even worse from downtown where they netted just five of their 18 attempts (27.8 percent).
And in a game that was far from pretty, both teams were plagued by bad cases of butter fingers, with the Wildcats coughing the ball up 22 times to 23 turnovers for Florida.
That makes 96 straight games in which Kentucky has forced double-digit mistakes by its opponent and at least 22 in every game this season. However, as the final tally amply demonstrated, that statistic becomes less impressive when the Cats are coughing the ball up nearly as often as the opposition.
Though Kentucky trailed by single digits for much of the first period, the Cats carried a four-point edge (33-29) into the half, thanks to freshman guard Bria Goss, who scored a career-best 11 points, all in the first half, for Kentucky. Junior guard A’dia Mathies also played her part, knocking down two straight three pointers within 15 seconds late in the first half, to give Kentucky a lead it would never forfeit.
Though Florida threatened, twice tying the score early in the second half and closing to within one (41-42) with a little more than eight minutes remaining Kentucky responded with an 11-4 run to stretch the lead to eight points (53-45) over the next six minutes. And though the Gators whittled that down to a three-point margin in the final two minutes of play—and, in fact, Florida actually outscored the Cats, 27-26, over the second period—Kentucky never trailed, hanging on to secure the narrow win.
Florida seems to be a tough match-up for the Wildcats, regardless of national rankings or overall records. Last year, Kentucky squeaked out a 59-58 win in Gainesville thanks to two free throws by Victoria Dunlap in the game’s final seconds. Overall, the record between the two teams stands dead even at 22-22, with Kentucky 9-10 when the game is played in Gainesville.
Mathies finished with a team-high 14 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and three steals, but five turnovers. She and Goss were the only Wildcats to finish in double figures.
But a mid-season addition—UConn transfer Samarie Walker, a 6-1 sophomore post who became eligible at the close of fall semester classes—may provide an uplift for the Wildcats in conference play. Walker has appeared in just four games to date and has started in the last two. Though played only 17 minutes, scoring scored just eight points (eight crucial points, it turns out, in a game that was decided by just three points), Walker, and freshman forward/center Azia Bishop, led the team in rebounding with seven and eight boards, respectively.
Deana Allen had 14 points and Ndidi Madu finished with 11 for Florida (10-4, 0-1). Jennifer George added 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Jaterra Bonds also scored 10 for the losing side.
Arkansas visits Kentucky on Thursday for the second conference game for both sides.
No. 7/8 Tennessee 73, Auburn 52.
No. 7/8 Tennessee (9-3) had no trouble dispatching Auburn, 73-52, picking up its 34th straight conference win in the process.
Poor shooting also afflicted both sides in this contest, as Tennessee, which entered the game near the top of the SEC in both scoring offense and field-goal percentage, connected on only 32.3 percent (21-of-65) of its field-goal attempts and was an even worse 18.8 percent (three-of-16) from the arc where its usually fares quite well. Auburn actually performed better in both departments, hitting 37.3 percent (19-of-51) from the field and a healthy 43.8 percent (seven-of-16) from three-point range.
But Tennessee won the battle of the boards, 49-31, and the Lady Vols’ defense forced 25 turnovers with 12 steals, while giving up only 18 turnovers of their own—thereby depriving Auburn of much-needed possessions. Moreover, even when the Vols’ trapping defense did not produce a turnover, it often forced the Tigers into hurried shots with the shot clock winding down.
In the end, the game was won by the Vols at the line, where Tennessee netted 28 of its 31 free-throw attempts (90.3 percent). Auburn paid just 12 visits to the charity stripe, connecting on seven of its attempts (58.3 percent), for a 21-point difference in penalty points, exactly the Tennessee margin of victory.
Tennessee didn’t get out to a strong start and led by just two, 31-29, at the half.
“In the first half, our offense affected our defense,” associate head coach Holly Warlick explained. “We missed a lot of easy layups, and that in turn affected our defense. (Coach Pat Summitt) had a pretty stern talk with them at halftime and basically said they need to get their act together or they’re walking home, in those condensed words.
“The second half we played hard on defense, got easy layups off of our turnovers, and that’s what we need,” she said. “We need to score off of our defense.”
The message hit the mark, as the Vols stretched the lead to 14 points by the midway point of the second half, and a 19-6 run late in the game turned a win into a rout.
Meighan Simmons led the Vols with 20 points – 13 in the second half—to add to four rebounds and two assists, but five turnovers.
Shekinna Stricklen scored 17 points, adding three assists and three steals; Glory Johnson registered a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds; and Alicia Manning added 10 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.
Camille Glymph of Auburn led all scorers with 21 points, but was the only Auburn player to notch double figures.
No. 17/15 Georgia 67, Arkansas 57.
Georgia opened its SEC conference season with a 67-57 win over Arkansas, but had a more difficult time pulling off that feat than one would have expected for the No. 17/15 team in the country playing an unranked opponent.
The Razorbacks led for much of the first 10 minutes, with their lead hitting the high-water mark of nine points (16-7) at 13:38. But an Anne Marie Armstrong trey tied things up midway through the opening period, and the Bulldogs launched a 20-10 run to close the half and take a 10-point lead, 38-28, into the intermission.
The Lady Dawgs would play the visitors even in the second half, but that was all they would need to carry away the win.
For the third straight game, four Lady Bulldogs put up double-digit points, as Jasmine Hassell scored a team-high 19 for Georgia, which improved to 12-2 with the win. Anne Marie Armstrong scored 15 points, while Khaalidah Miller and Meredith Mitchell added 12 apiece, with all of Miller’s 12 points coming from three-point land.“
We have the ability to be a very balanced team,” said coach Andy Landers. “They play unselfishly and share the ball. They all have the ability to score. Today, they executed the game plan very well.”
Sarah Watkins led the way for the Razorbacks with 15 points, to which she added nine rebounds and two swats; C’eira Ricketts added 14 points, plus four assists and two steals.
In the match-up of the week, on Thursday, Jan. 5, Georgia visits Tennessee.
South Carolina 68, Alabama 42
South Carolina (12-2) tromped right over the Crimson Tide, as the Gamecocks held Alabama to just 15 first-half points, while using a 12-0 run midway through the first half to establish a control they would never relinquish. Carolina led 27-15 by halftime, and more than doubled that edge over the course of the second half.
Junior guard Ieasia Walker had 12 points in just 26 minutes; backcourt-mate Markeshia Grant, a senior, contributed 11; and junior forward Ashley Bruner came off the bench to chip in 10. Freshman forward Aleighsa Welch, also in relief, pulled down 10 rebounds, barely missing a double-double with nine points.
Jasmine Robinson, with 16 points, was the only ‘Bama player to break the double-digit barrier.
The win was the first for South Carolina in an SEC season opener in a decade.
“It’s very important because wins in this league are hard to come by,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said.
“There are definitely no nights off, so it’s that much more important to take care of home. We put special emphasis on it because after these first five games we go on the road for a little bit. We’ve got to get our wins at home before we take on the rigors of being on the road in the SEC.”
LSU 83, Ole Miss 44
LSU (9-3) tumbled out of the national rankings after picking up a series of losses—some of them in heartbreakingly close contests—in mid-to-late November. But that was not to be the case on opening day of SEC conference play, as Nikki Caldwell celebrated her return to the SEC as a head coach by handing Ole Miss a first-class shellacking.
A 24-2 LSU run to close the first half gave the Lady Tigers a 20-point halftime edge (40-20). From there, the Tigers could have coasted. But they didn’t, instead nearly doubling their advantage over the course of the second half.
LaSondra Barrett, a native of Jackson, Miss., had 13 points and 13 rebounds, playing just 24 minutes in her 15th career double-double versus Ole Miss. Senior LSU guard Destini Hughes scored a season-high 13 with four assists and three steals, while sophomore guard Jeanne Kenney added 10 points plus seven assists (to just one turnover).
But this was a game in which every LSU player would make their mark on the scoreboard, posting at least two points. And all but one Lady Tiger would pull down at least one rebound.
Nikki Byrd was the only Ole Miss player in double figures with 14 points to go with five rebounds and two assists (but three turnovers).
“I liked that we played more off the dribble drive today,” LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said. “Destini Hughes really set the tone for us in being aggressive off the dribble. Obviously, LaSondra Barrett gets 13 boards and was really that presence for us on the offensive end.”
True enough. But the vaunted Tiger defense was also on full display, as LSU held the Rebels to a measly 24.6 percent from the field and an even worse 21.4 percent from the arc. Of course, this was a day when the Ole Miss shooters couldn’t even hit their uncontested shots, as they connected on just nine of their 19 attempts (47.4 percent) from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, LSU knocked down 55.2 percent (37-of-67) of its shots from the field, and shot a respectable, if not impressive, 30.8 percent (four-of-13) from three-point range. They also connected on 71.4 percent (five-of-seven) of their attempts from the charity stripe, though free-throw shooting did not play a significant role in the win.
Current SEC Standings
| SEC Women’s Basketball Standings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (As of January 2, 2012) | |||||
| Rank | School | Conf. | Pct. | Overall | Pct. |
| 1 (tie) | Georgia | 1-0 | 1.000 | 12-2 | .857 |
| 1 (tie) | Kentucky | 1-0 | 1.000 | 12-2 | .857 |
| 1 (tie) | South Carolina | 1-0 | 1.000 | 12-2 | .857 |
| 4 | LSU | 1-0 | 1.000 | 10-2 | .769 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 1-0 | 1.000 | 9-3 | .750 |
| 6 | Vanderbilt | 0-0 | .000 | 12-1 | .923 |
| 7 | Mississippi State | 0-0 | .000 | 10-3 | .769 |
| 8 | Arkansas | 0-1 | .000 | 11-1 | .846 |
| 9 (tie) | Florida | 0-1 | .000 | 10-4 | .714 |
| 9 (tie) | Ole Miss | 0-1 | .000 | 10-4 | .714 |
| 11 | Alabama | 0-1 | .000 | 10-5 | .667 |
| 12 | Auburn | 0-1 | .000 | 8-6 | .571 |
| Source: SECDigitalNetwork.com | |||||
Coming Up this Week
Thursday, January 5 (All Times Eastern Standard)
| Game | Time | TV |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas @ Kentucky | 6:00 PM | |
| Georgia @ Tennessee | 7:00 PM | |
| Vanderbilt @ South Carolina | 7:00 PM | |
| Auburn @ Alabama | 7:30 PM | |
| Florida @ Ole Miss | 8:00 PM | FSFL/SUN |
| LSU @ Mississippi St. | 8:00 PM |
Sunday, January 8 (All Times Eastern Standard)
| Game | Time | TV |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama @ LSU | 2:00 PM | |
| Georgia @ Auburn | 2:00 PM | |
| South Carolina @ Florida | 2:00 PM | |
| Ole Miss @ Vanderbilt | 3:00 PM | |
| Mississippi St. @ Kentucky | 3:30 PM | FSN |
| Tennessee @ Arkansas | 3:30 PM |
SEC Game of the Week: Georgia @ Tennessee, Thursday, January 5, 2012, 7:00 PM, Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.
While the Lady Vols have accumulated a 9-3 overall record and a No. 7/8 national ranking while taking on some of the toughest competition in the country, the Lady Dawgs have quietly amassed an impressive 12-2 overall win-loss record, albeit against somewhat less challenging opposition, but still good enough to claim their spot in the Top 25 at No. 17/15.
Thursday, the two will collide in Knoxville in what will be the second SEC conference game of the season for both teams. The game will pit one of the top defensive squads in the country in Georgia, which has allowed its opponents only 55.2 points per game (fifth-best scoring defense in the SEC), against a one of the stronger offenses in the conference, if not the country, in Tennessee, which has been averaging 78.8 points per outing (third-highest in the SEC).
But while Andy Landers’ Georgia Bulldogs have long been known for their defense, this season, they’re no slackers on the offensive end of the court, either, putting up 73.6 points per game, for the fourth-best scoring offense in the SEC. And conversely, when it comes to defense, Tennessee may rank dead last in the SEC, but the Vols are still allowing a meager 62.5 points per game. So when it comes to scoring margin, it’s not that surprising to find Georgia, at +18.4 points per game, just a few places ahead of Tennessee, which weighs in at +16.3.
In some respects, these two teams are more alike than one might expect. Both rely relatively heavily on the three-ball with Tennessee shooting 38.9 percent from the arc for 82 makes to date, and Georgia hot on its heels at 34.4 percent from downtown and 76 made threes. Both teams also are ungenerous defenders of the three-point line, with Tennessee allowing opponents only 28.4 percent shooting from three-point range, and Georgia allowing 30.1 percent from the arc.
Both teams are also dangerous because of their multiple scoring options. Defending either of them is much like a game of “Whack-a-Mole,” in which an effort to clamp down on one scoring threat simply results in another one popping up and taking over. Tennessee has four players who average double figures, led by senior wing Shekinna Stricklen with 16.5 points per game, Glory Johnson, a grad student and redshirt “senior” with 13.9 points per contest, 6-1 guard Taber Spani, a junior, with 11.9 points per game, and sophomore Meighan Simmons, now more comfortable at her natural shooting guard position, with 11.3 points per game.
But with four scoring threats of its own, Georgia will present similar defensive headaches for Tennessee. The Lady Dawgs are led by junior forward Jasmine Hassell with 14.4 points per game, followed by sophomore guard Khaalidah Miller (13.5), junior wing Anne Marie Armstrong (10.8) and junior guard Jasmine James (10.8).
Two years ago, one would have given the Lady Vols a decided height advantage, but while Tennessee still boasts some tall trees in 6-3 post Glory Johnson, 6-1 forward Alicia Manning, and 6-2 Stricklen, and a duo of freshmen relievers Cierra Burdick (6-2) and Isabelle Harrison (6-3)—size is a less compelling edge for the Vols than it has been in the recent past.
For one thing, Tennessee’s tallest player, 6-4 forward/center Vicki Baugh, a redshirt grad student playing out her final year of eligibility after missing nearly two years to knee injuries, appears to have lost her spot in the starting rotation, where Alicia Manning has taken her place after Baugh’s poor showing in Tennessee’s 80-97 loss at No. 4 Stanford. Baugh notched just two points and three rebounds, while racking up four personal fouls in just 15 minutes of action in that outing, and since then has been coming off the bench for limited minutes in Tennessee’s two most recent games. Still, whether as a starter or reliever, Baugh is a player one takes for granted at one’s own peril. Baugh came off the bench for just 16 minutes against Auburn, putting up just four points in that span, and while she did pull down nine rebounds (second only on the team to Glory Johnson), she also matched Johnson’s four turnovers. But Baugh also came off the bench last week against Old Dominion, and in that outing she saw 23 minutes of action and logged a double-double of 11 points and 12 boards.
The other factor is that Georgia has grown a bit itself in recent years. The Bulldogs still have no true center, and one can argue that they start a four-guard line-up with Armstrong functioning more as a wing than a post. Still, Armstrong, now a junior, stands 6-3, and is joined in the front court by the 6-2 Hassell, the team’s leading scorer. Starting guard Meredith Mitchell, a 6-1 senior, should match-up well against the tall Tennessee guards, and Landers still has 6-4 forward Marisella Rodriguez and 6-2 forward Tamika Willis, whom he can pull off the bench should he feel the need to go big. And in deep reserve, there is 6-2 forward Ebony Jones, who has missed most of Georgia’s early season games this season as she recovers from a posterior cruciate ligament injury in her left knee, but saw several minutes of action in early December against Mercer. Jones’s availability for Thursday’s game against Tennessee is currently unknown.
The four keys to this game are likely to be rebounding, foul-shooting, ball-handling and pace. Tennessee is the strongest rebounding team in the SEC, and one of the strongest in the country, averaging 45.4 boards per game, and allowing opponents only 36.3 rebounds per game, for a league-best rebounding margin of +9.1 boards per game. Georgia ranks in the bottom third of the SEC in rebounding at 40.9 boards per game, while allowing opponents 35.1, for a +5.8 rebound-per-game margin that places the Bulldogs at the lower end of the middle of the SEC pack.
The difference may not seem like that much, and it is clearly narrow enough that a team-wide commitment by the Dawgs to hit the boards with a vengeance and keep the Vols off them could turn things around. At the same time, for a team that shoots 43.8 percent from the field, as Tennessee does, a difference of three-to-four rebounds per game, may be all it takes to pull out the win in an otherwise close game.
Second, if Georgia is to have any hope of an upset, they will have to keep Tennessee off the charity stripe, and do a better job themselves when they get to it. When the Lady Vols use the dribble-drive to penetrate the lane, rather than standing around settling for jump shots, they do a good job of getting themselves to the foul line—taking on average just over 23 penalty shots per game, to date. And when they get to the line, they take far better advantage of the opportunity than anyone else in the league, knocking down an SEC-best 72.7 percent of their penalty shots.
The very style of aggressive defensive play that makes Georgia so good, also makes the Bulldogs prone to sending their opponents to the line. And for their own part, while the Lady Dawgs aren’t too far off the mark, getting to the line nearly 19 times per game, they connect on only 66.4 percent of their free-throw attempts.
Only hours of practice will make the Bulldogs better foul shooters, and that isn’t going to happen between now and Thursday. So what the Dawgs will have to work on in the interim is executing their intense, steal-driven defense, without sending the Vols to the charity stripe, where, once again, their free-throw shooting advantage can make just enough difference to determine the outcome of an otherwise close game.
Third, offsetting Tennessee’s strengths in rebounding and foul-shooting is their relative weakness in ball-handling. It’s not that the Vols are poor ball handlers: They cough the ball up 16 times a game on average, which puts them right in the middle of the SEC pack. But they are at the bottom of the league in steals, tied for last-place with Ole Miss at 9.1 per game, and do little to induce turnovers by opponents, leaving them with an extremely thin—and league-worst—turnover margin of +0.67.
Conversely, Georgia’s defensive style is to harass and disrupt the ball-handler. The Bulldogs average 11.7 steals per game, in the SEC only to Kentucky’s 15.5. They turn over the rock only 15.2 times a game, while forcing 21.7 miscues by opponents, for a turnover margin of +6.5 (third-best in the SEC).
The Vols have proved vulnerable to teams with Georgia’s defensive persistence. For example, in its 64-69 overtime upset at Virginia, the Vols threw the ball away 24 times, to just 15 turnovers for the Hoos. And UVa grabbed 13 steals to just eight for Tennessee. Virginia reaped 27 points off Tennessee’s turnovers—far more than the margin of victory—while the Vols garnered only 12 points off Virginia ball-handling errors.
More recently, Tennessee pulled out a narrow 67-61 road win at No. 11 Rutgers. But would the score have been that close had the Vols not given up 16 turnovers to just nine by the Scarlet Knights? Rutgers did not take advantage of the opportunities provided by those mistakes to the same extent as Virginia, but still claimed 12 points from Tennessee turnovers, while the Vols picked up nine from Rutgers’ errors.
Thus, for Tennessee to win, they need to keep a secure handle on the basketball, while, ideally, putting the Bulldogs on their heels with a bit more aggressive play on the defensive side of the ball.
Fourth, there is the question of pace. Tennessee prefers to run the basketball, using their prowess on the boards to fuel their fast break. They do a better job in the half-court set than they have in the recent past, thanks largely to the superior ball-handling and court-sense of freshman point guard Ariel Massengale, who is back in the line-up after suffering a dislocated finger last month.
Conversely, Georgia likes to slow things down. Last year’s 41-47 defensive grinder—a mind-numbingly boring game to all but true aficionados of half-court defense—springs to mind. If Georgia manages to control tempo, turning the game into a half-court contest, they also render the Lady Vols more vulnerable to the steals, hedges and traps that are the Bulldogs’ hallmarks.
Prediction: This has the makings of a great game, and upset is far from unthinkable. But though Georgia may be underrated, the edge has to go to Tennessee, which possesses a higher talent level at nearly every position. Add to that the home-court advantage—Thompson-Boling Arena, where the Lady Vols have built up a 345-21 all-time home record, is one of the toughest venues in the nation for a visitor to pull off an upset—and we’d take Tennessee by ten points or better.
Originally published Tue, January 03, 2012
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