SEC notebook: UConn-Tennessee clash in battle of bluebloods, ranked tests for Texas, things we learned in Week 5 

When Tennessee (16-5) takes the floor against UConn (21-2) on Thursday at Food City Center, Caldwell will coach in her first installment of one of the greatest rivalries in women’s college basketball. However, she is no stranger to the matchup and the enormous level of hype leading up to the showdown of the two blueblood programs.

“… It took over your whole week when that game was on the schedule and you would talk about it at school and you would talk about it at practice,” Caldwell said Tuesday in her weekly news conference. “You would be just looking forward to it. Watch it and record it. It was such a big deal. … It’s very humbling to now be a part of it.”

Between Tennessee and UConn, the two programs share a combined 19 national championships, with Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma sitting at 11 and the late, legendary Pat Summitt capturing eight, with her last coming in 2008. In fact, in the Vols’ last title run, Caldwell was 19 and playing basketball at D-II Glenville State. Even more, Caldwell’s starters and key reserves on this year’s team were anywhere between two and six years old when Summitt last hoisted the Waterford Crystal basketball in Knoxville, Tennessee.

As the two historic rivals reignite the battle after a one-year hiatus, Tennessee enters the matchup seeking to add another win following its 76-71 victory against Missouri. But the big picture tells a different story. the Vols have lost five of their last eight games by an average margin of three points. If the Vols seek to upset the Huskies and notch their second AP top 25 victory this season, Caldwell emphasized that her team must be efficient on offense, start strong, play for 40 minutes and defend well. 

Tennessee leads the nation in three pointers (11.0) and three-point attempts per game (33.1) while sitting second in points per contest (91.1) and offensive rebounds (19.3) and in the top ten in turnover margin (9.95), bench points per game (31.3), turnovers forced per game (24.2) and steals (12.8) in part to its fierce full-court press.

“We have to show up on the defensive side end,” Caldwell said. “I think we need to work on sharing the ball better [in half court offense] and just our last game [against Missouri], our finishing was really bad.”

UConn enters the rival game as winners of its last 11 games, and they’ve won them by nearly 30 points (29.2). First-team All-American Paige Bueckers leads the Huskies in points per game (19.0) while shooting 54.4% from the floor, 42.1% from beyond the arc and averaging 4.2 assists, two steals and 4.2 rebounds per game. 

“Great player, she knows how to get to her spots and she’s very efficient as well,” said Tennessee guard Jewel Spear of Bueckers.

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Sarah Strong (17.0 ppg, 7.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game) and Azzi Fudd (11.3 ppg) round up the Huskies double digit scorers on a team that is converting 51.5% of its shots from the floor. The trio, along with Ashlynn Shade (8.3 ppg), have also combined for 148 made three pointers this season. UConn also has depth and will be ready to face the Vols’ full-court pressure defensively while also seeking to force Tennessee into committing turnovers (force 18.7 per contest) that result in points (average 21.9 per game).

While Caldwell would have liked to face UConn in non-conference action instead of the interruption to SEC play, the Vols will get an opportunity to potentially earn a marquee Quad 1 win for a Vols’ team that currently sits at 14 in the latest NET rankings. However, the Huskies have won the last four contests between the two teams and hold a 17-9 lead in the series. 

Things will not get easier for Tennessee after facing UConn, as the Volunteers will then face LSU — the last of four top 10 matchups in the last 13 days — on Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

• Games this week: vs. UConn (Feb. 6), at LSU (Feb. 9)

South Carolina-Texas showdown: Can the Longhorns upset the Gamecocks?

The Longhorns have won their last six games dating back to mid January, despite not all of them providing appealing schematics and the emergence of other players — Taylor Jones, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda for example — stepping up in the absence of Aaliyah Moore. 

Winning SEC games are hard and not many others know that better than Texas head coach Vic Schaefer from his days leading Mississippi State prior to his Longhorns’ tenure. Although Texas (22-2) sits fifth in the latest AP rankings and in a three-way tie with LSU and Kentucky for second place in the SEC, Schaefer still describes his team as a “work in progress.” After the Longhorns’ close victory on Jan. 26 against Mississippi, Schaefer said this year’s team has the “right pieces” to be really good in comparison to his elite teams during his days in Starkville.

Over the next 10 days, Schaefer and the women’s college basketball landscape will get a front row seat to discover the level of grit, talent and tenacity this Texas team embodies. The Longhorns open a four-game stretch against top 25 foes starting on Thursday against Vanderbilt before getting a rematch on Sunday against the Gamecocks in a top five showdown in Austin. It’s easy for one to look ahead to the second rendition of the Gamecocks-Longhorns battle. Despite Vanderbilt losing on Sunday to Ole Miss, the Commodores one-two punch of Mikayla Blakes and Khamil Pierre have presented opposing teams challenges all season. As for Schaefer, he doesn’t take Vandy’s success lightly entering Thursday’s contest.

“When you start looking ahead [to the next opponent], you start looking past what’s right in front of you,” Schaefer said Wednesday in his weekly news conference. “…To a fault in an NCAA tournament, when you might have a first round opponent and you know you’re going to win, or should win by 50 and all that, I still don’t start looking at that second opponent. I’ve never been a coach to get ahead. … I don’t allow myself to do that. I’ve always stayed in the moment and tried to impart that on my players.”

Both Blakes (22.1 ppg) and Pierre (21.0 ppg) continue to rank among the nation’s top 15 scorers each week. Schaefer described Blakes as the “total package.”

“She’s [Blakes] really, really tough matchup,” Schaefer said. “Everybody usually has one player that’s a good defender. A lot of good teams have two. …You have to pick your poison [defensively] with them [Commodores] because they have a lot of weapons. …They are a [NCAA] tournament team and I don’t think anybody wants to see a kid that can get 53. …It’s going to put some pressure on our kids to really be focused. … We’ve got our hands full.”

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While the Longhorns’ focus will be Vanderbilt on Thursday, there won’t be any shortage of the Texas wanting revenge against South Carolina, a game that Texas struggled to score (27.8% from the floor) despite finishing +14 in offensive rebounds behind the production of Kyla Oldacre (who notched a dozen of the team’s total 20 offensive boards). South Carolina also limited Longhorns preseason All-American Madison Booker to seven points on 3-of-19 shots while Rori Harmon, Moore and Shay Holle combined for 15 in the contest.

However, South Carolina (21-1) remains a tough outing for Texas and any team in the country, mainly due to its depth. Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley has roughly nine players who could likely start for any team in the country. But like Texas, South Carolina will go on the road Thursday to face Georgia, a team that has lost its last six games but has played competitively in at least five of those contests. The Gamecocks enter this week’s SEC slate boasting 10 Quad 1 wins, holding their opponents to 34.3% shooting (fifth best in the nation) from the floor while also shooting 47.1% from the field, good for 16th nationally. Within South Carolina’s success, bench production continues to be the central factor with Joyce Edwards (12.7 ppg), MiLaysia Fulwiley (11.3 ppg) and Tessa Johnson (8.9 ppg), who also leads the team in three-point field goal percentage.

South Carolina has navigated every team’s toughest punch since losing on Nov. 24 to UCLA. The Gamecocks will seek to continue that wave of discipline and consistency in the back half of their schedule that includes games against three ranked opponents — UConn, Vanderbilt and Kentucky — and one — Mississippi — that could be ranked by the end of the season.

• Games this week for South Carolina: at Georgia (Feb. 6), vs. Texas (Feb. 9)
• Games this week for Texas: vs. Vanderbilt (Feb. 6), South Carolina (Feb. 9)

LSU

Since losing to South Carolina, LSU has ripped off three consecutive wins with the most recent victories coming in a physical, 107-point affair — that included three technical fouls, multiple ejections, one-game suspensions and countless personal fouls — against Oklahoma (107-100) and a win on Sunday against Mississippi State (81-67). LSU (23-1) sits in a two-way tie with Texas and Kentucky for second place in the SEC.

While the Tigers last two wins have not come as much of surprise, the way in which LSU has won those contests has. LSU is not a strong three-point shooting team. In fact, the Tigers are 93rd nationally in three-point percentage (33.3%), 354th in percentage of points from beyond the arc (17%), 206th in three pointers made (120) and 250th in three-pointers attempted (360) this season, according to HerHoopStats. Yet, the Tigers registered a combined 21 made three pointers in their last two games with a season-high 12 coming against the Sooners, a team that ranks 23rd nationally in the number of three pointers made this season (186). Before LSU’s matchups against OU and Mississippi State, the Tigers had only knocked down 14 threes in their last six games. Their success from deep has come from the play of Mikaylah Williams (made 11 threes in two games) and Flau’jae Johnson (the duo combined for 143 points last week).

But make no mistake, LSU’s bread and butter offensively resides within the three point line in transition play, cutting to the basket in half court sets as well as offensive rebounding from the nation’s leader in double-doubles Aneesah Morrow for points in the paint and second chance scoring opportunities. But in the midst of LSU’s scoring prowess, the Tigers have surrendered big leads during games and have allowed teams to stay around, much like they did against Oklahoma. With a road matchup on Thursday against Missouri — a team that shoots the ball well, defeated Mississippi State and played strongly against Tennessee and Texas despite losing — and a ranked clash on Sunday against the Vols, LSU must be locked in and prepared to get both teams best punches in the contests.

• Games this week: at Missouri (Feb. 6), vs. Tennessee (Feb. 9)

Mississippi

Neither Rebels head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin nor do her players shy away from wanting to play the SEC’s best teams each week. Before the season started, Coach Yo made it clear that the Rebels’ goal was to be a top four team in league play and to compete in the NCAA women’s Final Four in Tampa, Florida. Ole Miss (15-6) has won six of its nine games in SEC play and is the one team with fewer conference losses than four of the league’s eight currently ranked teams that include Vanderbilt — the team that lost to the Rebels on Sunday — Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Sunday’s victory against the Commodores gave the Rebels their first ranked win since upsetting Stanford in the women’s NCAA Tournament in March 2023 and their first ranked SEC victory since January 2023. The win also helped Ole Miss land at 11 in the latest NET rankings.

On several occasions, Yo has iterated that she is not worried about which spot her team sits in the AP top 25 or how high or low her team is in the SEC standings. She is more concerned about Ole Miss finding ways to dominate opposing teams and secure victories  against the league’s elite foes, something she emphasized heavily in the three-point home loss on Jan. 26 to Texas. With two top 15 contests at home on Thursday against the Sooners and on Monday against the Wildcats, Ole Miss has a chance to make a strong case for why it belongs among the league’s top four should the Rebels win both games. To achieve that, it will take a collective team effort on both offense and defense with solid performances from players like Madison Scott, Kennedy Todd-Williams, Sira Thienou, Starr Jacobs and contributions from the Rebels’ bench.

• Games this week: vs. Oklahoma (Feb. 6), vs. Kentucky (Feb. 10)

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Oklahoma

The Sooners have lost three of their last five games in conference play. It is worth noting that two of Oklahoma’s losses came on the road to South Carolina and LSU before losing at home on Sunday to Kentucky. It was only OU’s second loss at home this season. When looking at Oklahoma’s losses, removing the disappointing loss to the Gamecocks, the Sooners remaining losses in SEC play have come by an average of 6.8 points. As OU goes down the stretch and Jennie Baranczyk’s squad finishes the second half of SEC competition, the most important factors for Oklahoma remain the same: how can the Sooners finish games, limit turnovers, remain efficient and continue to play better defensively.

As it currently stands, Oklahoma (16-6) will only face two more ranked teams on its schedule that include Vanderbilt (Feb. 20) and Alabama (March 2) in its regular season finale. Although any team can be beaten on any given night in the SEC, the Sooners — a team currently sitting at 18 in the NET rankings — have a chance to get back to .500 in SEC play and could make a strong statement with a Quad 1 road victory on Thursday against a gritty Ole Miss squad and notch win on Monday at home against Auburn. OU enters this game ranked fifth nationally in points per game (87.1), second in assists per contest (22.1) and 14th in field goal percentage.

• Games this week: at Ole Miss (Feb. 6), vs. Auburn (Feb. 10)

Kentucky

Behind South Carolina and the three-way tie for second place in the SEC sits the Wildcats, a team that has won three consecutive games since its disappointing road loss on Jan. 23 to Texas A&M and registered its first AP top 25 road victory since February 2021. Kentucky (19-2) will get some extra rest before finishing up a tough midseason stretch with a road contest on Monday against Ole Miss. In the Wildcats’ win against the Sooners, Georgia Amoore became the fifth player in D-I this season to score at least 43 points and the second player in the SEC to accomplish the feat. Her performance also tied former Kentucky stars Rhyne Howard and Jennifer O’Neill for the most points in a single game in program history.

When Kentucky shoots the ball well from the floor, from three point range, notches points off turnovers as well as uses their length to secure blocks and create difficult shots for its opponents and limit second chance points, the Wildcats are hard to beat. However, with an upcoming matchup against a nearly ranked Rebels’ squad — the SEC’s leader in scoring defense, second in rebounding defense but 10th in three-point percentage defense — it will be another solid test for the Wildcats to see how they handle tenacious defense and a tense environment at The Pavilion. The Wildcats’ starting lineup —  Amoore, Dazia Lawrence, Amelia Hassett, Teonni Key and Clara Strack —  have only lost two games and Kentucky’s eight SEC victories this season have come by at least nine points.

• Games this week: at Ole Miss (Feb. 10)

Vanderbilt

If Mikayla Blakes hadn’t solidified that she was one of the best freshman players in the nation, she did so last week in the Commodores’ 99-86 victory against Florida, a contest where she dropped 53 points, the most by a true freshman and eclipsing the SEC women’s basketball  single-game scoring record that stood for more than 22 years. However, the biggest question mark for Vanderbilt (18-5) going forward will be how consistent and efficient will the Commodores’ offense be if Blakes, Khamil Pierre and Iyana Moore are not having game-busting performances, especially against teams that are elite on the defensive side of the ball. In the 76-61 loss on Sunday to Ole Miss, Pierre and Blakes combined for 40 of the team’s total points — a little more than three shy of their combined average (43.1) as the league’s best duo — while Moore added 10.

Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph will need other players on her bench to step up and contribute to take some of the responsibility off Blakes and Pierre. Currently, Vanderbilt ranks 138 nationally and 11th in the SEC in bench points, which includes efforts from Madison Greene, Leilani Kapinus and Jane Nwaba. Vandy will need efforts from its bench if it seeks to defeat top four programs in the league like the Longhorns on Sunday to increase its NET value for seeding implications in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt has a chance to pick up its third victory against a top-25 team on Thursday and take a 3-1 all-time series lead against Texas.

• Games this week: at Texas (Feb. 6)

Alabama

The Crimson Tide enter this week in a two-way tie with Vanderbilt for fourth in the latest SEC standings. After a Jan. 30 loss to Kentucky, Alabama (18-5) split the week, picking up a win against Georgia (72-57). The Crimson Tide will not face any ranked opponents in their next two contests. However, Alabama will be on the road in its next two games against teams — a rematch against Florida and Mississippi State — that are loaded with talent, can score and will be looking to build their resume with noteworthy wins for NCAA tournament implications. Currently, the Crimson Tide sit at 20 in the latest NET rankings.

As Sarah Ashlee Barker continues to regain her natural rhythm on the floor, the Crimson Tide will need her production as well as strong play from sharpshooter Aaliyah Nye — who bounced with a strong shooting performance (22 points on 6-of-10 from beyond the arc) after a brief slump in a couple of contests — Zaay Green, Karly Weathers and Essence Cody. In Kristy Curry’s press conference on Wednesday, she said that the team’s word for this week is “consistent”, emphasizing Alabama’s need for rebounding, defending and establishing points from the bench (i.e. JeAnna Cunningham, Diana Collins and Christabel Ezumah) . “We’ve had some bumps in the road. When you go on the road, you got to do a really good job of defending and rebounding. …That’s a choice. … We’ve got to do a much better job of continuing to move the ball and we’ve got to have multiple people touch the ball.”

• Games this week: at Florida (Feb. 6), at Mississippi State (Feb. 9)

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Mississippi State

The Bulldogs (16-7) did not shoot the ball well from the floor (34.7%) or from beyond the arc (22.6%) in their 81-67 loss on Sunday to LSU. Mississippi State did not start the contest well and never fully gained its footing, despite outscoring the Tigers in the second quarter. MSU gave up too many points in transition, committed 19 turnovers — one of head coach Sam Purcell’s constant talking points — that resulted in 23 points for LSU in combination with stellar three point shooting from Williams and a great defensive performance from Johnson on Bulldogs leading scorer Jerkaila Jordan (16.5 ppg), who was held to nine points in the game and scoreless in the first half.

After the game, Purcell crowned Williams as a “smooth operator” for her ability to shoot the three ball and create separation using her body in finishing around the rim. Despite the loss, Mississippi State sits at 33 — one spot higher than last week — in the latest NET rankings and is projected to be one of the SEC’s teams to earn a spot in NCAA women’s tournament, according to the latest women’s basketball bracketology. Getting home victories against the struggling Razorbacks and a ranked Crimson Tide squad could help Purcell’s team. MSU is 8-2 at home this season.

• Games this week: vs. Arkansas (Feb. 6), vs. Alabama (Feb. 9)

Florida

The Gators defeated Arkansas (108-78), producing their highest scoring affair in conference play in program history. Everything was clicking for Florida (12-11), from rebounding the basketball (52-35), field goal percentage (56.6), three point percentage (59.1) to fewer turnovers (12) that resulted in only eight points for Arkansas. Even freshman Me’Arah O’Neal — the daughter of Naismith Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal — registered a career-high 19 points to lead the team in conjunction with four other double figure performances from Liv McGill (18 points), Laila Reynolds (14 points), Ra Shaya Kyle (13) and Jeriah Warren (12).

As head coach Kelly Rae Finley praised her team’s selfless style of play in Monday’s victory, the Gators could use more of that to build on their momentum with an incoming matchup on Thursday — the second of the season — against the Crimson Tide. Currently, Florida sits at 54 in the latest NET rankings and were among the next four teams out in women’s bracketology up until last week. A win against a ranked Alabama — a Crimson Tide team that is 4-3 on the road this season — could serve as a huge resume win for the Gators down the stretch. When the two teams met on Jan. 2 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama defeated Florida 79-69.

• Games this week: vs. Alabama (Feb. 6)

Auburn

The Tigers faced a tough outing on Sunday against the Gamecocks and all the pageantry inside Colonial Life Arena for the retirement of A’ja Wilson’s No. 22 jersey. But even in the loss, the Tigers made some aspects of the game challenging for South Carolina and the Gamecocks some things to improve on, according to Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley. “[Tigers’ defense] stayed on it for the entire game,” Staley said after Sunday’s win. “They made us go into our second, third and fourth options in our [half court] sets, if you saw a set out there. Staley also credited the need for the Gamecocks fastbreak points and their defense as key contributors in the victory.

Despite injuries within the program, Auburn (11-11) has key pieces and what remains consistent and true for the Tigers is the play of DeYona Gaston, who registered a game-high 31 points in the loss. Even Mar’shaun Bostic, Celia Sumbane and the freshman, Yuting Deng, finished with double figure production in points. But Auburn’s bench contributed only two points and four of the five starters averaging 32 or more minutes in the contest. Gaston needs consistent help from her teammates above, along with Taylen Collins — who finished with two points in the loss — if the Tigers hope to add more wins on the season.

• Games this week: vs. Texas A&M (Feb. 6), at Oklahoma (Feb. 10)

Missouri

The Tigers didn’t notch their second SEC victory of the season, dropping a contested road matchup to Texas (70-61) and a close loss at home to Tennessee (76-71). However, they didn’t play badly against two ranked opponents and two of the better teams in the league last week. In fact, the Tigers led the Longhorns at halftime and kept the game close, mainly behind the play of Laniah Randle, the senior forward who registered a season-high 22 points in the loss. Missouri (12-12) followed its performance in another tightly contested affair against the Vols that saw Randle register her fifth double-double this season and De’Myla Brown deliver a strong performance off the bench (17 points) for the Tigers. Missouri moved up in this week’s NET rankings to 69, surpassing the Aggies. With a matchup on Thursday at home against Kim Mulkey’s squad and a road test on Sunday against the Aggies, these are opportunities for Robin Pingeton’s team to potentially deliver an upset and add more quality wins to the résumé.

• Games this week: vs. LSU (Feb. 6), at Texas A&M (Feb. 9)

Texas A&M

It is evident that the impact of what Aicha Coulibaly — who will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury — meant to this Aggies’ team. Texas A&M (10-11) and Georgia are the only two teams that have not won a road game this season and are currently riding a three-game losing streak. The Razorbacks defeated the Aggies (72-51), outrebounded and held Texas A&M to less than 28% shooting from the floor as well as registered 16 points off of Aggie turnovers. Against rival Texas, the Aggies were held to their second lowest scoring output of the season in the absence of Coulibably, along with not shooting the ball well and committing 11 turnovers that resulted in 16 points for Texas. Simply put, the Aggies must quickly figure out who will consistently step up in Coulibaly’s place. Against Texas, it was Jada Malone and Janae Kent — who both scored 12 points respectively against Texas — and Lauren Ware. Against Arkansas, it was Kent and Sole Williams. Texas A&M sits at 77 in the latest NET rankings with games this week against two teams that have higher NET rankings but opponents —  if victories —  could help the Aggies overcome the losing streak and put them back on track. 

• Games this week: at Auburn (Feb. 6), vs. Missouri (Feb. 9)

Georgia

Although the Bulldogs dropped both of their games last week and remain winless on the road this season, Georgia (9-14) continues to play with a lot of fight. UGA lost to the Rebels — one of the SEC’s top five teams — on their home court in a tight affair (63-58) and even put together a furious comeback in the second half before falling to the Crimson Tide (72-57). As stated earlier in conference play, head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has a team with a lot of young talent — Mia Woolfolk, Trinity Turner and Summer Davis — that is learning and navigating SEC play in combination with the veteran Asia Avinger. In the Bulldogs’ nine SEC games so far, only four of their losses have been by 15 or more points. There is a chance that UGA splits the week and earns its second SEC win on Sunday against the Razorbacks. But first, the Bulldogs get a visit from the reigning national champs. 

• Games this week: vs. South Carolina (Feb. 6), vs. Arkansas (Feb. 9)

Arkansas 

The Razorbacks picked up their second win in conference play to keep the Aggies winless on the road in SEC play before splitting the weekend slate, resulting in a 30-point loss to Florida (108-78) — the Razorbacks seventh loss by 30 or more points — in league play this season. Arkansas (9-15) allowed the Gators to register their highest number of points in a single game in program history. After the loss to Florida, Arkansas head coach Mike Neighbors said he watched things from his players take place on the court that he had never seen in three decades of coaching. But even in another disappointing loss, the Razorbacks’ coach remains confident in his team, saying the Razorbacks are “capable of winning” their next set of games. Regardless if that happens or not, tune in to watch Izzy Higginbottom’s (24.3 ppg) scoring prowess.

• Games this week: at Mississippi State (Feb. 6), at Georgia (Feb. 9)

SEC schedule this week

Thursday, Feb. 6

• South Carolina at Georgia
• UConn at Tennessee
• Alabama at Florida
• Texas A&M at Auburn
• LSU at Missouri
• Oklahoma at Ole Miss
• Arkansas at Mississippi State
• Vanderbilt at Texas

Sunday, Feb. 9

• Arkansas at Georgia
• South Carolina at Texas
• Alabama at Mississippi State
• Tennessee at LSU
• Missouri at Texas A&M

Monday, Feb. 10

• Kentucky at Ole Miss
• Auburn at Oklahoma