South Carolina women's basketball: SEC Preview (Part 1)

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The SEC begins its conference slate Thursday with all 14 teams in action. South Carolina enters the same way it began the season, as the clear favorite. But what have we learned about the other 13 teams?

Mississippi State

(11-2), AP: unranked, NET: 36, Projected finish: 8

Best win: 71-66 over Colorado State

Worst loss: 63-62 at South Dakota State

Overview: A one-point loss to the Jackrabbits is about as impressive as a five-point win over Colorado State. That kind of sums up the nonconference slate for the Bulldogs: decent, but meh. 

Mississippi State appears improved over last season, but it remains to see just how much. The return of Jessika Carter (14.2 points, 8.4 rebounds) has been a big boost, but Anastasia Hayes has seen her scoring drop from 18.6 points per game last season to 8.6 this season. 

Missouri

(11-2), AP: unranked, NET: 41, Projected finish: 12

Best win: 71-66 over UMass

Worst loss: 76-66 to Illinois

Overview: Missouri typically doesn’t challenge itself too much during the nonconference season, but the Tigers picked up a couple of nice wins over UMass and Wake Forest. The loss to Virginia Tech was understandable, but the loss to Illinois is frustrating. It would have been a good resume boost. 

Not much has changed for Missouri. Haley Troup is back for what seems like at least her tenth season. Hayley Frank (15.0 points) and Lauren Hansen (14.8 points) are still around to run pick-and-rolls all game. The Tigers are defending well but rebounding is suspect, and that might come back to bite them in conference play.

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Ole Miss

(11-2), AP: unranked, NET: 43, Projected finish: 5

Best win: 69-67 loss to #17 Utah

Worst loss: None

Overview: It’s a transition year for Ole Miss, with Shakira Austin off to the WNBA. The Rebels piled up wins against a pretty weak schedule, which makes it hard to gauge how good they really are. The encouraging thing is that they held their own against Utah and Oklahoma (69-59).

Defense has been a strength for Ole Miss, but the question is whether they can score enough to finish in the top half of the standings. The Rebels are shooting just 43.5% from the floor and 28,6% from three. Angel Baker is averaging 13.8 points and Snudda Collins is averaging 12.2, but they’d probably like more from Madison Scott. A former SEC Freshman of the Year, Scott is averaging a solid 10.8 points and 9.3 rebounds, but she hasn’t made the leap Ole Miss was probably hoping for.

South Carolina

(12-0), AP: 1, NET: 1, Projected finish: 1

Best win: 76-71 at Stanford

Worst loss: None

Outlook: South Carolina is still trying to find a replacement for point guard Destanni Henderson, but the Gamecocks haven’t missed a beat in the process. Zia Cooke is having a bounce-back season, and Aliyah Boston is still the best player in the country. The offensive lulls that South Carolina dealt with last season remain, but so far nobody has been able to take advantage. If anything, South Carolina is deeper than last season.

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Tennessee

(7-6), AP: unranked, NET: 22, Projected finish: 2

Best win: 69-59 over Colorado

Worst loss: None

Overview: I can’t bring myself to criticize any of Tennessee’s losses: they have all been to very good teams (all six currently ranked, including #2, #3, #4, #7, and #10). Given how tough Tennessee’s schedule is, they were expected to drop a game or two. The problem is that Tennessee lost all of those games.

The season has been a whirlwind for the Lady Vols. Tamari Key was lost for the season due to blood clots, Rickea Jackson was held out of a couple of games, and injuries have been a constant. Eight different players have started and not a single player has started all 13 games. 

Aside from the lineup changes, Tennessee has had issues with turnovers (29 against Ohio State!), although the Lady Vols had single-digit turnovers each of the last three games. Offensive flow has been an issue and defensively there is no replacement for Key’s shot-blocking.

Tennessee gets a reset with conference play, and the whole country is watching to see what happens.

Texas A&M

(5-5), AP: unranked, NET: 127, Projected finish: 11

Best win: 57-49 over SMU

Worst loss: 42-38 at Little Rock

Overview: It was always going to be a rebuilding year for the Aggies, but little has gone right. They played a challenging schedule that included Duke, Kansas, and Purdue, and the roster has been decimated by injuries. They had just seven players available for their last game against Purdue, and one of those was a game-time decision. With a new coach and a mostly-new roster, that’s not a recipe for success.

Freshman Janiah Barker is one of the injured players. She looked like the real deal, averaging almost 14 points and seven rebounds, but a wrist injury sidelined her for the entire month of December. She was out a minimum of four weeks, and then a decision will be made whether to have surgery, which would end Barker’s season. An announcement should be made any day.

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Vanderbilt

(9-5), AP: unranked, NET: 90, Projected finish: 14

Best win: 74-63 at Columbia

Worst loss: 44-31 at ETSU

Overview: You’d be hard-pressed to find a team with a more encouraging win (Columbia has been sniffing around the top 25) and dismal loss (31 points in a loss to ETSU is not a typo). Leading scorer Ciaja Harbison (18.8 points per game) missed the ETSU game, but that doesn’t explain 31 points. 

Harbison missed three games before returning, but once again, an already thin roster has been hampered by injuries. Vanderbilt lost three likely starters to season-ending injuries before the season even began, leaving just nine players on the roster. The Commodores might be capable of an upset here and there, but the grind of the SEC season is going to be hard on that limited roster.

Transfers

South Carolina lost four players to the transfer portal after last season. Here’s what they are up to:

Elysa Wesolek (North Florida, 3-7)

5.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, team-high 5 blocks, 30.8% from three

Destiny Littleton (Southern Cal, 10-2)

12 starts, 12.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.5 apg (leads team), team-high 19 threes,  29.7% from three

Saniya Rivers (#6 NC State, 11-1)

7.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 52.7% shooting, 6-20 from three, team-high 16 blocks, team-high 15 steals

Eniya Russell (Kentucky, 8-4)

5.3 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.4 apg,

Part 2 will run Wednesday morning…

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