The best teams in sports are resilient.
Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball has seen smooth sailing to kick off its season, starting the year off 20-0. That stretch included two top-10 wins, which led the Commodores to be ranked as high as No. 5 in the AP Poll.
The Commodores began their most recent stretch with a dominant home win against Auburn, but their perfect start came to a quick halt, as they dropped two games in a row to No. 2 South Carolina and No. 17 Ole Miss.
Both losses were in a demoralizing fashion — as the Gamecocks blew Vanderbilt out, and the Rebels stomped out a late comeback effort by the ‘Dores.
These games, though, will be important reflection points for the team to look back on as they continue to push for SEC and national title contention. Winning is great, but the takeaways head coach Shea Ralph and Co. can get from “what went wrong” will be very important for them down the stretch.
At this pivotal point in their season, the Commodores must be resilient and continue fighting forward.
Good versus great
The South Carolina Gamecocks have been the premier team in the SEC and are perennially one of the best teams in the nation. Head coach Dawn Staley’s squad has won three consecutive conference titles, made five straight appearances in the Final Four and won two of the last four National Championships. The program’s winning culture consistently draws top talent to Columbia, as the Gamecocks have produced five WNBA first-round picks this decade, and are projected to have two more this spring in seniors Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot.
It’s more than fair to say that the Gamecocks have been absolutely dominant throughout the decade thus far and have seemingly continued that trend this year as they got off to an impressive 19-2 start entering their matchup against Vanderbilt.
Ralph has a winning track record herself, having six rings from her time as an assistant coach at UConn, but it has been an uphill battle for her to turn around the struggling Vanderbilt program she took over in 2021. Under her watch, Vanderbilt has made the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years and started this year 20-0 with standout wins over No. 5 LSU and No. 7 Michigan.
While those top-10 victories were certainly program-shifting, they were not over true “Blue Blood” squads like South Carolina. And when Ralph and Staley’s teams squared up in Colonial Life Arena, the dynastic Gamecocks held true to their reputation, defiling the Commodores’ unblemished record in a 103-74 blowout win.
The immense talent of South Carolina’s roster was on full display, especially down low, where they out-scored Vanderbilt in the paint 56-24. Commodore center Sacha Washington has been great all season, but was simply no match for the 6’6 Okot, who grabbed seven easy boards. Sophomore forward Joyce Edwards, was also a problem matchup for Vanderbilt, grabbing four offensive rebounds and scoring 14 points off two-pointers, many of which came from second-chance opportunities.
Latson put up an efficient 21 points, but made her presence known on the defensive end, where she bodied Vanderbilt freshman Aubrey Galvan. Galvan, who has become Ralph’s No. 2 scoring option, was completely shut down and held to just seven points on eight total field goal attempts.
Blakes led the game in scoring, but only shot 37.5% from the field, as her supporting cast was far-and-away outclassed by the bigger and deeper South Carolina roster. Vanderbilt has had an incredible season so far and will most likely still be slated as a top seed in March Madness, but this game showed why they are not yet considered in the “championship” class of programs like the Gamecocks.
I think we can learn a ton from a game like this. This doesn’t negate the fact that we’ve been really good up to this point.
— Shea Ralph
The Commodores looked to follow up their disappointing performance in Columbia with their third ranked win of the season as they took on No. 17 Ole Miss. The game was moved to Birmingham, Alabama, due to the weather-related campus shutdown in Oxford.
In theory, this move should have been beneficial to Vanderbilt, which now got to play a neutral-site game instead of an away one in a hostile environment. The Rebels were motivated, however, score a big win for their fans who were affected by the winter storm — and they did just that.
Ole Miss came away with an 83-75 victory in a thrilling contest. In a game of runs, Vanderbilt was down by as much as 20 points in the second quarter and took the lead early in the final period. The Rebels, though, ended the game on a 19-8 run to claim the victory. The main problems for Ralph’s squad in this game were a lack of depth, both on the roster and in the team’s shooting.
The Commodores have played well this year with short rotations, most often not going deeper than seven or eight women. In recent weeks, the bench unit has struggled majorly, and there has not been a Vanderbilt substitute in double-digit scoring since Jan. 15. In Birmingham, the Commodore bench combined for zero total points.
Even though Blakes and Galvan have been incredible offensively, Ralph needs to find a solution to get them some rest, as both played all 40 minutes against the Rebels and looked gassed at the game’s end. As the SEC season continues to grind on, Vanderbilt’s rotation players will need to step up on offense, as deeper teams will exhaust Ralph’s short rotation.
Vanderbilt’s shooting from deep could also use much improvement. It has shot just under 36% from beyond the arc in SEC play and especially struggled against Ole Miss, hitting just 25% of its long balls in the contest. Senior guard Justine Pissott has been the team’s best deep threat by far, knocking down 43% of her 3-pointers. The rest of the Commodores have struggled to keep up with her, though, as teams have begun to guard Galvan much higher on the perimeter, and her percentage from deep has dropped from nonconference play.
Blakes has also been lacking fire from long distance, which is slightly concerning, as she misses over five 3-pointers per game on average. As the Commodores have struggled to creat buckets for themselves outside of their sophomore All-American, team shooting will need to improve down the stretch.
Coming off back-to-back losses, the Commodores looked somewhat demoralized to begin their game against Florida on Saturday. They trailed for the entire first half against a Gator squad that came into the afternoon with a 1-7 record in SEC play.
Vanderbilt shot just 32% from the floor in the first two quarters and went an abysmal 3-for-19 from long distance. Blakes started her night off 3-for-11 from the field, as the Gators were great at forcing jump shots, which Vanderbilt struggled to make. Florida’s size was also impactful, as it out-rebounded its opponents 22-14 in the first 30 minutes and had five blocks to Vanderbilt’s one.
Then, at halftime, Ralph’s squad regained the spark that it had seemed to have lost the past week. Florida’s physicality and shooting splits did not taper off that much, but Vanderbilt’s offense found its flow state. Blakes and Galvan both found their shots, combining for 33 second-half points, but they also found success in distributing the ball as they had nine assists as a backcourt in the half as well.
For much of the season, Vanderbilt’s offensive scheme has been defined by modern perimeter play as the role players space out along the outside to give Blakes driving lanes. Ralph changed this up in the second half against Florida, opting to have a bigger presence in the low post and more off-ball movement. The 57 points that the Commodores put up in those two periods may be a sign that a more traditional offense could maximize scoring contributions from the entire team and not just the backcourt.
Down low, Washington had one of her best halves of the season, going perfect from the field as she dominated the post. She also grabbed a clutch five rebounds, which helped Vanderbilt get extra possessions as it rallied to come back, ultimately winning 82-66.
The physicality that the senior displayed down the stretch was incredible, and the team could use that kind of mentality out of her going forward as the Commodores continue to play teams with large presences in the paint. As Vanderbilt’s frontcourt has struggled with consistency this season, Washington’s performance versus the Gators should lead to her taking on a bigger offensive role.
While the game was not the prettiest, the confident Commodores that came out of the locker room showed how this team can overcome hard games like those against South Carolina and Ole Miss, and is still one of the best teams in the country.
“The response that I saw [to Florida’s early lead], and the way that we finished the game, were huge in terms of the growth that we need from here on out to the end of the season,” Ralph said after the game.
Vanderbilt will next hit the road to take on the No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats at 6 p.m. CST this Thursday, Feb. 5.
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