University of Tennessee Athletics
@LadyVol_Hoops Report (12/18/14)
December 18, 2014 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Head coach Holly Warlick, senior point guard Ariel Massengale and freshman guard Alexa Middleton visited with the media Thursday about #11/12 Tennessee's 1 p.m. Saturday showdown with #7/7 Stanford at Thompson-Boling Arena. The SEC Network will have the telecast.
Tennessee enters on a four-game winning streak after defeating an upset-minded Wichita State team on Tuesday night, 54-51. The Lady Vols got a huge road win at #17/19 Rutgers on Sunday afternoon, 55-45, but UT would like nothing more than to stop a three-game losing streak in the series by getting a quality win in front of the home fans.
CLASH OF THE TITANS
This marks the 32nd meeting between these schools, with Tennessee holding a 22-9 advantage, but the Cardinal has the upper hand the past three games, including a 76-70 victory at Stanford last season.
This has always been a series with mutual respect, with two heavyweights of the women's game squaring off each season. Between them, the programs have won 10 NCAA Championships, been to 30 NCAA Final Fours and won 2,212 games. Add to that the teams being ranked in 31 of 32 previous meetings, and it makes this game both a marquee match-up and big measuring stick game.
Meighan Simmons, who graduated in August, was the last Lady Vol to taste victory against Stanford. The 2014-15 edition understands the magnitude of the game and would like to bring its fans their first win in the series since the 2009-10 Lady Vols, ranked sixth at the time, toppled the #3/2 Cardinal in overtime in Knoxville, 82-72.
"We're very excited," Massengale said. "Whenever you can play another top 10 team it's very exciting. It's why we come to Tennessee, to play in big games such as this. They're going to come in here and be ready, and we just have to make sure to bring our "A" game on Saturday."
Even though it's her first Tennessee-Stanford game, the magnitude of it wasn't lost on Middleton, who will make her first appearance in the series as a freshman this season.
"It's a big game and a top-10 ranked team," Middleton said. "It's a home game for us, so we'll have the crowd behind us. It's going to be very exciting with a lot of people here. We're just going to be preparing this week for the game."
LADY MOCS STRIKE AGAIN
The Cardinal recently fell into the same trap Tennessee did back on Nov. 26. Great defense by Chattanooga and poor shooting from the floor and foul line doomed Tennessee in a 67-63 loss at The McKenzie Arena. Stanford also found tough-going on the offensive end Wednesday night, shooting only 27.7%, including 22.6% in the second half, on its way to a 54-46 upset loss at a venue known as the "Roundhouse."
Stanford was so cold in the second half that Chattanooga did not make a field goal the last 11 and half minutes en route to the Lady Mocs' second victory over a top 10 team this season.
"I just said `wow' when I saw the score come across the bottom of my television screen last night," Massengale said. "As we know, Chattanooga's a great team, and they showed us they can win at their home and they can play against top 10 teams.
"I wasn't surprised. It's the game of basketball, and last night in those 40 minutes, Chattanooga was the better team."
The fact that head coach Tara VanDerveer and her team traveled to Knoxville on the heels of a loss at Chattanooga is insignificant to Warlick in terms of the Tennessee-Stanford game's importance.
"This is a Tennessee-Stanford game," Warlick said. "We haven't beaten Stanford in a while, so we've gone home, I know, the last three years not happy for Christmas. That is our goal, to go home happy.
"Women's basketball is getting better across the board. If Tennessee and Stanford were 0-10, it would still be a big huge game for both of us. I know it would be for us. It's going to be a battle and a typical Stanford-Tennessee game."
Massengale expects a motivated team to show up to play Tennessee at The Summitt on Saturday.
"They're going to try to come in and redeem themselves," the senior said. "They're going to come in and play hard. They're playing against Tennessee, so they are going to play their best game, so we definitely had better be prepared for it."
DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING MESSAGE RECEIVED
Since Tennessee dropped games at Chattanooga and Texas, Warlick has preached defense and rebounding to her team, and large portions of practices have been dedicated to working on those areas of the game. Warlick was asked whether she liked how the team responded to the emphasis in those core values of the Tennessee program.
"I see what we've done, what we've worked on," Warlick said. "We rebounded the ball really well the other day (at Rutgers). I do see that and we'll continue to do that.
"Now, we're going to flip it a little bit and focus more on the offensive end."
The fact no team has scored more than 51 points on Tennessee since the Texas game and UT has out-rebounded opponents by more than 21 rebounds a game since then seems to indicate the coaching staff's message was received.
WORKING ON THEIR SHOTS
Tennessee has struggled a bit shooting the basketball in its last couple of games, scoring 55 points and knocking off #17/19 Rutgers, 55-45, on the road despite shooting 27.5% from the field and then hitting 40.8% in Tuesday night's 54-51 win over Wichita State.
Warlick said it just boils down to the players spending more time in practice and on their own getting shots up.
"I think we've just got to get in the gym and work on it, and we're going to do that today and from here on out," Warlick said. "We've just got to get a lot of shots up. Shooting involves confidence, and to get confidence you have to get in there (gym) and repeatedly shoot.
"We've just got to get in the gym, and that's what we're going to do. Especially with time off (for winter break), and we have time to get in and get a bunch of shots up.
Massengale concurs that shooting comes down to confidence.
"We've made thousands and thousands of shots just to get to this point," Massengale said. "So, we have to know that in the game, they are going to go in. Whether you miss your first two or three shots, you have to keep telling yourself that your next shot is going in and kind of have a short-term memory when it comes to basketball."
Middleton, too, cites confidence, but also repetition as keys to being a good shooter.
"I always made a point that my dad and I would go shoot every night, and I still try to do that here and get up extra shots just to have that confidence in the back of my mind," the freshman from Murfreesboro said.
Before now, the staff felt as if its time was limited and the focus needed to be more on the defensive end. With the team holding its last four opponents to an average of 47.8 points per contest, Warlick feels like offense can become more of a priority.
"We've got the time to do it, now, Warlick said. "I just thought some of the teams we played needed more attention on the defensive end. We're going to make time to do it now."
READY TO RUMBLE
When asked about the status of junior forward Jasmine Jones and redshirt sophomore guard Andraya Carter, Warlick indicated both would be available to play on Saturday vs. Stanford.
"I think they'll be fine, in my understanding."
Jones' head was struck during a loose-ball collision with a Rutgers player, and Carter hurt her head when teammate Isabelle Harrison ran into her while running back up the floor in transition.
