Kentucky’s Jennifer O’Neill (0) drives past Navy’s Audrey Bauer (20) and Erin Meador, right, during the second half of a first-round game in the women’s NCAA college basketball tournament on Sunday, March 24, 2013, in New York. Kentucky won the game 61-41. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
DOUG FEINBERG, AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – After a two-week layoff, it took Kentucky awhile to get going. Once the second-seeded Wildcats did, Navy was done.
DeNesha Stallworth scored 18 points and Jennifer O’Neill added nine of her 12 points in the second half to lead the second-seeded Wildcats to a 61-41 win over the 15th-seeded Midshipmen on Sunday in the opening round of the NCAA women’s tournament.
“We were a little rusty not playing in a couple weeks,” Stallworth said. “We played hard and stayed focus and not let the start bring us down.”
The Wildcats (28-5) trailed by one at the half before O’Neill, who grew up in New York, took over. She hit a quick 3-pointer to start a 12-2 run. She had seven points, a steal and an assist during the burst.
Kentucky had been off for 14 days since losing in the SEC tournament title game and looked rusty early on. Two-time SEC player of the year A’dia Mathies didn’t have a field goal for the first time in her career.
“I’m not worried she’s a great player,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said.
Kentucky, which was coming off a loss in the SEC title games to Texas A&M, has made the NCAA tournament four straight seasons and matched its best seeding. Each time Kentucky has struggled in the first round. The Wildcats had won by six, four (in overtime) and six in the previous three seasons in their NCAA opener.
“You can’t start examining margin of victory or how you play,” Mitchell said. “This time of year you need to be happy to win and move forward and get focused on whoever we have next.”
The Wildcats will play the winner of No. 7 Dayton vs. 10th-seeded St. John’s on Tuesday night in the second round of the Bridgeport regional.
On Sunday, for 30 minutes Navy hung with Kentucky. The Mids (21-12) led most of the first half buoyed by strong 3-point shooting. They hit five 3s in the first half and led 26-25 at the break.
Then O’Neill got the Wildcats going, much to the delight of the huge cheering section that came to support her.
“Coming in to the locker room at halftime, (assistant coach) Insell was talking to me about not being passive and set the tempo,” O’Neill said. “The second half that’s what I tried to do.”
Stallworth capped the game-changing run with a three-point play that made it 37-28 with 16:50 left.
“We knew they were going to come out strong,” said Jade Geif, who led Navy with nine points. “O’Neill was going to come out in her home state. She hit some key shots. The just were hitting and we weren’t.”
The Wildcats led 41-35 with 10 minutes left before they finally got some breathing room with an 8-0 run. Mathies, who missed all five of her shots and finished with five points, hit two free throws to start the spurt. Stallworth followed with consecutive layups to give the Wildcats their first double-digit lead of the game with 7:18 left.
Navy came no closer than nine the rest of the way.
The Wildcats played without backup center Samantha Drake who was suspended by coach Mitchell.
“We have a standard we want to uphold as Kentucky basketball players and she hasn’t been doing that,” he said. “It’s not one particular thing, it’s a series of things. We want her to try to strive to do her best and that’s not happening right now.”
The Midshipmen were making their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament after winning the Patriot League tournament. Navy lost to Maryland last season and DePaul the year before. With the Mids’ loss, 15 seeds remained winless in the NCAA tournament at 0-76.
“We expected more. It was the first time we’ve been up at half,” Navy coach Stefanie Pemper said. “We were close with DePaul and Maryland but we weren’t up. We’re frustrated how we ended the game.”
The Midshipmen were trying to buck a losing trend by the Patriot League, which has dropped its past 21 games in the tournament since Holy Cross knocked off Maryland in 1991. None of those losses have been close.
KENTUCKY 61, NAVY 41
NAVY (21-12): Bauer 2-10 0-0 6, Geif 4-11 1-4 9, Membreno 3-7 2-5 9, Stapleton 0-4 0-0 0, Pollinger 2-7 0-0 5, Bernal 1-1 1-2 3, Richmond 0-0 0-0 0, Terry 0-0 1-2 1, Morrison 3-7 0-0 8, Meador 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-47 5-13 41.
KENTUCKY (28-5): Walker 5-11 4-4 14, Stallworth 8-13 1-1 18, O’Neill 5-10 0-0 12, Mathies 0-5 5-6 5, Evans 1-6 0-0 2, Thompson 0-2 2-2 2, Pinkett 0-3 0-0 0, Sidney 0-2 0-0 0, Goss 2-5 0-0 4, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Bishop 2-3 0-2 4. Totals 23-60 12-15 61.
Halftime_Navy 26-25. 3-Point Goals_Navy 6-22 (Morrison 2-5, Bauer 2-8, Membreno 1-1, Pollinger 1-5, Stapleton 0-3), Kentucky 3-11 (O’Neill 2-5, Stallworth 1-3, Sidney 0-1, Pinkett 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Navy 30 (Geif 6), Kentucky 43 (Stallworth 11). Assists_Navy 9 (Geif, Meador, Membreno 2), Kentucky 10 (O’Neill 4). Total Fouls_Navy 14, Kentucky 11. A_NA.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — A’dia Mathies had 16 points and five steals and No. 7 Kentucky kept its lead in double figures the last 25 minutes of its 76-65 win over Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament on Friday night. The last point Vanderbilt trailed by single digits was at 26-17. Kentucky’s big lead was 22 points at 52-30 early in the second half.
Kentucky (26-4) had an impressive start to its postseason after setting a school record with 13 SEC regular-season wins. The Wildcats closed the regular season with a home win over Tennessee to clinch the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
Kentucky advanced to its fifth semifinal in the last eight years. Its only tournament championship came in 1982.
DeNesha Stallworth had 14 points in only 21 minutes for Kentucky.
Vanderbilt’s only lead came on the first basket of the game. An inside basket by Stallworth started a 9-0 Kentucky run that also a fast-break layup by Mathies, followed by a Mathies steal and basket. The opening run set the pace for Kentucky and its self-proclaimed “40 minutes of dread” defense. The Wildcats lead the nation with their plus-8.9 turnover margin while leading the SEC with their averages of 12 steals and 5 blocked shots per game.
Kentucky’s steals totals rose quickly as the defense, led by Mathies, was sometimes overwhelming. Mathies had five of the Wildcats’ 10 first-half steals, leading to 15 turnovers for the Commodores in the first 20 minutes. The Wildcats finished with 14 steals and eight blocks, including three by Samarie Walker.
No. 7 KENTUCKY 76, VANDERBILT 65
VANDERBILT (20-11)
Bowe 3-5 0-0 6, Lister 7-13 1-3 17, Batey 0-4 2-2 2, Brown 1-3 1-2 4, Clarke 11-17 2-8 24, Foggie 3-5 0-0 7, Jenkins 0-2 2-2 2, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Shaw 1-4 1-2 3, Long 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 9-19 65.
KENTUCKY (26-4)
O’Neill 2-5 2-4 8, Mathies 7-12 0-0 16, Stallworth 4-9 6-6 14, Walker 1-3 1-2 3, Evans 1-2 0-0 3, Thompson 2-6 2-4 7, Pinkett 0-2 0-0 0, Sidney 0-1 0-0 0, Goss 1-2 2-2 5, Drake 3-4 3-5 9, Henderson 0-0 2-2 2, Bishop 3-7 3-4 9. Totals 24-53 21-29 76.
Halftime—Kentucky 38-23. 3-Point Goals—Vanderbilt 4-12 (Lister 2-7, Brown 1-2, Foggie 1-3), Kentucky 7-13 (Mathies 2-3, O’Neill 2-4, Thompson 1-1, Goss 1-2, Evans 1-2, Sidney 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Vanderbilt 36 (Clarke 12), Kentucky 26 (Stallworth 6). Assists—Vanderbilt 13 (Lister 4), Kentucky 15 (Goss, Thompson 3). Total Fouls—Vanderbilt 21, Kentucky 21. A—NA.
4 CommentsLEXINGTON (AP) — A’dia Mathies is the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year again, though the Kentucky senior guard shares this award with Tennessee’s Meighan Simmons.
Mathies leads three Wildcats on the all-SEC teams announced Tuesday. The preseason pick to repeat as the conference’s top player, the Louisville native averaged 16.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game this season and became Kentucky’s No. 2 career scorer.
Forward DeNesha Stallworth (12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds) also made the first team in voting by the league’s 14 coaches. Forward Samarie Walker (9.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, team-high 46 blocks) made the second team along with the league’s All-Defensive team.
Seventh-ranked Kentucky (25-4, 13-3) is the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and opens play Friday in Duluth, Ga.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A’dia Mathies scored 13 second-half points, including back-to-back 3-pointers during Kentucky’s 19-6 run, to help the No. 10 Wildcats pull away from No. 8 Tennessee for a 78-65 victory on Sunday. Mathies, Kentucky’s No. 2 career scorer, finished with 16 points in her home finale at sold-out Memorial Coliseum. Jennifer O’Neill added four 3-pointers for 16 points as Kentucky (25-4, 13-3) claimed the No. 2 seed for this week’s Southeastern Conference tournament.
Kentucky set the tone throughout but emerged from a 36-32 halftime lead with a big run set up by three steals and two rebounds by Samarie Walker (10 points). That put the Wildcats up 55-38 and they stayed safely ahead to make Matthew Mitchell the program’s winningest coach with 139 victories.
Regular-season champion Tennessee (23-6, 14-2) played without center Isabelle Harrison, who sustained a right knee injury Thursday. Point guard Ariel Massengale, who was also questionable with a knee injury, started and finished with five points. Meighan Simmons led the Lady Volunteers with 17 points.
DeNesha Stallworth and Bria Goss each added 12 points for Kentucky, which was outrbebounded 43-37 but dominated the offensive boards 19-10 and forced 31 turnovers and recorded 15 steals.
Tennessee committed 19 first-half turnovers alone and managed just 18 points in the paint. The Lady Volunteers still trailed just 36-32 at the break by taking advantage of the Wildcats’ 31 percent inaccuracy, which might have doomed them if they hadn’t created twice as many opportunities (44 to 22) as Tennessee.
But after taking its largest lead at 30-17 on Azia Bishop’s layup with 5 1/2 minutes left in the half, Kentucky was outscored 19-6 behind 3-of-11 shooting. Bishop made two of those baskets in the final 25 seconds, including one as the horn sounded at the end of the half. Officials confirmed it upon review and awarded Walker a one-and-one on Graves’ third foul away from the ball; she missed the free throw.
Kentucky came out of the break with nine straight points and the run to eventually stretch its lead to 57-38.
Before the game Mathies and Henderson were honored in a pregame ceremony in which Mitchell held his emotions in check as he bid farewell — at home, that is — to Kentucky’s winningest class. The two entered the game with a 108-25 record during which the Wildcats went from mediocrity to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and two Elite Eight berths.
Mitchell passed Terry Hall on Kentucky’s win list.
No. 10 KENTUCKY 78, No. 8 TENNESSEE 65
TENNESSEE (23-6)
Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Williams 4-6 0-0 9, Massengale 2-4 0-0 5, Simmons 4-15 9-10 17, Burdick 3-8 4-5 11, Graves 4-5 4-5 12, Spani 3-8 5-6 11. Totals 20-49 22-26 65.
KENTUCKY (25-4)
O’Neill 5-12 2-2 16, Mathies 6-17 1-3 16, Thompson 0-4 0-0 0, Pinkett 0-1 0-0 0, Stallworth 4-13 4-4 12, Goss 5-9 0-0 12, Walker 5-9 0-1 10, Drake 1-4 0-2 2, Evans 1-8 0-0 2, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Bishop 4-5 0-0 8. Totals 31-82 7-12 78.
Halftime—Kentucky 36-32. 3-Point Goals—Tennessee 3-10 (Williams 1-1, Massengale 1-1, Burdick 1-1, Spani 0-3, Simmons 0-4), Kentucky 9-26 (O’Neill 4-8, Mathies 3-6, Goss 2-3, Pinkett 0-1, Bishop 0-1, Thompson 0-2, Stallworth 0-2, Evans 0-3). Fouled Out—Burdick, Thompson. Rebounds—Tennessee 43 (Burdick 11), Kentucky 37 (Stallworth 8). Assists—Tennessee 6 (Massengale, Simmons 2), Kentucky 20 (Evans 5). Total Fouls—Tennessee 17, Kentucky 20. A—7,965.
4 CommentsKentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement
“I thought that was a great basketball game. Two really good teams going at it, played well tonight. We were fortunate to win. We have a lot of respect for Texas A&M and their program. They are a very talented team. There was a great crowd here tonight. We had to really play well to win the game, and to our player’s credit, they did it. I just thank the good Lord we had the strength to prepare for this game and come down here under difficult circumstances against a great team and win a ball game. It was big for our team.”
On first half play
“When you lose your best player and your senior leader, you’re certainly concerned, but we had a lot of confidence in our team. And I think that goes to show you that we aren’t really a one player team. We have some really tough minded players, and I just thought it was a beautiful first half of basketball by our team. They really moved the basketball and we talked about being patient offensively, and they were. They made some critical defensive plays when maybe the momentum was getting ready to swing Texas A&M’s way. It was just a beautiful half of basketball, and I was real proud of our team.”
On guarding Kelsey Bone
“That’s another credit to our players; their preparation and having the strength of mind over two days. We played her very different than the first time. I thought we were fortunate to win in Lexington with her getting so many shots at the basket and off the glass. I don’t know how our players could have done a much better job.”
On losing big lead
“That was great composure, that was impressive I thought. I thought it was a terrific crowd tonight; it was really thunder coming down on us when they made their run. And as a coach who has been in these positions here before, I thought when we had it at 12 and kind of fiddled around a little bit and didn’t build the lead, it kind of had the feeling they were going to make a run, and I tried to get prepared for that. I thought the bench did a great job, the players on the floor kept their composure, and you just need to make one play. A’dia came off the nice little set we had for her, great composure, shot fake, let them go by, and stuck the jumper that got us back going. Players have to make plays in this kind of game. This kind of game to me is more about players than it is about any coaching you can do. I’m just really impressed with our players tonight.”
Senior Guard A’dia Mathies
On guarding Kelsey Bone
“We just tried to swarm her and tried to get as many defenders. She’s big, and she had a good day against us in Lexington, so we wanted to push off the block as much as we can and tried to get some little guards for when she dribbled to try to swipe the ball out of her hands. We did a good job tonight.”
Junior Center DeNesha Stallworth
On her own performance
“Just being confident and believing in myself, and I knew my team really needed me tonight. I thought it was really important for me to step up, and I thought I did a good job. Without my teammates, I wouldn’t have been able to do it because they never gave up and always believed in me.”
Junior Guard Kastine Evans
On keeping composure after losing lead
“I just think it helped being in some bigger games already this season. We’ve been in a way where we had to come back against Arkansas, and then we’ve been up against Georgia and they come back and win. So you just have to learn against experiences you’ve been in. We don’t want to be in an experience again where we’re taking the loss. I think our preparation also helped us a lot and being prepared for the game and running our game plan, executing throughout the stretch and finishing out the game strong.”
4 Comments
Texas A&M guard Courtney Walker (33) and forward Kristi Bellock (5) battle for the ball against Kentucky center Samarie Walker (23) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — DeNesha Stallworth had 12 points, 12 rebounds and a school-record seven blocks as No. 8 Kentucky held off 10th-ranked Texas A&M 70-66 on Monday night.
Courtney Walker scored four quick points, the last two when she drove hard to the basket for a layup, to trim Texas A&M’s deficit to 66-64 with about a minute remaining.
Kentucky (23-3, 11-2 SEC) missed a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, but it bounced off the rim and Stallworth batted the rebound to Bria Goss for an easy layup that made it 68-64.
Walker was fouled on a made jump shot with 4 seconds left and purposely missed the ensuing free throw. But Goss grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws to seal it.
Walker’s 20 points led Texas A&M (20-6, 10-2), which lost for the first time since a 65-62 defeat Jan. 10 at Kentucky in the first-ever meeting between the teams.
The Aggies reeled off eight straight wins after that, before Kentucky extended its winning streak to four games with Monday’s win.
Kentucky had just finished a big run when the Aggies went on one of their own, using a 16-6 spurt to cut the lead to 64-60 with about 4¬Ω minutes remaining. Kentucky’s offense went cold during that stretch and the Wildcats didn’t score for 3 minutes.
Walker had six points to power the run for the Aggies.
Texas A&M got within two early in the second half before Kentucky went on a 16-4 run to push the lead to 58-44 midway through the period. The Aggies went without scoring for more than 5 minutes and had four turnovers to help the Wildcats build the lead.
Texas A&M’s Kelsey Bone, who won Southeastern Conference player of the week honors after scoring 31 points in the Aggies’ last game, was held to nine points with 10 rebounds on Monday.
A’dia Mathies added 13 points, all in the second half, for the Wildcats. Kastine Evans scored 12 and Samarie Walker had nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Aggies committed 18 turnovers that led to 29 points for Kentucky.
Kristi Bellock had 12 points and 15 rebounds for A&M, and Adrienne Pratcher scored 12.
Texas A&M jumped out to a 9-2 lead and was up by six points with about 14 minutes left in the first half. The Wildcats used a 19-6 run to overcome the deficit and take a 28-21 advantage with 6 minutes left before halftime. Walker and Janee Thompson scored six points apiece during that span, and the Aggies had three turnovers.
Kentucky led 40-34 at halftime.
No. 8 KENTUCKY 70, No. 10 TEXAS A&M 66
KENTUCKY (23-3)
O’Neill 3-13 1-3 9, Mathies 5-13 2-3 13, Stallworth 6-16 0-1 12, Walker 3-5 3-6 9, Evans 5-9 0-0 12, Thompson 1-2 4-4 6, Pinkett 0-0 0-0 0, Goss 2-4 2-2 7, Drake 0-1 0-0 0, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Bishop 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-64 12-19 70.
TEXAS A&M (20-6)
Williams 3-7 1-2 7, Bone 4-8 1-2 9, Bellock 5-10 2-2 12, Pratcher 5-11 0-2 12, Walker 7-11 6-7 20, Scott 0-2 0-0 0, Little 1-5 0-0 2, Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Gilbert 1-2 0-3 2. Totals 27-57 10-18 66.
Halftime—Kentucky 40-34. 3-Point Goals—Kentucky 6-23 (Evans 2-5, O’Neill 2-11, Goss 1-2, Mathies 1-3, Stallworth 0-2), Texas A&M 2-9 (Pratcher 2-5, Walker 0-1, Little 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Kentucky 38 (Stallworth 12), Texas A&M 41 (Bellock 15). Assists—Kentucky 14 (O’Neill 6), Texas A&M 15 (Bellock, Bone 4). Total Fouls—Kentucky 20, Texas A&M 15. Technicals—Walker, Williams. A—6,814.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Bria Goss scored 16 of her 17 points after halftime as No. 10 Kentucky rallied and held on for a 79-74 overtime win over Arkansas on Thursday night.
The Wildcats (20-3, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) trailed by eight points with 6:51 remaining in regulation, but they tied the game late and avoided losing for the third time in four games. Samarie Walker added 16 points and A’dia Mathies finished with 15. DeNesha Stallworth added 12 points for Kentucky, which had its school-record 34-game home winning streak snapped in its last game by Georgia.
Sarah Watkins had 25 points to lead the Razorbacks (15-8, 3-7), who fell to 1-5 against ranked teams. Quistelle Williams added 18 points and Dominique Wilson 17 in the loss.
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Kentucky’s Bria Goss , center, shoots between Missouri’s Kyley Simmons, left, Bri Kulas, right, Sydney Crafton (21) and Liz Smith (45) during the first half of an NCAA college women’s basketball game Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – DeNesha Stallworth scored 17 points and A’dia Mathies added 14 to help No. 6 Kentucky extend its school-record winning streak to 15 games with a 69-43 win over Missouri on Sunday.
The Wildcats (16-1, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) scored the first six points of the game and never trailed, winning their 16th game this season by at least 18 points.
Sydney Crafton led Missouri (12-6, 1-3) with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Stallworth’s layup with 10:08 left in the first half gave Kentucky an early 23-4 lead. Missouri countered with the next nine points, but could get no closer, snapping their 11-game home winning streak.
The Tigers, who lead the country with 9.9 3-pointers per game, only made 2 of 20 attempts from behind the arc and shot 35.3 percent from the field.
No. 6 KENTUCKY 69, MISSOURI 43
KENTUCKY (16-1): Walker 1-5 0-0 2, Stallworth 5-13 7-7 17, O’Neill 5-13 0-0 11, Mathies 6-17 0-0 14, Goss 3-6 2-2 9, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Pinkett 1-3 0-0 3, Drake 4-6 1-1 9, Evans 1-4 2-2 4, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-67 12-12 69.
MISSOURI (12-6): Kulas 4-16 0-0 9, Smith 4-7 0-1 8, Doty 2-5 2-3 6, Simmons 1-3 0-0 3, Crafton 4-7 3-5 11, Saunders 0-0 0-0 0, Fowler 0-1 0-0 0, Ma. Stock 0-2 0-0 0, Eye 3-7 0-0 6, Priede 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 5-9 43.
Halftime_Kentucky 35-21. 3-Point Goals_Kentucky 5-20 (Mathies 2-7, Pinkett 1-2, Goss 1-3, O’Neill 1-5, Evans 0-3), Missouri 2-20 (Simmons 1-3, Kulas 1-8, Crafton 0-1, Priede 0-1, Doty 0-1, Ma. Stock 0-2, Eye 0-4). Fouled Out_Saunders. Rebounds_Kentucky 40 (Walker 7), Missouri 37 (Crafton 9). Assists_Kentucky 11 (O’Neill 4), Missouri 12 (Doty 7). Total Fouls_Kentucky 14, Missouri 18. A_2,176.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Janee Thompson scored all 13 of her points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 8.4 seconds left, to lift No. 9 Kentucky to a 48-47 comeback victory over No. 6 Louisville Sunday night.
The freshman guard finished with 13 points and scored the final six for the Wildcats (6-1), who trailed by 14 points in the second half before rallying down the stretch behind tough defense that held Louisville without a field goal for the final 4:54.
After Thompson’s 3-pointer, Louisville (8-1) had one final chance, but Bria Smith’s lay-up was blocked by Azia Bishop just before the buzzer.
Shoni Schimmel finished with 13 points to lead the Cardinals, who led 35-21 with 15:08 left before wilting in the final minutes from Kentucky’s defensive pressure. The Cardinals committed 25 turnovers.
DeNesha Stallworth scored 14 points for Kentucky, which claimed Bluegrass State bragging rights for the second straight year over the Cardinals.
Thompson did not play in the first half but was inserted in the second half to give the Wildcats an offensive boost. Before her game-winning shot she was fouled outside the arc and made all three free throws to bring Kentucky within 47-45 with 59.5 seconds remaining.
The close victory helped Kentucky win its fifth in a row and earn its first win against a ranked opponent this season. The Wildcats lost 85-51 at No. 1 Baylor in its second game. It was also the closest margin in six games between the intrastate rivals. The average margin of victory before Sunday was 22 points.
By LARRY VAUGHT
Question: How optimistic are you about this season?
Matthew Mitchell: “I am really excited about what this team can become. From a talent standpoint, we are better than we have ever been. Whoever you decide is our best player, and say it is A’dia Mathis, and whoever is the 13th player and getting the least amount of minutes, this is the most talent we have ever assembled. We need to pay close attention to the opportunity we have. We could win a bunch of games and be very good if the players understand what takes to be good.”
Question: What impact can 6-3 Denesha Stallworth make for your team after sitting out last season as a transfer from California?
Mitchell: “From a talent standpoint, she puts us in position to be more talented. She is a real, real talent. I don’t think (I’m) overstating it all to say she has a chance be the best player in SEC if she puts her mind to it.
“She did a fantastic job last year preparing, practicing with no games on the horizon. Sometimes it’s just human nature that you would think would lead to maybe poor practices. She practiced really, really good. I anticipate her being outstanding and being a huge part of our success.”
Question: What does she do best?
Mitchell: “She just scores and defends around the basket. She is a really, really agile and nimble big kid who can block shots, and she can really run the floor and catch in transition and finish.
“There is not a lot she can’t do. She can guard on the perimeter, guard in the post, can drive to the basket. She is just a basketball player that is really really skilled for her size. But I would say the best thing she does is just score.”
Question: Doesn’t that sound a lot like the description of Anthony Davis going into last season?
Mitchell: “We will probably use her more on the perimeter, and she won’t be that dominant of a shot-blocker like Anthony, but she will impact the game. Anthony was an unbelieveable shot-blocker. She will be good and be a good rebounder. She is really a good player.”
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