Season glance: The women’s games 22-24

Through 21 games, I have the Tigers at 13-8 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. Let’s keep the dive into the schedule going with matchups against Mississippi State, Texas and Tennessee.

In my prediction, Missouri comes into the matchup with the Bulldogs on a two-game losing streak.

The Bulldogs went 23-12 overall last season and 8-8 in SEC play. They opened the season with eight consecutive wins, but lost consecutive games to Miami and UT-Chattanooga before finishing the non-conference schedule with five consecutive wins.

Mississippi State won five consecutive games early in the conference season, but immediately lost its next five before beating the Tigers 90-75 to end the regular season.

The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 11-5 with all 16 matchups coming since Missouri entered the SEC.

Two starters return to the court for the Bulldogs in graduate guard Jerkaila Jordan (5-foot, 10-inches) and junior guard/forward Debreasha Powe (6-1).

Jordan led the team in scoring last year at 16.2 points per game, while bringing down 5.9 rebounds, dishing out 2.4 assists and notching 2.11 steals per game.

Powe averaged 8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Both started more than 34 games. No other returner started more than one.

The Bulldogs added 6-6 junior center Madina Okot who played for Zetech University in Kenya and played for the Kenya national team.

The team also brought in senior forward/center Kayla Thomas (6-2) from Penn State, graduate guard/forward Chandler Prater (5-10) from Oklahoma State, graduate guard/forward Eniya Russell (6-0) from Kentucky, graduate guard/forward Terren Ward (5-11) from Georgia Southern, junior guard Destiney McPhaul (5-9) from Northwest Florida State College and junior guard Denim DeShields (5-5) from UAB.

Wow, that’s a lot of transfers for a women’s program, especially in the third year of coach Sam Purcell’s tenure. That’s the type of turnover you get with a new coach.

The roster also includes three freshmen in Shakirah Edwards (5-10), Anaisha Carriere (6-2) and Tahj-Monet Bloom (6-2) and redshirt freshman Rocio Jimenez (6-7). So, a good mix of older and younger players.

Mississippi State doesn’t open the season until Thursday when it hosts Memphis. After that, it will play Utah and Georgia Tech for the only non-conference games that should cause any issue.

But the Bulldogs open conference play with a gauntlet of No. 22 Kentucky, No. 1 South Carolina and No. 10 Oklahoma. And after a matchup with Georgia that should get the Bulldogs their first SEC win, they face Tennessee and Ole Miss.

I think Mississippi State is going to have a rough time in that first stretch of conference play and might come into their matchup with the Tigers somewhat beat up and disheartened after that stretch.

So I’ll give the Tigers a win here to beat their total of two SEC wins from last year.

I’ll tell you up top, the Tigers are going to lose this one.

Texas comes into the season ranked No. 4 in the AP rankings after going 33-5 overall last season and 14-4 in Big 12 play.

The Longhorns won the Big 12 Tournament and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Texas beat Drexel, Alabama and Gonzaga to reach the Elite Eight, but the Longhorns lost to NC State to not make the Final Four. It was the Longhorns’ 10th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The Longhorns return three players who started 20 or more games and another who started 19.

Sophomore forward Madison Booker (6-1) returns after leading the Longhorns in scoring in her freshman season with 16.5 points to go with 5.0 rebounds and a team-high 5.0 assists per game.

She was named the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year, the first freshman to win the honor, she made the All-Big 12 First Team unanimously, was a second-team All-American and set the Texas program record for assists as a freshman with 185.

Senior guard Rori Harmon (5-6) is also back as playing in just 12 games because of a season-ending knee injury in late December. She still averaged 14.1 points and 5.6 rebounds and an astounding 7.75 assists per game with 93 total. She passed 500 career assists in just two and a half seasons.

Senior forward Taylor Jones (6-4) is back after starting 27 games and averaging 12.3 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game to go with 1.82 blocks per contest.

Senior forward Aaliyah Moore (6-1) is back as well after averaging 11.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 19 starts and 33 appearances.

Senior guard Shay Holle (6-0) is back after starting 26 games, as well.

That’s a ton of talent returning off a team that was a No. 1 seed and nearly made the Final Four.

Texas doesn’t open the season until Nov. 10 when it hosts Southeast Missouri State. The Longhorns will play Notre Dame and Maryland for their only big non-conference games.

I think Texas is going to compete for a national championship this year.

Missouri loses this game, probably by a good margin.

And now we finish the stretch with one of the storied programs in women’s college basketball history.

Tennessee hasn’t been nearly the same team since Pat Summit retired, but the Volunteers still win 20+ games a year. Last year, Tennessee went 20-13 overall and 10-6 in SEC play.

The Volunteers lost to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament semifinal and was a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, beating Green Bay before losing to NC State in the second round.

Tennessee played a very tough non-conference schedule last year, playing at-the-time No. 18 Florida State, No. 21 Indiana, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 18 Notre Dame and No. 16 Ohio State, not to mention an exhibition against the US Women’s National Team.

Tennessee went 1-4 in those ranked matchups, but cruised through the rest of the non-conference schedule and opened conference play 7-2, finishing the stretch with an 80-69 win against Missouri on Feb. 4.

It was the lone matchup between the programs last year.

Tennessee leads the all-time series 15-3 and has won the past seven matchups.

Missouri’s most recent win was a 66-64 victory in Knoxville, Tenn. in 2019. The Tigers also won 77-73 in Columbia in 2018 and 80-63 in Columbia in 2013.

Last year’s leading scorer Rickea Jackson was the No. 4 pick in the WNBA draft, but graduate guard Jewel Spear (5-10) returns after averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in 33 appearances, all starts.

Senior forward Sara Puckett (6-2) is back as well after scoring 9.9 points and bringing down 4.9 rebounds per game in 33 starts as the second of four full-time starters returning.

The Volunteers added junior guard Ruby Whitehorn (6-0) from Clemson, who was a regular starter for the Tigers last year and averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

They also brought in senior guard Samara Spencer (5-7) who averaged 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists for Arkansas last season.

Favor Ayodele (6-1) a fifth-year forward from Pitt, joins the Volunteers after averaging 6.2 rebounds per game last season.

Tennessee opens the season hosting Samford on Tuesday and will face a somewhat dumbed-down and short non-conference schedule.

The Volunteers will play Florida State in the SEC/ACC Challenge and Iowa in the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic.They will also play Memphis, but only have 12 non-conference games scheduled before conference play because of a break from the conference schedule to play UConn on Feb. 6, the next game on their schedule after the matchup with Mizzou.

Well, I think Tennessee will go into that matchup with UConn off a win.

Another 1-2 stretch for Missouri in conference play.

That brings the Tigers to 14-10 overall and 3-6 in SEC play in my predictions.

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss this and so much more.