After being picked to finish last in the SEC preseason media poll, head coach Shea Ralph’s Commodores are off to a blistering 7-0 start, headlined by a 68-53 win over Iowa State. Other than the Cyclones, the schedule has been rather light to open the season, but that changes on Wednesday, Nov. 29 when Vanderbilt faces off against No. 5 NC State at 6:15 p.m. CST.
The Wolfpack — unranked to begin the season — have climbed into the top 5 with wins against then-No. 2 UConn and then-No. 3 Colorado. They headline this week’s ESPN Power Rankings as the “hottest team in the sport,” a list that also features Vanderbilt as the Team of the Week. When they tip off in Raleigh, it will be a clash of two of the biggest surprises in women’s college basketball. What can we expect?
At the helm of the Wolfpack offense are juniors Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers, who lead the team in scoring with 16.6 and 13.1 points per game, respectively. A small two-guard with double-digit finishes in all but one game, James is the team’s most prolific shooter, boasting a 42.9% 3-point percentage on five shots per game. Rivers mans the point and leads the team with 4.7 assists and 2.4 steals per game; however, with only 2 makes on 14 attempts from deep, the reigning ACC Sixth Player of the Year is a limited threat at the perimeter.
Filling out the starting lineup are senior Madison Hayes and graduate students Mimi Collins and River Baldwin. Outside of an off-game against Rhode Island, Hayes has proven to be another elite spot-up shooter next to James, averaging 11.1 points per-game on 60% shooting and 61.1% from deep. At 6’3” and 6’5”, respectively, Collins and Baldwin are a pair of experienced paint bruisers that anchor a Wolfpack defense that held Colorado to 60 points. In the win over the Buffaloes, Baldwin led the team with 24 points and 8 rebounds.
With a starting lineup full of veterans and a bench spearheaded by a youth movement, NC State and Vanderbilt resemble each other in a lot of ways. Freshmen Laci Steele, Maddie Cox and Zoe Brooks are the leading players off the bench for the Wolfpack, with back-up point guard Brooks averaging 9.4 points and 3.3 assists per-game. Between Aga Makurat, Aiyana Mitchell, Khamil Pierre and Madison Greene, the Commodore freshmen are even deeper and, given their size, more versatile.
The biggest deficiency shown by the Commodores thus far is a lack of consistency on offense. In its last game against Northern Iowa, Vanderbilt surrendered a 15-point halftime lead by stalling out for multiple minutes at a time, winning the game by just four points.
Almost like the Los Angeles Clippers or the Toronto Raptors, Vanderbilt is loaded with tall, long guard-forward hybrids that can playmake and shoot well, but do neither at an elite level. That’s an incredible strength on defense, with the length of players like Makurat and Pissott shutting down opponents on the perimeter and allowing them to switch 1-4 while Ralph’s hallmark press defense forces 12.1 steals per-game. However, on offense, the lack of a truly elite knock-down threat or alpha-level scorer leaves the team sputtering at times.
The size of Ralph’s team may also help counter one of NC State’s biggest strengths: rebounding. The Wolfpack dominated UConn on the boards, 41-29, and are 10th in the country with 47 rebounds per game. Given the prowess of Collins, Baldwin and Cox, the Commodores can’t afford to run small-ball lineups with Makurat at the five for long stretches. Sacha Washington, with her presence down low, will be the key to any hope the Commodores have of keeping the rebounding margin tight.
With the highest profile nonconference trip of Ralph’s tenure, it’s almost a given that Vanderbilt will be running its defensive press early and often. Rivers presents a unique challenge to that system as a more-than-competent playmaker capable of exploiting double coverage; however, playing Makurat and Pissott together would give the Commodores a decided perimeter size advantage that could make the trap highly effective.
It’s been a long time since Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball has generated as much national buzz as it is right now. A 7-0 start is the team’s best opening to a season since 2011-2012, and the Commodores are firmly in contention for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2013-2014. NC State, win or lose, will be a needed measuring stick for the Commodores. Is this a team that can actually compete with the top dogs in the sport, or are the Black and Gold still another year away from catching fire?
