KNOXVILLE – Stunned by the news that had broken during Tennessee’s women’s basketball win over LSU on Sunday, the Lady Volunteers’ Jaiden McCoy didn’t have a lot to say about the death of Kobe Bryant. She had worn No. 24 in his honor in her earlier playing days, and she referred to Bryant as “her favorite player.”
But there wasn’t an awful lot that needed to be said, much like the game that had just finished.
It spoke for itself.
Maybe opponents like LSU are the ones that McCoy is perfectly suited for. She provides a physical inside presence that the Lady Vols (16-4, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) sometimes need.
It certainly appeared that way Sunday, when McCoy played 21 minutes – the most since the same amount in the season opener against East Tennessee State – and logged five points and four rebounds in the 63-58 win. She was a plus-12 against the Tigers, the best on the team.
It was only the sixth time this year that she’s played at least 10 minutes in a game, and all things considered, it was her best game of the season. She’s scored more points in a game and grabbed more rebounds, but her presence was what the team needed.
LSU forward Awa TrasiHear (0) is guarded by /Tennessee forward Jaiden McCoy (15) during an NCAA college basketball game in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. (Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)And it came at a time when the Lady Vols needed a big win. The record says 16-4, but the quality of wins has been sorely lacking, with their best win prior to Sunday being a last-second, 65-63 home win over Alabama on Jan. 20. Tennessee has only one other win – against Georgia – over a team ranked in the top 100 in the women’s Rating Percentage Index.
So yes, Sunday’s win was big. And McCoy was a big part of it.
“It was pretty physical,” she noted afterward. “When I was on the bench watching for the first little bit, I just saw how aggressive LSU was, so my mindset when I came in was just to be as aggressive or even more, so I could just help the team.”
McCoy brought her lunch pail to work, so to speak. And she hasn’t always been able to: She missed some time early in the season with a hand injury, then has struggled to find minutes in a rotation and on a roster loaded with post players. But she’s not like most of them in her style, and it became evident that coach Kellie Harper preferred her to other options Sunday.
So Harper rolled with the one she felt most comfortable with. And it paid off.
“We just needed to shake things up a little bit today with our rotations, and she has been practicing so well,” Harper said. “Sometimes it’s been hard to get good minutes for more than four post players. I felt that way after the UConn game. I wanted to get Jaiden more minutes, and she was terrific in practice yesterday.
“Sometimes these players don’t know how important every practice is, and she was fabulous yesterday, so that gave me even more confidence to get her in there more. She came in and gave us exactly what we needed today. She was physical, she was aggressive, and had a plus-10 (12) on the day, so that’s a good sign.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.