Taylor Hall was thrown right into the mix last December when she joined the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team.
Hall, named the 2010 Class AAA Miss Basketball after her senior season at Morristown-West High School, initially decided not to play college basketball before changing her mind last fall. About 48 hours after joining the Lady Mocs, coach Wes Moore put her in on the road at the College of Charleston.
It was a whirlwind season for Hall in which she had to play catch-up both in terms of learning UTC’s system and getting in game shape. In all she played in 23 games and averaged 4.0 points and 2.6 rebounds a game.
Now, with the benefit of preseason conditioning and practice, she’s off to a good start for the Lady Mocs (1-1) this season.
“I’m so much more comfortable and I know what [Moore] is looking for and what everybody expects,” she said. “I’m just more comfortable with the system and I’m getting used to it now.”
Hall has started UTC’s first two games. She had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) in the season-opening win against UAB and 10 points and eight rebounds against top-ranked Baylor.
“She’s our traditional 4 player,” Moore said. “She does a great job of crashing [the boards] even from the 3-point line. She does probably as good a job as anybody on our team of finding the gap and getting to the boards.”
After a 91-31 thrashing at Baylor, Moore is hoping for a better performance by the Lady Mocs on Friday when they play at Indiana State (1-1) in their final Preseason WNIT game.
He said there was a time when UTC would be competitive against elite teams, but that hasn’t happened lately. He pointed out the Lady Mocs’ 103-43 loss at Tennessee last season and the loss to Baylor — games in which UTC was blown out early.
“We’ve got to get back to [being competitive],” he said. “Last year’s game at Tennessee and this year’s game at Baylor, from the standpoint of competing, they were probably two of the worst maybe in all my years of coaching.”
UTC hit just 11 of 60 shots against Baylor. While the Bears’ 6-foot-8 All-American Brittney Griner had an impact on shots in the paint, including three blocks, she also only played 22 minutes.
Playing Indiana State, a good mid-major program like UTC, should make for a better matchup.
“If we play the way we’re capable of playing, it ought to be a good game,” Moore said, “and it will just be a matter of are we strong enough to go in there and get it done on the road.”