With new beginnings in the air as another new year comes, a new test awaits Johnnie Harris’ Tigers with Southeastern Conference play set to begin in Auburn, Alabama, this week. Posting an 11-2 non-conference record, the Tigers will look to win their first league opener since the 2017-18 campaign with the storied Tennessee Lady Vols coming to town.
Riding an eight-game win streak into 2024, Auburn’s December to remember featured both the heights of its offense and historic marks from a classic Harris-coached defense.
“Everything we do starts with our defense,” Harris said following a 79-58 win against North Alabama on Sunday, Dec. 31.
Notably this season, the Tigers forced Alabama State into 40 turnovers, off a new program record 28 steals, in a 94-37 win on Dec. 13 at home. It tied for the second-most turnovers forced by Auburn in program history and was the most against a Division-I opponent.
The Tigers scored 53 points off those 40 turnovers, the most since at least 2005-06 – when the statistic started being officially recorded.
On the season, Auburn ranks 20th nationally and just behind defending national champion LSU in the league forcing 22.08 turnovers per game.
And the Tigers, led by JaMya Mingo-Young, have been able to turn their stifling defense into points at the other end of the floor. Mingo-Young, the transfer guard from Alabama, got her first double-double of the season in the win over North Alabama with 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“She's doing a good job of running our team and taking what the defense is giving her,” Harris said. “We're gonna work on finishing better, and she's doing a great job of delivering the ball. And she's taking good shots as well.”
Mingo-Young currently leads the conference and ranks seventh nationally with her 3.83 assist to turnover ratio, in just 10 appearances this season. But, Mingo-Young’s ability to take advantage of every opportunity has not just come from defensive success but also at the charity stripe – having knocked down 25 consecutive free throws dating back to the UAB game on Dec.10.
But for Harris, with SEC play on the horizon it will be her defense that will have to set the tone early.
“We're going to expand on our defense. We've been working on putting in some new schemes and our toughness level. You have to be tough to come out and set the tone,” Harris said.
The Tigers’ first test will come against a Tennessee team with a 7-5 non-conference record – with four of its five losses coming to nationally ranked opponents. But, the Volunteers have won three straight with the return of the fifth-year forward Rickea Jackson back in the lineup.
One of five players averaging points in double figures, Jackson has averaged 19.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in the four games she has played – with 31 points and 17 rebounds at Florida State on Nov. 9 before missing the next eight games with a lower right leg injury. Jackson wasn’t with Tennessee in four of the five losses this season.
But, with the return of several key players, the Lady Vols are playing some of their best basketball of the season with SEC play on deck. In Tennessee’s last two wins against Wofford and at Liberty, the Volunteers have hit 10 or more 3-pointers, finishing with a season-best 12 at Liberty and hitting 10 or more from deep in back-to-back contests for the first time since the start of the 2016-17 season.
Also in the last two games, and fourth time this season, the Lady Vols pulled down 50+ rebounds – their 52 ranks third-most in a game this season. During the Kellie Harper era, Tennessee has recorded 50 rebounds in a game on 44 occasions.
If the Tigers' defense can limit a strong rebounding effort and eliminate the Volunteers’ attack from deep, then Auburn’s first road trip of the new year could be a battle of two teams that haven’t lost since November in College Station, Texas.
Texas A&M has won 10 straight, leading into its matchup at Georgia on Thursday, Jan. 4, where the Aggies have won by an average margin of 33.5 points per game with no team having eclipsed 65 points during the 10 games. The streak includes wins over Cal, Wake Forest and Kansas.
The Aggies’ defense has been one of the best defenses in the sport so far this season ranking in the top three nationally in defensive field goal percentage (31.1%), scoring defense (48.8) and rebounds per game (49.6) – the only team in the country to rank in the top three in all three statistical categories.
Auburn will also see a familiar face at Reed Arena with former Tiger Aicha Coulibaly suiting up for Texas A&M after transferring this past offseason. The two-time All-SEC Second Team selection ranks in the top three on the Aggies’ squad in points (11.5), rebounds (5.8), assists (2.2), steals (2.2) and blocks (0.5).
The Tigers will begin their 2024 conference slate with the Tennessee Lady Volunteers inside Neville Arena on Thursday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. CST with television coverage available on the SEC Network+. Following the game, Auburn will hit the road for its first of two games away from home against the Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. CST with the matchup airing on the SEC Network.
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Patrick is a sophomore from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
