Know Your Foe-ette: Florida A&M
By: Dallas Bowlin
Senior Staff Writer/Editor/Host
All Vol Call In Show
I originally planned to keep the “Know Your Foe” series exclusive to men’s basketball due to the amount of work that goes into each breakdown. However, I simply love doing these, so welcome to “Know Your Foe-ette”!
Here, I’ll attempt to provide the most in-depth breakdown of every Tennessee Lady Vols opponent possible.
Starting with the October 27th exhibition opponent, the Florida A&M Rattlers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The Rattlers are coached by former Lady Vol Bridgette Gordon. Gordon was hired in 2023 and is the eighth coach in school history. She has led the Rattlers to their first conference tournament berth in her first season.
Before taking over the job, Gordon had held multiple positions with multiple high-level programs such as Kansas State, Cincinnati, and Tennessee under Holly Warlick.
RETURNERS:
G Cornelia Ellington, G/F Miya Giles-Jones, G Tahnyjia Purifoy, G Niah Rhodes, G Brooklyn Swann, F Thailan Payne, G Shaniyah McCarthy, C Zana Justice.
LOSSES:
G Aina Subirats, G Camille Jackson, C Breazia Robinson, F Jordan Boddie, G April Hooks
NEWCOMERS:
G Persais Williams (Winthrop transfer)
G/F Lisa Sims (Cerro Coso Community College)
F Rose Jamison (Bellarmine transfer)
F Dijona Berrien (Olive-Harvey)
G Kristen Johnson (Freshman)
G/F Kamryn Grant (Dayton transfer)
C Breasia Coit (Livingstone)
TEAM SUMMARY:
The Rattlers had a rough go of things last season. They finished 342nd on Barttorvik out of 360 Division I teams, with an adjusted offensive efficiency rating of 80.8 (322nd) and an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 106.7 (345th)
They do return their leading scorer, Shaniyah McCarthy, who averaged 12.3 points per game on 36.5% from the field and 22.2% from three, and their starting point guard, Tahnyjia Purifoy, who was the team's second-leading scorer with 10.6 points per game. She struggled keeping the ball out of harm's way, however, as she averaged 4.6 turnovers per game.
Turnovers were an issue for the Rattlers as a whole, as they had a turnover rate of 37.9 (353rd)
Their three-point shooting left a lot to be desired as well, as they shot 23.0% as a team (359th). Their three-point rate of 22.8 ranked 351st.
OFFENSE:
In the first two half-court sets against UCF from November 11th of last season, the Rattlers initiated their offense with a 1-4 flat look. In this, the point guard starts near the top of the key, while the other four players are spaced along the blocks and corners.
In this first possession, the 5 comes up to set a ball screen for the 1, but instead she ghosts it. The 4 then comes up and flashes for the ball before trying to cut backdoor. The defender doesn’t give an opening, so they resort to a dribble handoff with the 3, who uses a screen from the four and takes a tough midrange two.
In the second possession, back out of the 1-4 flat alignment, the 5 comes up to receive the ball at the top of the key; meanwhile, the 3 comes up on a weak-side lift. The 5 feeds the ball to the 4, who is in the paint for a short jumper.
On this possession, FAMU starts in a high-low alignment that ends in the 4 and 5 setting staggered screens. They could potentially be setting up a “Double Get” that has become pretty popular lately in both college and the NBA, where you get the staggered drag screens to get the team’s primary playmaker attacking downhill. Instead, the 3 denies the screen for a midrange jumper.
As seen here, and in the stats, FAMU likes to get the ball in the post and to the midrange. It’s a lot of ball screens, high-low stuff while emphasizing second-chance points off of offensive rebounds.
DEFENSE:
As far back as 2017, when she was an assistant at Tennessee, and even earlier, Coach Gordon is a defense-first coach. In an article by The Daily Times from August 2017, Gordon talked about what she looked to instill in the Lady Vols:
“To get back to the way that we used to, (it) was always about defense and hard work,” Gordon said. “ So, just get back down to the grinding and empty your tank. That’s the first thing I told the girls."
“There shouldn’t be a day that you go by in practice, and never a game, where you don’t empty your tank, so when you go back in that mirror after the game you can look at yourself in that mirror and say, ‘I gave it my all.’"
“If the team is better than you, you can live with that. But if they aren’t better than you, then you didn’t empty your tank, and you are not fulfilling your potential.”
In that UCF game, while the Knights shot 55.1% from the field, the Rattlers showed the ability to disrupt offenses with 12 steals and forcing 22 UCF turnovers.
The Rattlers will press and apply aggressive ball pressure all night.
HOW THE LADY VOLS CAN WIN:
Protect the ball. For a team full of new pieces, against a team returning a good bit of its production from last season, taking care of the ball will be crucial. Last season, the Lady Vols had a turnover rate of 20.7 (92nd), which isn’t horrible, but it’s not great either. I would like to see this team do a better job taking care of the ball than its predecessor.
Defend the paint. Tennessee doesn’t have a true shot blocker to deter teams from going into the paint, but that doesn’t mean they HAVE to give up points in the paint. You can force misses without blocking the shot. Contest every look vertically. Make FAMU shoot the ball from the mid-range or perimeter.
Don’t foul. To go along with the last category, don’t attempt to recklessly close out on shooters. Go vertical on defenses in the paint. Slide your feet. Last season, the Lady Vols committed 578 personal fouls, which equals out to 19.26 fouls per game or 90th in the country as far as most fouls committed.
HOW FLORIDA A&M CAN WIN:
An act of God. An act of Congress.
Just pray.
No, seriously, the Rattlers could make things interesting. This is a new group, and it’s obviously not as talented as last season’s Lady Vols, who, despite their talent, underachieved. That’s no slight to the current roster. They are talented, but they aren't as "Heralded" as last year's team. Some bumps in the road would not be surprising at all. Maybe A&M can force a few turnovers early and put some pressure on Coach Caldwell’s squad. But these are still SEC athletes. A path to victory is pretty unlikely.
PREDICTION:
The Lady Vols get to put on a show in front of their home fans, and we see a fun product that looks the complete polar opposite of last season.
TENNESSEE - 95 | FLORIDA A&M - 49
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