Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Kellie Harper is always concerned about how well her team is rebounding.
But not to this level.
Harper, who is entering her fifth season leading her alma mater, didn’t sugarcoat her worries about how the team was going to make up for the rebounds it lost with the graduation of Jordan Horston and Jordan Walker. The two veteran guards and forward Jasmine Franklin combined for 15 rebounds per game last season.
No one stood out on the boards in Tennessee‘s closed scrimmage against NC State last weekend, Harper said.
“We had a few (players) get some rebounds, but nothing that we have not already seen in practice,” she said. “Last year it was a different concern, and we had some natural rebounders that just weren’t rebounding. Right now, we are lacking a few of those players that it’s just natural for. So we have to be a little bit more disciplined when we don’t have that natural ability.”
The 15 rebounds per game aren’t going to be made up by one player this season. Especially with the uncertainty of what senior center Tamari Key’s status will be once games start, Harper said everyone will need to step up their game.
Tennessee’s top returning rebounder is senior forward Rickea Jackson, who had 6.1 per game last season. But no other player averaged more than five rebounds last season besides Horston, who led with 7.1 per game.
Jackson knows she’s capable of increasing her production and aims to be “relentless on the boards” this season. But that effort needs to come from the guards, too. Junior Kaiya Wynn said improving on the offensive glass has been an emphasis.
Part of the rebounding issue is simply a change in mindset for guards who transferred in this season. Senior Jewel Spear wasn’t an offensive rebounder at Wake Forest. Her role was more focused on getting back and organizing the defense. But with the Lady Vols, Spear‘s role on the boards will be bigger.
“It’s definitely a mental thing,” she said. “It’s mental, but it’s also a one-two, it’s effort. You what to do — now, you just have to do it and do it to the best of your ability. Even though you might not get it every time, just crashing the boards might get another teammate the rebound.”
Transfer point guard Destinee Wells is in a similar position. At Belmont, she was used to getting back on defense once the shot went up, and the 5-foot-6 Wells never had to rebound as much with her size.
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But Wells knows it’s on the guards to grab long rebounds or get in the paint to box out, and it has been something she has worked on every day.
“Now I have to know the position that I’m in on the court, or if somebody’s closer to half-court, tell them to get back so I can go in to crash,” she said. “So it’s definitely just remembering and not just auto running back.”
Harper said junior forward Sara Puckett is the team’s best rebounder right now. It’s an area Puckett focused on this summer, knowing the players and elite rebounders the team lost.
“I thought, ‘OK, well somebody’s got to do it, so why not me?’ ” Puckett said. “I’ve always been able to just kind of track the ball a little bit, so I’ve been focusing on that specifically. Trying to see where the ball is going to go, not over-run it, not under-run it, just be able to follow the ball and be ready for it to come and have my hands ready. Whatever I can do to get a rebound, that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee Lady Vols turning to new basketball transfers for rebounds
