UT MARTIN WOMEN’S HOOPS LOOKS FOR GROWTH FROM ROSTER RICH IN YOUTH
11/2/2018 8:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The University of Tennessee at Martin women's basketball team will officially open the 2018-19 season on Tuesday, Nov. 6 with a matchup against former Ohio Valley Conference rival Samford. While the regular season is right around the corner, the Skyhawks are hoping the team's youth and inexperience will quickly meld together to form an explosive offense and suffocating defense.
When looking at the make-up of the roster, some of the names remain the same as a year ago when the Skyhawks posted a runner-up finish at the OVC Basketball Championship and notched the program's seventh postseason berth in the past eight seasons. Key contributors in senior Emanye Robertson along with the sophomore duo of Chelsey Perry and Maddie Waldrop return to the fold to highlight a young roster which feature 13 freshmen and sophomores.
"We are certainly back to being one of the youngest teams in the country," UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. "With 13 freshmen and sophomores, it is a youth movement. What I will say about them, is they are playing hard pretty much every day and come to practice ready to work. They have had some troubles and struggles adapting to college life – meaning time management – which is a factor that you sometime take for granted until you have a team this young."
The Skyhawks boast just one senior in Robertson on the squad along with a one junior in Aundrea Adams - a junior college transfer from Northeast Mississippi Community College. From there UT Martin returns sophomores Perry, Waldrop, Zaire Hicks and Demi Burdick while the trio of Damiah Griffin, Paige Pipkin and Tamiah Stanford will look to make their Skyhawk debuts after missing the 2017-18 campaign with season-ending knee injuries. Rounding out the squad are six true freshmen Emma Davis, Sade' Hudson, Brittni Moore, Jalynn Landversicht, Kyarrah Grant and Kyannah Grant.
"We push them every drill and every day to be the best that they can be," McMillan said. "They've been knocked down quite a few times, but they continue to get back up and I appreciate that. The kids have an idea of the standards we have set in our program, but they don't yet understand the work that was put in to develop the standards. We are constantly asking them, 'how do you want to leave your mark on the program?'"
Robertson has started 87 games while playing in 97 since making her Skyhawks debut. She tallied 10.9 points per game last season while notching 3.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. For her career she has scored 844 points while ranking sixth in program history with 356 assists. As a junior, she scored in double figures 19 times while ranking in the OVC top-10 in steals (2.1, fourth), minutes played (34.7, fifth), assists (4.4, sixth), assist/turnover ratio (1.4, sixth) and field goal percentage (45.7, eighth).
Perry burst onto the scene last season by averaging 11.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.2 assists and 1.1 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game as a freshman. She was rewarded for her strong play by being named to the OVC All-Newcomer squad along with the OVC All-Tournament team while notching three OVC Freshman of the Week honors. She ranked second in the nation amongst true-freshmen with an 86.7 percent free throw percentage while notching 20 games in double-figures – including four games with at least 20 points. Along with her scoring ability, she notched 38 blocks which ranked fourth on the program's single-season leaderboard.
Waldrop also became a valuable contributor for the Skyhawks as the team's de facto sixth man, playing in all 34 games while garnering three starts. She averaged 5.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 21.7 minutes per game. She scored in double figures five times while recording at least five rebounds on 21 different occasions.
While the experience – or lack thereof – of the current roster only equates to seven years in a Skyhawk uniform, McMillan believe that there are leaders in the program that are just waiting to emerge.
"Somebody is going to have to emerge as a leader if we are going to be really good this year," he said. "With all of the freshmen and sophomores we have, we hope someone emerges to take that role and lead this team to something special. When I look at the team, Emanye may not be the vocal leader, but her play can be an example to others. Meanwhile, Chelsey and Maddie have the ability to vocally challenge and encourage their teammates, even though they are only sophomores. Leaders can emerge from youth regardless of experience."
One way in which UT Martin will look to combat the potential challenges of youth is a change in play style. While the playbook has always been fluid, the Skyhawks enter the season looking to maintain a quick pace while using the team's vast depth and athleticism to force the action defensively through pressure defense.
"Depth is going to be a strength which will be different for us," McMillan said. "I think they will play hard and that will overcome some of our problems. West Tennessee fans and media are knowledgeable. When you go and see kids playing hard, you believe they are going to be ok. These kids are diving for loose balls and jumping into the stands chasing things down. They are doing the things they need to do. The questions we have are, what are the fundamental skills that they are going to bring? When are they going to understand the speed and when will their skills adjust to that speed? Those are all factors that we are trying to get."
The Skyhawks will have the ability to work on their craft in the friendly confines of the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center for much of the early portion of the non-conference schedule with four of the team's first five games being played at home. UT Martin will open the season against Samford on Nov. 6 before hosting Southern Illinois (Nov. 9), Arkansas State (Nov. 17) and Christian Brothers (Nov. 19) to add familiarity to a young squad. The hope is several home games will better prepare the squad for road matchups against IUPUI (Nov. 13), Northwestern (Nov. 25), Chattanooga (Nov. 28), Louisville (Dec. 4) and Lipscomb (Dec. 9).
"It's a pretty good schedule because we play some really good teams. There are some really good mid-majors on that schedule in IUPUI, Southern Illinois, Chattanooga and Arkansas State while the big guys like Louisville and Northwestern fill out the schedule. Every game on here is great for us and the day we take a game for granted will be a big mistake."
"The best part about this team is that they are coachable right now and that's a huge thing," McMillan said. "We are going to see a lot of growing pains as the season gets going like you would expect out of a young team but if they can just play hard, we will find a way. The way we are going to be play is fun to watch. We are going to get out there and get after you. We've been waiting years to do it and we finally can."
For information on single-game and season tickets, contact the Skyhawk Ticket Office, located in Room 1091 in the Skyhawk Fieldhouse, call (731) 881-7207 or order online at UTMsports.com.
When looking at the make-up of the roster, some of the names remain the same as a year ago when the Skyhawks posted a runner-up finish at the OVC Basketball Championship and notched the program's seventh postseason berth in the past eight seasons. Key contributors in senior Emanye Robertson along with the sophomore duo of Chelsey Perry and Maddie Waldrop return to the fold to highlight a young roster which feature 13 freshmen and sophomores.
"We are certainly back to being one of the youngest teams in the country," UT Martin head coach Kevin McMillan said. "With 13 freshmen and sophomores, it is a youth movement. What I will say about them, is they are playing hard pretty much every day and come to practice ready to work. They have had some troubles and struggles adapting to college life – meaning time management – which is a factor that you sometime take for granted until you have a team this young."
The Skyhawks boast just one senior in Robertson on the squad along with a one junior in Aundrea Adams - a junior college transfer from Northeast Mississippi Community College. From there UT Martin returns sophomores Perry, Waldrop, Zaire Hicks and Demi Burdick while the trio of Damiah Griffin, Paige Pipkin and Tamiah Stanford will look to make their Skyhawk debuts after missing the 2017-18 campaign with season-ending knee injuries. Rounding out the squad are six true freshmen Emma Davis, Sade' Hudson, Brittni Moore, Jalynn Landversicht, Kyarrah Grant and Kyannah Grant.
"We push them every drill and every day to be the best that they can be," McMillan said. "They've been knocked down quite a few times, but they continue to get back up and I appreciate that. The kids have an idea of the standards we have set in our program, but they don't yet understand the work that was put in to develop the standards. We are constantly asking them, 'how do you want to leave your mark on the program?'"
Robertson has started 87 games while playing in 97 since making her Skyhawks debut. She tallied 10.9 points per game last season while notching 3.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. For her career she has scored 844 points while ranking sixth in program history with 356 assists. As a junior, she scored in double figures 19 times while ranking in the OVC top-10 in steals (2.1, fourth), minutes played (34.7, fifth), assists (4.4, sixth), assist/turnover ratio (1.4, sixth) and field goal percentage (45.7, eighth).
Perry burst onto the scene last season by averaging 11.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.2 assists and 1.1 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game as a freshman. She was rewarded for her strong play by being named to the OVC All-Newcomer squad along with the OVC All-Tournament team while notching three OVC Freshman of the Week honors. She ranked second in the nation amongst true-freshmen with an 86.7 percent free throw percentage while notching 20 games in double-figures – including four games with at least 20 points. Along with her scoring ability, she notched 38 blocks which ranked fourth on the program's single-season leaderboard.
Waldrop also became a valuable contributor for the Skyhawks as the team's de facto sixth man, playing in all 34 games while garnering three starts. She averaged 5.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 21.7 minutes per game. She scored in double figures five times while recording at least five rebounds on 21 different occasions.
While the experience – or lack thereof – of the current roster only equates to seven years in a Skyhawk uniform, McMillan believe that there are leaders in the program that are just waiting to emerge.
"Somebody is going to have to emerge as a leader if we are going to be really good this year," he said. "With all of the freshmen and sophomores we have, we hope someone emerges to take that role and lead this team to something special. When I look at the team, Emanye may not be the vocal leader, but her play can be an example to others. Meanwhile, Chelsey and Maddie have the ability to vocally challenge and encourage their teammates, even though they are only sophomores. Leaders can emerge from youth regardless of experience."
One way in which UT Martin will look to combat the potential challenges of youth is a change in play style. While the playbook has always been fluid, the Skyhawks enter the season looking to maintain a quick pace while using the team's vast depth and athleticism to force the action defensively through pressure defense.
"Depth is going to be a strength which will be different for us," McMillan said. "I think they will play hard and that will overcome some of our problems. West Tennessee fans and media are knowledgeable. When you go and see kids playing hard, you believe they are going to be ok. These kids are diving for loose balls and jumping into the stands chasing things down. They are doing the things they need to do. The questions we have are, what are the fundamental skills that they are going to bring? When are they going to understand the speed and when will their skills adjust to that speed? Those are all factors that we are trying to get."
The Skyhawks will have the ability to work on their craft in the friendly confines of the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center for much of the early portion of the non-conference schedule with four of the team's first five games being played at home. UT Martin will open the season against Samford on Nov. 6 before hosting Southern Illinois (Nov. 9), Arkansas State (Nov. 17) and Christian Brothers (Nov. 19) to add familiarity to a young squad. The hope is several home games will better prepare the squad for road matchups against IUPUI (Nov. 13), Northwestern (Nov. 25), Chattanooga (Nov. 28), Louisville (Dec. 4) and Lipscomb (Dec. 9).
"It's a pretty good schedule because we play some really good teams. There are some really good mid-majors on that schedule in IUPUI, Southern Illinois, Chattanooga and Arkansas State while the big guys like Louisville and Northwestern fill out the schedule. Every game on here is great for us and the day we take a game for granted will be a big mistake."
"The best part about this team is that they are coachable right now and that's a huge thing," McMillan said. "We are going to see a lot of growing pains as the season gets going like you would expect out of a young team but if they can just play hard, we will find a way. The way we are going to be play is fun to watch. We are going to get out there and get after you. We've been waiting years to do it and we finally can."
For information on single-game and season tickets, contact the Skyhawk Ticket Office, located in Room 1091 in the Skyhawk Fieldhouse, call (731) 881-7207 or order online at UTMsports.com.
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