Ralph: “We Just Have to Learn the Hard Way” After Loss to Gamecocks
Vanderbilt Learned Lessons on Sunday
“You know, it’s just, we talk about these things and I think sometimes you just have to learn the hard way. You do, and today we did.”
That was Vanderbilt Commodores Women’s Basketball Head Coach Shea Ralph after the No. 5/4 Commodores faced their first loss of the season to No. 2 South Carolina 103-74. There were several lessons learned, and the simplest of them all was the failure to take care of the ball. The Gamecocks opened the game on an 11-2 run, which was the result of three quick turnovers in less than two minutes.
Vanderbilt gave South Carolina the ball 20 times, with 16 of those coming in the first half. The Gamecocks were able to turn those into 32 points, which also helped their massive paint points category, taking a 56-24 advantage. SC needed no help, and the Dores helped them plenty.
Vanderbilt was hit in the chest hard and early in a hostile environment, against a team that was motivated to show that their world wasn’t crashing after their loss to Oklahoma on Thursday night. This was a lesson that they have hopefully learned how to handle a bit better.
Coach Shea Ralph stated after the game that she did not recognize this team in the way they came out and at times looked like they had quit. That is something that Ralph does not take lightly and has often talked about giving max effort over this season. At the half and at the very beginning of the third quarter, Vanderbilt was in it.
“Crappy as we played today, for a lot of that game, you know, especially in the second quarter in the beginning of the third, we were in it. We can never let the wind go out of our sails. We can never lay down and die,” said Ralph. “And I think for me, that was what was most disappointing, and embarrassing. Right? We just didn’t play like ourselves, and at points in a game that looked like we quit, and that just can’t be who we are.”
This team now has to take these lessons learned and bounce back because the road doesn’t get easier. The next five games will show how much the Dores learned from their experience in South Carolina with matchups at Ole Miss, at home against Florida, at Kentucky, and back to back at home against Oklahoma and Texas. The SEC is unforgiving, and everyone will look to see how Vandy strikes back.
Vanderbilt is still 20-1 and is in no way in trouble or defined by this one loss. Days like this happen, and it can be a good thing for the development and mindset of a team. I asked Coach Ralph how the team’s mindset was immediately after this shell shocking experience in Columbia. They know what they have to do, and Ralph also reiterated that it starts with her.
“I think at the end of the game, when we spoke to them as a team, they understood the things that were exposed today and the ways that we need to get better, they know that. They see the ways that we haven’t prepared for a moment like this,” said Ralph. “They understand the things that maybe we didn’t know yet. They also know that we’re really good, and, you know, that this doesn’t end our season. So, I think that’s the biggest point right now is, hey, we’re good. We learned a lot today.”
A lot was definitely learned, and I won’t go into the specifics, but one thing that was evident is that the best player on the team, Mikayla Blakes, never quit. Blakes is a leader, and that is what you want the best player on your team to be.
“I was really proud of Mikayla. I thought Mikayla played hard the whole game. She was put in some tough positions. They defended her really well. That kid never quit, and I think there’s a lot that we can learn from that kind of mentality, and she’s not the only one, but I just point her out because she’s my best player,” Ralph explained.
She doesn’t even have to be the vocal and loud leader; her action proves it. The mentality of Blakes and other leaders on the team has to be contagious and drive this squad the rest of the season.
“She had to do, she always does a lot for us. But we need to learn how to operate that way. Mikayla’s mentality, my mentality, our staff’s mentality, and for the most part, our team mentality has to stay the same, whether we’re up 20, down 20, on the road, at home. You know, it’s just, we talk about these things and I think, sometimes you just have to learn the hard way. You do. And today we did. We learned the hard way, some of the things that just get in our way, that we haven’t been able to fix yet, and we’re gonna have to in order to continue to have the season we want to have.”
Shea Ralph and the team know what they have to do and the road that is coming up on the schedule. She takes responsibility in preparing the team to respond and play better than they did in Sunday’s game.
“They’re my team. So at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. Right? And I want to make sure that I say that. They’re my team. And I just, I just know them to be, to be harder fighters than I saw in moments a day. And that’s okay. We can learn from that,” Ralph stated.
It was a hostile environment, and the Gamecocks pounced from the beginning. Vanderbilt has weathered some runs this season, but Sunday was just different.
“I would love to see… my team respond better in moments today where they didn’t. And I think at the end, at the end of it, of it all, that comes back to how we prepare them. So, I will say, you know, just to be very clear, there were moments where I was really like, what’s, you know, who is this? And then I hearkened that back to, we need to prepare them better,” Shea Ralph expressed.
“There’s got to be different ways that we prepare them to be able to handle some of the moments that we had today in a better fashion, to be able to take better care of the ball, get better shots, defend better. That is, you know, part of the lesson that we learned today, both as players and coaches.”
This hostile road environment is something that is hard to prepare for if you never play in it. Ralph addressed this head on after the game.
“We talked about this as a staff, right after the game in our locker room. This is a really tough environment to prepare for. This is why I beg and plead for people to show up to our games. Because we want to have a home environment like South Carolina has for our kids. It’s really tough to play in an environment like that. And the only way you prepare for it, I think, is by having one.”
The women’s basketball program needs and deserves better home crowds at Memorial Gymnasium. South Carolina averages 15,756 fans per game. Vanderbilt averages 3,056. That’s a massive difference. Yes, the venues have different capacities, but Memorial Gymnasium could and should be louder. We’re in the heart of SEC play, and a top-five team in the nation deserves a great home environment.
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