No. 7 Vanderbilt Women's Basketball Confident Ahead of Game Against No. 10 Oregon
The No. 7 Vanderbilt women's basketball team gets its NCAA Tournament underway on Friday in Durham, N.C. where they'll take on No. 10 Oregon. The Commodores are making their second-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament but haven't been to the second round since 2013.
"I've been telling the players, since the moment that we got selected to this region and we knew we were coming here to play Oregon, that the most important thing is right now, to be where our feet are, to take full advantage of the day we have today, the media, the practice, the experience to prepare for the game we have tomorrow and that's it, to focus on that," Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said. "The most important game of our season right now is Oregon. We're very excited to be here. We're very excited to play. We know we've earned this opportunity, and I'm looking forward to us playing our best basketball of the year."
Cameron Indoor facility is a familiar place to Vanderbilt superstar freshman Mikayla Blakes. Blakes' older brother Jaylen played for the Blue Devils from 2021-24 allowing giving the Commodore guard a sense of grounding ahead of the biggest game of her career thus far.
"Yeah, it's been a lot of time," Blakes said. "I think I was almost at every single one of his home games when he was here. He always wanted to work out also, so he would use here and the practice facility as well. I got a lot of shots up, too."
The Commodores won three in a row before losing to powerhouse South Carolina in the SEC Tournament, giving them lots of confidence that this team can make history and play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Vanderbilt Leaders
- Scoring: Mikayla Blakes (23.2)
- Rebounds: Khamil Pierre (9.7)
- Assists: Jordyn Oliver (3.6)
Oregon Leaders
- Scoring: Deja Kelly (11.6)
- Rebounds: Phillipina Kyei (6.9)
- Assists: Deja Kelly (3.4)
Vanderbilt On SI
My name is Joe Gaither and I graduated from the University of Alabama in 2018. I began my sports media career in radio in 2019, working for three years in Tuscaloosa covering the University of Alabama and other local high school sports. In 2023 I began my career with On SI writing and covering predominantly college athletics with a focus on the University of Alabama, University of Missouri and Vanderbilt.