December 28, 2021

Daily Briefing — Dec. 28, 2021: Jailin Cherry, Khayla Pointer stuff stat sheet for LSU

Jordan Horston got sick (but, like, the normal kind of sick)

Jailin Cherry, midair, focuses on her hand as she rises to the height of the rim to lay in the ball.

LSU off-ball guard Jailin Cherry (1) set career-highs in points and blocks in LSU's Monday win. (Source: Tiger Rag)

It’s Tuesday, welcome to The Next’s Daily Briefing, featuring the W Roundup, daily Watch List, and Yesterday’s Recap! Day 48 of college basketball is here. Tennessee and LSU closed their non-conference schedules yesterday in good fashion, and I’m really running out of things to say here without actually good basketball starting up again.

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Watch List, Tuesday, Dec. 28

I cannot in good conscience suggest you watch any live basketball today.

But if you did feel compelled, here’s ESPN’s handy list of the entire schedule. You’ll soon see why I didn’t select any of these games to highlight.

Monday, Dec. 27 recap

#7 Tennessee: 91-41 win over Chattanooga. Won the first quarter 22-5 and the third 28-8. Shot 54.4% from the field; had 56 rebounds; forced 21 turnovers. Point wing Jordan Horston was out with a non-COVID illness, per the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Cora Hall. Center Tamari Key scored a game-high 18 points in 16 minutes on 8-for-10 FG with seven rebounds, two blocks, and two turnovers; combo forward Alexus Dye notched 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting and eight rebounds (four offensive); off-ball guard Tess Darby tallied nine points on 3-for-5 from three while setting career-highs with six rebounds and five assists in 19 minutes; combo forward Sara Puckett made her first career start, finishing with seven points on 3-for-6 from the field (1-3 3pt.), seven rebounds (three offensive), and five assists against two turnovers; backup center Karoline Striplin had 12 points on 5-for-7 FG (0-1 3pt.) and nine rebounds (three offensive) against three turnovers.

Tennessee closes its non-conference schedule 11-1, with quality wins over UCF, South Florida, Texas, and Virginia Tech, an expected loss to Stanford, and a couple too-close wins over bad teams in Southern Illinois and Kansas.

#22 LSU: 83-47 win over Samford. Held the Bulldogs to 27.0% from the field and 13.0% from three; had 53 rebounds. Off-ball guard Jailin Cherry had a career-high 22 points on 11-for-22 from the field (0-2 3pt.) with six rebounds, two steals, and career-high three blocks against two turnovers; point guard Khayla Pointer finished two assists shy of a triple-double, with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting (2-4 3pt.), 11 rebounds, and eight assists, plus three steals and three turnovers; center Faustine Aifuwa committed four fouls in 22 minutes.

LSU ends its non-conference slate 12-1, with a quality wins over Missouri State and Iowa State and a bad loss to FGCU (the Eagles are pretty good, but it was a 14-point loss).

Written by Em Adler

Em Adler (she/they) covers the WNBA at large and college basketball for The Next, with a focus on player development and the game behind the game.