Thanksgiving week has always been a chance for teams to get away to warmer climates to play in quality basketball tournaments and bond as a group.
This year is no different with seven of the top 10 teams in the country heading off the continent to play games in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 UConn, No. 7 LSU and No. 9 Virginia Tech are all headed to the Cayman Islands to play in the inaugural women’s tournament there. The only matchup between them is on Friday when the Bruins face the Huskies. It’s unclear if Angel Reese will be joining the Tigers on the trip. She’s missed the last two games after being benched for the second half of the game before.
“You always have to deal with locker-room issues,” Mulkey said Monday night after LSU beat Texas Southern 106-47 in the second straight game that Reese missed for undisclosed reasons.
“Sometimes you all know about them. Sometimes you don’t. Some times you want to know more than you’re entitled to know,” Mulkey continued. “I’m going to protect my players — always. They are like a family.”
Third-ranked Colorado will play No. 10 N.C. State in the Virgin Islands on Saturday. No. 8 USC is in the Bahamas.
Top-ranked South Carolina will be home for the holiday, but coach Dawn Staley is no stranger to what a holiday tournament can bring her team.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley directs her team against South Dakota State during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Monday, Nov. 20, 2023. Credit: AP/Nell Redmond
“I do think it’s super helpful to get out of your normal environment, your normal habits of actually being at home or it’s not a natural road game,” she said. “When you’re in another country, you tend to stick with each other a little tighter. You get a chance to experience other stuff, too, not just practice and games, you get to experience sightseeing and you take pictures and you have conversations about…
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