There is only one person in women’s college basketball who isn’t amazed by Vanderbilt fab freshman guard Mikayla Blakes’ growing list of accomplishments this season: Blakes herself.
Eleven days after hitting the game-winning buzzer-beater in the Commodores’ stunning 71-70 victory over No. 15 Tennessee, Blakes poured in a record-setting 53 points in a 99-86 win at Florida.
In the process, Blakes not only broke the 22-year SEC women’s single-game scoring record, but she also set the NCAA true freshman scoring record at the NCAA Division I level, eclipsing the record 51 established last year by Southern California star JuJu Watkins.
As one might expect, Blakes was honored as both the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Player of the Week and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Tamika Catchings National freshman of the Week. She repeated the AP honor this week.
Wonderful plaudits poured in, all well-deserved. National honors, media attention and congratulations across the nation.
Pretty impressive, huh? Not according to Blakes.
“I don’t really play for records and for other people to notice me. I think I just play for myself and just for the Lord,” says Blakes, who was averaging 22.1 points per game going into the Mississippi State game Thursday night (Feb. 13). “So I’m not really seeking anything but whatever does come, I’ll appreciate that.”
Answering the call
That low-key answer is what Vandy coach Shea Ralph has come to expect from her budding superstar, a leading candidate for NCAA freshman of the year honors.
“She’s handling (the attention) great. She’s maybe one of the most-humble kids that I’ve ever coached. She doesn’t really talk about it a lot,” Ralph says. “She’s not the kind of kid or player that lives and dies by those things, which I think is a good thing.”
While noting that Blakes is “deserving” of all the accolades, Ralph says her star didn’t go on a 53-point tear just for the sake of chasing a record.
“We needed every single thing that Mikayla did to win that (Florida) game. And those people that watched the game from start to finish know we’re not going to leave her in there to break her record. We needed every single point that she scored to win the game. We needed every play that she made to win the game.”
Asked if she expected to have this type of impact on the game so early in her collegiate career, Blakes sticks to her one-game-at-a time approach.
“I think my freshman season has been going pretty well,” she says. “I thought maybe I’d hit a couple more bumps with SEC play. But I can’t really tell the future, so I’m just going to stay positive and humble and just take every hit or anything positive with these.”
While everyone knows about her basketball exploits when asked what she’d like fans to know about her off the court, she had to think for a second.
“I’m just goofy, I’d say. I like to make a lot of jokes and, yeah, I don’t know. “I guess my teammates can say. On the court I’m serious, but off the court I’m laughing at everything.”
One thing she doesn’t laugh off is the highlight – thus far – of her season.
“On the court, I think it’s probably hitting the buzzer beater against Tennessee because last year I had committed when they had lost to Tennessee,” she says.
Work to be done
That win over UT was also special for a couple of personal reasons.
“I’m just very excited (about the game-winning putback versus UT),” she said immediately after the Jan. 19 game at Memorial Gym. “My brother (Stanford senior Jaylen Blakes) did it not 24 hours ago and to have my dad (Monroe) here for both games and to allow him to sit on the court with us, I’m just very excited.”
Exciting was also an apt description that day of Vandy senior forward Iyana Moore, who notched her first victory over UT in that game.
“My gosh! I mean, just to see what Mikayla does day in and day out, and just to see her go out there and make that big play for us is just like, ‘phssh, are you really a freshman? Were you here before?’ It’s just amazing,” Moore recalls.
“She goes out there and does whatever we need her to do and just continues to run through a wall for all of us and for Coach Ralph. It was an amazing moment to go out there and know we had that in the bag.”
But there’s still much to be accomplished before this season ends. The Commodores entered Thursday’s game against Mississippi State at 18-6 overall and 5-5 in conference play, having lost their last two games against Ole Miss and at Texas.
And things don’t get easier from here. Following road trips to Auburn and Oklahoma, top-ranked South Carolina visits Feb. 23, followed by Texas A&M at home and a trip to Missouri before the SEC women’s tournament gets underway March 5-9 in Greenville, South Carolina.
After that is the NCAA Tournament. ESPN women’s tourney bracketologist Charlie Creme, in his Feb. 7 update, had Vandy facing the Nebraska-Harvard play-winner in a Region 1 game in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the Spokane first-round games in Knoxville, Creme had Tennessee (4) playing Belmont (11) and MTSU (12) meeting Georgia Tech (5).
Blakes says her team is eager for whatever lies ahead.
“I think we have a high confidence. We have a lot of goals we want to get to this year and I think that everybody’s bought in on the same mindset that we want to get to those goals, so we’re going to do whatever it takes.”
More Vandy honors: Sophomore Khamil Pierre, the Commodores’ leading scorer with a 21.2 average, is being recognized for her defensive prowess as well. She is one of 15 players named to the watch list for the 2025 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year honor.
She leads the SEC with 71 steals, which ranks ninth in NCAA Division I, and her 3.1 steals per game ranks second in the SEC and 13th nationally.