Tennessee's Rickea Jackson on (early) pace for epic feat only one Lady Vols player has done
Rickea Jackson is on pace for a historic season.
There are too many games left to guarantee it, but the Lady Vols basketball star forward is averaging 20 points and 11.2 rebounds. If Jackson keeps pace, she will become the second player in program history to average a double-double, joining Patricia Roberts (1977).
Roberts' 29.9 points and 14.2 rebounds are the highest averages ever at UT.
Jackson has only played five games due to a lower leg injury, but she has recorded two significant double-doubles that signal she could keep rebounding at this rate the rest of the season. Jackson had 31 points and 17 rebounds against Florida State in November and had 24 points and a career-high 19 rebounds Thursday against Auburn.
"Rickea is a special and gifted athlete, and she's pretty motivated," Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper said Saturday. "She has that ability ... Right now she's being a ball hawk defensively, so we add a few more on the offensive end – she's capable. I mean, she really is capable. I do understand that's a big stat. That's not something you throw around lightly. A lot of amazing, great talented players did not do that. But she has the ability."
Other players have come close to averaging a double-double, including Lady Vols greats Candace Parker (averaged 19.6 points and 9.8 rebounds as redshirt sophomore) and Glory Johnson (12.0 points, 9.7 rebounds as junior; 14.2 points, 9.9 rebounds as senior).
The feat historically has been a challenge because of how much legendary former Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt emphasized rebounding. Summitt's mantra that rebounding wins championships set a precedent, and regardless of who the coach has been, the Lady Vols rebound across the board.
"That number gets shared a lot, and it's not just one person's job to go rebound," Harper said. "So I think it's a product of playing with great players. But I think that could be an advantage for somebody like Rickea on our team. If we do our job technically on the defensive end and we box out, she is the recipient of being a ball hawk. Now she can go get those because everybody else has played position defense."
Jackson's best season average was 6.8 rebounds as a junior at Mississippi State, but she only played 15 games due to entering the transfer portal. Her 11.2 rebounds through five games nearly doubles her best rate. Jackson said after Tennessee's win Thursday it came down to a change in mentality.
"It's also just a will to want to do it," Jackson told Knox News. "And Tennessee was built off rebounding, that was one of Pat (Summitt's) go-tos. So I just know this program is built off great rebounding teams and I just wanted to implement that in my game."
Jackson wrote her name in the Tennessee history books last season, setting the record for highest free-throw percentage (100%) with the most made attempts when she went 14-for-14 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. Jackson also recorded the second-longest streak of 20-plus point games (8), only one game short of Chamique Holdsclaw's record.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Rickea Jackson stats: Why Lady Vols star averaging double-double matters
