Breakthrough: Lady Vols Week in Review 2/6-2/12
Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics
By Dawson Wise
Another week is in the books in the opening year of the Kim Caldwell era, and boy, is this a big one.
This team was waiting for a win like this. Time after time, the Lady Vols had come within one shot, one moment of brilliance of beating a top-10 team. Coach Caldwell said after the first meeting with LSU that Tennessee should’ve been a top 10 team already.
There were bright spots everywhere, but they had yet to finish the job. That all changed on Thursday night.
UT delivered a landmark win inside Food City Center against bitter rival UConn and coach Geno Auriemma, a team the Lady Vols had not defeated since 2007 (although the series was dormant between 2008 and 2020). It was the win the fanbase had been waiting on, a moment of confirmation that this team — and this staff — were serious about competing.
Yeah, they lost to LSU on Sunday, but it was an unwinnable situation. LSU has now won 51 of their last 52 at home, with the only loss to Dawn Staley’s mighty Gamecocks. This week is more focused on the historic win on Thursday night.
This feels like the moment where this program finally can declare that it is back. For years, there had been lukewarm moments and wins that were somewhat inspiring, but ultimately never led to anything. This one feels different. It feels like a launch point, the moment that this team declared to the nation that it would compete on the national stage — not in a few years, but right now. This year.
I have to imagine this is what the glory days felt like. I wasn’t alive for the majority of them, but the excitement around this program feels alive again. The line to even enter the parking garage on Thursday proved that. Hundreds of cars lined up to come and watch this team play. That hasn’t happened in the 5 years that I’ve been around this group.
This team has something special to it. Sure, they don’t have the talent that teams like Texas, South Carolina, LSU, or UCLA do, but in sports, sometimes that doesn’t matter. How many times have we seen a team that has no business making a deep run in the tournament do just that? This team has heart. Will to win. Fight like no team I’ve seen in this sport with my own eyes. Oh, and they also have a lot of talent to go along with it.
The little things are getting better. Rebounding, defensive matchups, offensive flow, shooting. The stars on this team are shining brighter than ever, and the supporting cast is more than capable of making a run. This week just solidified that. Good luck to whoever matches up with this team in March.
This is a comparable win to the 2022 Alabama football win. It’s a moment where an entire fanbase looks around and realizes that it’s really happening. Folks, the Lady Vols have a coach that’s ready to win. If you aren’t on the wagon already, jump on before it’s too late.
Let’s take a look at the week in review.
UConn, 2/6
Before Thursday, Kim Caldwell’s team had suffered close losses to 4 top-ten teams: Oklahoma, LSU, South Carolina, and Texas. Thursday night, though, that all changed.
Tennessee opened the game on a 4-0 run behind the strength of Ruby Whitehorn and Jewel Spear, but the Huskies responded with their own 5-0 stretch to take the lead 2 minutes in. UT would go back in front, 9-5, on buckets by Sara Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead, before Zee Spearman put the Lady Vols in front 12-11 at the first media timeout. Sarah Strong put in a pair of free throws before Samara Spencer kept Tennessee in front, 15-13, with a long three. UConn would notch six straight points to take a 4 point lead, but Jewel Spear’s late layup pulled the Lady Vols within 2 after a quarter.
UT would even the score twice to open the second, at 19-19 (Spearman layup) and 22-22 (Tess Darby three). UConn would then go on a 10-3 run to take a 7 point lead into the middle part of the frame. Tennessee hit on a quick 5-0 run to come back within 2 before another long UConn run made it 39-32 Huskies at the media timeout. Not to be denied, Tennessee used a three-point play by Jewel Spear and a pair of Spearman free throws to head into the locker room only down 39-37 with 20 minutes to go.
Again, UConn threw a haymaker at the Lady Vols, putting in 4 quick points to go up 43-37 in the third, but again Tennessee responded on a run that included layups from Talaysia Cooper and Spencer to tie the game at 45. This began a 17-2 run for UT that saw steals on back to back possessions, multiple layups by Spencer and a three by Puckett. The Huskies were not done yet, as KK Arnold hit a layup to cap off a 9-2 run and pull within 2, but a Spencer three pushed the lead back to 5 headed to the final 10 minutes.
Spearman’s early three built the lead back to 8. She added a layup to keep that lead with 8:15 remaining. A Cooper free throw would push the lead back to 7, but UConn trimmed the lead quickly down to 2, 67-65, with 4:59 on the clock. A pair of Kaitlyn Chen free throws evened the score at 69 not long after, and then superstar Paige Bueckers finally made her biggest impact on the game, draining a long three to tie the game at 74 with 2:07 to go. A Spearman layup and a pair of Cooper free throws put Tennessee back in front. After Sarah Strong kept UConn in the game, Tennessee looked to Spearman once again, and she capped off her breakout game with a layup under the basket with just 12.3 seconds left in the game. The Huskies got 2 shots up on their final possession but they came up short, and Tennessee walked away with its second ranked win of the season and its first top-5 win since defeating #2 South Carolina in 2021.
Tennessee improves to 17-5 overall with the win. Zee Spearman led the Lady Vols with 16 points on the evening, including the dagger layup. Samara Spencer added 14 of her own, while Jewel Spear notched 12 points and Cooper added 11 and a team-best 8 rebounds. That number contributed to the overall rebounding advantage of 46-34, a dominant performance on the boards, especially with a 17-13 advantage on the offensive glass.
UConn drops to 21-3 on the season with the loss. Sarah Strong paced the Huskies with 18 points on the night, while Bueckers dropped in 14. KK Arnold had 11 and Azzi Fudd had 10.
UT did a few things in this game that they had yet to do. They put 4 full quarters together. They executed down the stretch of a big time game, and in my view, did so nearly flawlessly. They finally got the big time shots at every single moment of the game. The group rebounded well, which was expected, but it was a truly dominant effort. The shots were smarter, which is something this team has struggled with this year. Defensively, they won the perimeter and won their matchups, including with Bueckers, the prospective #1 overall draft pick.
Not much was bad in this game, but if I had to cherry pick some things, here are a few. Transition/fast break defense continues to be an issue for this team. I’m not sure if it’s the speed of opposing players or a scheme issue but it needs some tweaking. Along with that, UT gave up a ton of easy layups, primarily via the backdoor cut. Eventually, they adjusted (see the final play), but that was a frustrating thing with the way the Lady Vols played defense. Finally, Tennessee is still turning it over too much. Errant passes, loose dribbling, moving too fast on offense. They need to slow down and be a little tighter with the ball. You can’t waste offensive opportunities.
LSU, 2/9
The Lady Vols traveled to Baton Rouge looking for back-to-back statement wins. Despite leading in the fourth quarter, they could not get the job done and fell Sunday afternoon at #6 LSU.
LSU grabbed an early 4-0 lead and then pushed out to a 7-2 lead, before UT came back to tie the game at 9 by the 5:15 mark on layups by Zee Spearman and Ruby Whitehorn, along with a three by Spearman. A Spear transition layup gave the Lady Vols the lead, 11-9, before LSU tied the game at 11 at the first media timeout. Whitehorn hit a layup and a three to have Tennessee in front 18-15, but LSU used a 7-0 run to lead 22-18 late in the quarter. A Whitehorn layup brought the quarter to an end, with the hosts leading 22-20.
LSU used an 11-4 run to lead by 9, 33-24 early in the second. Eight straight points from Jewel Spear brought Tennessee back within 3, 35-32 at the media timeout for the quarter. Spear continued her second quarter dominance, keeping Tennessee within 3 with free throws, and then burying a long three to bring UT back within 4 at the break, trailing 41-37.
Tennessee got the first 7 points of the third quarter to lead 44-41, behind buckets from Whitehorn, Spearman, and Cooper (along with a free throw). Another Cooper three-point play gave Tennessee its biggest lead of the day, 47-43. The Tigers cut the lead back to 1 on a pair of Kailyn Gilbert free throws at the media timeout. LSU outscored Tennessee 14-8 the rest of the quarter, with a Spear free throw ending the frame. The Tigers led after 3, 62-57.
The Lady Vols came back once again, scoring another 7 straight points to take a 64-62 lead behind a Spearman hook shot, a pair of Spear free throws, and a Darby three. LSU would then go on a 9-2 run to give them a 71-66 lead and force a timeout by Caldwell. The hosts pushed the lead to 8 twice more, at 76-68 and 78-70, but then Ruby Whitehorn cut the gap to 78-73 with 90 seconds to go and cut it again to 78-76 with 23 seconds left. LSU would hit 4 late free throws to put it away and seal the victory over a feisty Lady Vols team.
Tennessee falls to 17-6 overall and 4-6 in conference play with the loss. They were led by 21 points from Ruby Whitehorn (who also scored her 1,000th career point). Jewel Spear contributed 19 (while making her way to ninth on the all-time program scoring list). Talaysia Cooper added 16 and Zee Spearman scored 15. Alyssa Latham led the team in rebounds with 8.
LSU was paced once again by Kailyn Gilbert who had 23 points on the night. Three other Tigers were in double figures. Mikaylah Williams had 16, Aneesah Morrow added 14, and Flau’Jae Johnson scored 12. Morrow also had 14 boards.
There were some positives for Tennessee in this one. The Big Four as I’ve started to call them were great once again. Whitehorn, Cooper, Spear, and Spearman continue to be night-in, night-out contributors for this team, with Cooper being one of the best players in the country. These are the types of core groups that win a lot of games. The resilience of this team was once again on full display. Every time this team sees adversity, they fight out of it. No game is truly ever over and that is a testament to what Caldwell is coaching them to do. Finally, the offense continues to thrive in the paint. UT outscored LSU 42-30 in the paint in this game. When the offense looks inside first then out for a 3, it flows really well and allows for a lot of success. Tennessee can win a lot of games playing offense that way.
The three point shooting is what it is at this point with this team. It' hasn’t been great much of the year and wasn’t again on Sunday. You have the personnel and the scheme to do it, just need to make the looks. The bench did not contribute much in this game either, unlike Thursday’s win over UConn. The Big Four cannot do it all themselves, they need the supporting cast to contribute here and there as well. Kailyn Gilbert was unstoppable, and Tennessee could not stay in front of her defensively. This team still turns it over too much, but credit LSU for their defensive scheme in this one. They have got to make more free throws as well. Tournament games will come down to them. Finally, they were flat in the biggest moment of the game amidst that 9-2 run. They only had 1 bucket in a period where LSU could not make one. They have to be better in the big spot more consistently.
Up Next
Tennessee now returns home for 3 straight home games. Two of those are in the next week. On Thursday, the Lady Vols will welcome Auburn to Food City Center at 6:30 PM EST for the Play4Kay game. The game will stream on SEC Network+. On Sunday, Tennessee will play Ole Miss at noon EST.
