Matinee Fireworks: Lady Vols Shatter Records vs NC CEntral

Image Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

By Dawson Wise

Records were meant to be broken.

First American basketball team (NBA, men’s and women’s college basketball) to make 30 three-pointers in a game.

Most points in a game in program and SEC history (139).

Most points in a half in program history (69).

Most threes made by a single player in a game in program history (Samara Spencer, 9; also tied NCAA record).

Those stats speak for themselves following a 139-59 bludgeoning of North Carolina Central by Kim Caldwell’s 18th-ranked Lady Vols. It is as if the offense all clicked at once, leading to an outrageous display of scoring inside Food City Center on Saturday.

It was the latest in a series of impressive moments for the first-year coach and her somewhat “thrown together” team that continues to heighten the expectations of a fanbase that has been waiting for buzz like this for a long time.

That’s not a dig at these players, but a truthful description of this group. It is a mixture of holdover veterans, impact transfers, and young stars finding their way that combine to make for a group that is starting to have a very special feel to it. They have bought into Caldwell’s system, have gelled quickly and better than expected, and are all pulling in the same direction. It was not supposed to be this good, this early, and yet, it is.

3 weeks away from conference play, Tennessee is now staring down several huge opportunities in early January to really vault themselves back into the national spotlight, and much like we saw from the men’s team later in the day, they may not need overwhelmingly dominant nights from their best player to do so. UT defeated Illinois on the road without Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler playing extensive minutes in the second half. Similarly, Talaysia Cooper did not see the most minutes in her respective game, either, and that should be the scariest aspect of this performance for the rest of the nation.

Coach Caldwell had half a dozen players reach double figures. Almost everyone that saw playing time was on the stat sheet. While Cooper is the “star” as of now, it doesn’t feel like there is one single player or combo of players that provides all of Tennessee’s success. There aren’t a lot of programs in the country that can say that, and it was on full display on Saturday afternoon.

They won’t win every game this way, certainly not once conference play begins, but this was a sneak peek into what this system can be when everything is working on the offensive end, and it should make Lady Vols fans excited. No matter the results, this team is going to be fun to watch.

Let’s go through a record-breaking performance for the Lady Vols in their win over NC Central.

First Quarter

Score: Tennessee 33, NC Central 10.

FG: Tennessee 12-27 (44%), NC Central 3-7 (43%).

3P: Tennessee 7-20 (35%), NC Central 1-2 (50%).

Other stats were not available due to technical issues for the first frame.

Highlight: The Lady Vols began the afternoon on a 20-0 run where they did not allow a point for the first 6 minutes of the game. Samara Spencer had two of her nine threes during this stretch.

Second Quarter:

Score: Tenneessee 69, NC Central 18.

FG: Tennessee 24-48 (50%), NC Central 7-18 (39%).

3P: Tennessee 16-36 (44%), NC Central 1-7 (14%).

Rebounds: Tennessee 22, NC Central 14.

Turnovers: Tennessee 9, NC Central 28.

Highlight: Samara Spencer continued to be the story as she drained a three from nearly midcourt at the buzzer, capping off a first half that saw her score 22 of her 32 points, including 6 of her 9 threes and nearly half of the team’s 16 first-half triples.

Third Quarter

Score: Tennessee 111, NC Central 39.

FG: Tennessee 38-75 (51%), NC Central 14-32 (44%).

3P: Tennessee 25-54 (46%), NC Central 2-10 (20%).

Rebounds: Tennessee 34, NC Central 23.

Turnovers: Tennessee 11, NC Central 39.

Highlight: Several to choose from. Spencer hit 3 more threes to tie the program record for a single game. Edie Darby got in on the action with 5 quick points. The Lady Vols hit 9 of their 30 threes in this quarter to get to a total of 25 headed into the final 10 minutes.

Fourth Quarter/Total Stats

Score: Tennessee 139, NC Central 59.

FG: Tennessee 47-90 (52%), NC Central 20-50 (40%).

3P: Tennessee 30-63 (48%), NC Central 6-18 (33%).

Rebounds: Tennessee 44, NC Central 33.

Turnovers: Tennessee 15, NC Central 44.

Highlight: Destinee Wells’ three-pointer pushed the Lady Vols over the all-time program record for points scored in a game, previously standing since 2002 in a game against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, where UT scored 136.

Points off TO: 73-7 Tennessee.

Second Chance: 25-10 Tennessee.

Bench: 49-14 Tennessee.

Paint: 34-26 Tennessee.

Fast Break: 34-18 Tennessee.

Blocks: 7-0 Tennessee.

Steals: 22-4 Tennessee.

Assists: 28-8 Tennessee.

Scoring:

Tennessee: Spencer-32 (10 assists), Cooper-21 (7 assists, 6 rebounds), Darby-17, Spearman-15, Whitehorn-13, Puckett-11 (6 rebounds), Strickland-9, Latham/Wells-6, E. Darby-5, Hollingshead-3.

NC Central: Shakiria Foster-17, Terriana Gray-10, Dianna Blake/Aysia Hinton/Kyla Bryant-6, LaNiya Scales-4, Jada Creech/Victoria Morris/Laila Lewis-3, Bradyn Griffin-1.

Takeaways

I’ll try to keep this as short and sweet as possible.

Tennessee never really struggled in this one. They were the better team on paper and it showed on the court. They never trailed and the game was only tied for about 15 seconds to open the day. Once they took control, they ran away quickly, and it was an impressive wire-to-wire effort.

Offensively, this was as good as it gets. The shot selection was better than last week, and this time they went in. I was especially impressed with the ability to shoot from behind the arc. Compared to the first 7 games, this was a really quick turnaround in that department and it will be interesting to see if it translates to the upcoming slate. The diversity of scoring continues to amaze me. 6 players in double figures and several more close to that. There are truly a dozen players on this team that can come up big when needed. I thought the offensive rebounding was better as well. This was a night and day offensive performance as opposed to the start of the year. It should terrify the rest of the nation.

On defense, this was almost equally impressive. The press forced a ton of mistakes that resulted in turnovers, fouls, or timeouts from NC Central. Defenders took away passing lanes and shooting lanes alike and made any points the Eagles scored hard to come by. There was less of a lapse on defense in the third quarter, something Caldwell mentioned wanting to fix after both games last week. Perhaps what I was most impressed by in this game on the defensive end was that despite the mounting scoreline, there was never less hustle or effort. It was always 100%, full go, no matter how many points got scores or how big the lead was. That is a testament to this team and this staff and the mentality they have. All gas, no brakes. It is a refreshing change from previous teams.

All in all, this one went about as expected. Tennessee grabbed the lead and never looked back. They cruised (metaphorically) to another big win, this one big for the numbers rather than the significance. The Lady Vols are now 8-0, the best start for a debut coach in program history. The buzz around this program is warranted, and continues to grow as SEC play sits just around the corner of the new year.

Next Up

Tennessee takes on in-state rival Memphis (2-7) on the road at the FedExForum on Wednesday, 12/18, at 8:30 PM EST (7:30 PM local). The game will be aired on ESPNews.