Third quarters have become Tennessee basketball’s kryptonite during the worst stretch in program history.
In the final game of the regular season, the Lady Vols squandered a six-point lead at halftime as No. 5 Vanderbilt used a 15-point advantage in the third to take control. Tennessee (16-12, 8-8 SEC) never recovered, and it fell 87-77 to the Commodores (27-3, 13-3) at Food City Center on March 1, dropping a sixth straight game entering the postseason.
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It’s only the second time Vanderbilt has ever beaten Tennessee in Knoxville. The Commodores have won three straight against the Lady Vols for the first time in the series history.
In the Lady Vols’ nine losses since Jan. 29, they have been outscored 227-129 in the third quarter. That’s an average of 25.2 points allowed in the third, while Tennessee only averages 14.3.
“If I had that answer, we wouldn’t be having this problem,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “We clearly don’t have it.”
The Lady Vols managed to secure a bye in the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina. UT will be the No. 6 seed and will await the winner between No. 11 Alabama (21-9) and No. 14 Missouri (16-15) on March 5 (8:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Caldwell plans to watch the entire third quarter of the South Carolina game with the team. Usually they’ll clip plays and break it down in a variety of ways, but Caldwell said maybe rewatching the third quarter live will help.
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The second-year Lady Vols coach said the third quarter is something the staff has been addressing with the team. They’ve tried changing up who starts the second half and find a solution.
Caldwell said at halftime, players discuss the game plan first and write it on the board. Then the coaches talk about what they have to add, and then they repeat it as a team.
“Then we come back out, and it always looks a little different than we want it to,” Caldwell said.
Part of the issues with the third quarter has been the offense, Caldwell said. The Lady Vols have good ball movement in the first half and the majority of the offense was within the first five seconds of the shot clock, Caldwell said, which helps them to control pace.
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When things start going sideways in the third, Caldwell has noticed they have to go late in the shot clock and start going back to trying to score without sharing the ball.
“That’s what it feels like to me, is we’re kind of going back to what we were doing at the beginning of the year of scoring off of no passes,” Caldwell said. “And we wanted 18 assists (today). We had nine, so just sharing the ball, being a little more patient, I think is a better word on the offensive end.”
The bigger issue feels like Tennessee’s defense, which, to be fair, is partially connected to its offensive issues. The Lady Vols still got outscored in the third quarter in wins against Alabama and Kentucky, but they held both teams to 18 points. They only got outscored by a combined eight points in those third quarters.
The third quarter was also a significant issue in Tennessee’s three ranked nonconference matchups. It got outscored 23-18 against NC State, 27-17 against UCLA and 22-16 against Louisville.
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The Lady Vols’ defense has become a recurring issue, whether it’s in the half court or in transition. And when other teams make halftime adjustments, Tennessee takes too long to adjust or counter.
After the Lady Vols held Vanderbilt sophomore star Mikayla Blakes only 11 points in the first half, the Commodores immediately got Blakes involved the third quarter when she scored 15 points. Blakes finished with a game-high 34 points. Blakes has scored 30 or more points 12 times this season.
Lady Vols senior guard Nya Robertson, who scored 12 points, said nothing has stood out about why the third quarter has gone sideways.
“We just got to come out after halftime and just do the same thing we do in first half,” Robertson said.
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The Lady Vols can keep trying to replicate first-half performances that have them in games with top teams. But the problem with playing top-ranked teams is they’re going to adjust. And if Tennessee doesn’t it’ll be a short postseason.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: subscribe.knoxnews.com/offers
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Kim Caldwell, Lady Vols searching for answers about third-quarter lulls
