Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell has seen improvement in her team through a tough schedule in the first month of SEC play.
All five of Tennessee’s losses were by single digits to currently ranked teams, and Caldwell said Friday that her team was getting better through the brutal stretch.
“It’s just not necessarily translating because our schedule has been so top-heavy,” she said.
After a week off to practice and recover from a three-game losing streak, the No. 19 Lady Vols didn’t show much improvement Sunday in a 76-71 win against Missouri (12-12, 1-8 SEC), which is tied for last in the conference.
Tennessee (16-5, 4-5) should have walked out of the game with some wind in its sails in the middle of a five-game gauntlet that includes four top-10 opponents. Instead, it nearly lost to the Tigers, and it failed to inspire confidence going into a home matchup against No. 6 UConn (21-1, 12-0 Big East) on Thursday (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Lady Vols struggled to find balanced offensive production
It’s not uncommon to have a star player the team relies on, but there haven’t been too many games where Tennessee got the kind of lopsided production it did Sunday.
Talaysia Cooper led the Lady Vols in nearly every statistical category against Missouri — scoring (27 points), 3-point shooting (5-for-10), rebounds (seven), steals (six), assists (four) and blocks (three).
Sara Puckett (seven) and Jillian Hollingshead (six) were the only other players who had more than three rebounds. Zee Spearman, who scored 13 points, had just two. Point guard Samara Spencer wasn’t hunting for her shot and had only four points and one assist. Spencer, a 40.9% 3-point shooter, missed her only 3-point attempt.
Against Missouri, the Lady Vols should have had a much more balanced effort. Cooper was the only player with more than seven points in the entire first half. She shot 43% from the field; the rest of the team went 14-for-46 for 30.4%. Tennessee was 8-for-16 on layups and got outscored in the paint 36-24.
“We definitely needed it,” Caldwell said of the win. “I just wish it would have looked a little bit better. Sometimes it’s about performance, not production, and I don’t necessarily know that our performance is where it needs to be.”
Tennessee showed improved defensive pressure
The Lady Vols have two massive challenges in the next week. After they host UConn, they play No. 5 LSU again, this time on the road.
Caldwell said her team has to finish better at the rim and get back to pushing the pace in transition against UConn.
“Just things we show them, and we get back in the game, and we kind of revert to what they’ve done their whole lives,” she said.
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If Tennessee wants to have a chance the next two games, it has to have strong defensive pressure all game. That was a point of emphasis for the Lady Vols during their off week, and it showed against Missouri.
But forcing four 10-second violations, four five-second violations on inbound passes and two shot-clock violations against Missouri is one thing. Replicating that against teams like UConn and LSU is entirely another.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on X @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: Lady Vols basketball uninspiring in 5-point win at SEC worst Missouri
