Lady Vols basketball dropped one spot in the rankings after its first loss of the season.
Tennessee (13-1, 1-1 SEC) is ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press poll after losing to No. 10 Oklahoma 87-86 in its SEC home opener on Sunday. The Lady Vols were ranked No. 15 in the AP Top 25 last week and No. 13 in the USA TODAY coaches poll, which is released on Tuesdays. They were ranked in the top 15 for two straight weeks.
Tennessee has a second ranked matchup this week, hosting No. 4 LSU (17-0, 2-0) at Food City Center on Thursday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network+). The Tigers are one of five undefeated teams left in the country.
In Kim Caldwell’s first season, the Lady Vols recorded their best start to a season since going 15-0 in 2017-18. Tennessee started off conference play with a 91-78 road win against Texas A&M on Thursday.
The Lady Vols moved up to No. 17 in the NCAA NET rankings after the first week of conference play.
Tennessee has been ranked in the polls for the last five weeks, restarting its streak in the polls after being unranked for more than a year. In the entire history of the AP Top 25, Tennessee has spent 783 of 874 weeks ranked.
The Lady Vols reentered the polls on Dec. 9 after wins over Florida State and then-No. 20 Iowa. Before that, the last time they had been ranked in the AP Top 25 was Week 4 of the 2023-24 season, which was released Nov. 27, 2023.
Before getting ranked this season, Tennessee had only been ranked for 10 of the previous 45 weeks of the AP Top 25 since being ranked the entire 2021-22 season.
FIRST LOSS: Why Kim Caldwell says Lady Vols have to take accountability after one-point loss to Oklahoma
The Lady Vols climbed into the top 15 on Dec. 23 after winning three games away from Knoxville. Tennessee won its first true road game against Memphis and then won both its games at the West Palm Beach Classic against Richmond and Tulsa in a four-day span.
Tennessee leads the nation in several categories. It ranks No. 1 in scoring offense (97.3 points), offensive rebounds per game (20.9), made 3-pointers per game (12.1) and turnovers forced per game (27.6). UT ranks second nationally in steals per game (14.9) and turnover margin (12.6).
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: Where Lady Vols are ranked in college basketball polls after first loss
