Lady Vols basketball jumped four spots in the Associated Press poll after splitting its top-5 matchups last week, which included upsetting UConn.
Tennessee (16-6, 4-6 SEC) is ranked No. 15 in the AP poll after beating then-No. 5 UConn 80-76 on Thursday. The Lady Vols lost their rematch with No. 4 LSU 82-77 on Sunday. They were ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 and No. 17 in the USA TODAY coaches poll last week. The coaches poll comes out on Tuesdays.
Tennessee will be at home for the next three games, starting with Auburn (12-11, 3-7) on Thursday (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+). The Lady Vols will then host Ole Miss and Alabama at Food City Center.
Tennessee got its signature win by beating the Huskies in coach Kim Caldwell’s debut in the storied rivalry. It was the first time the Lady Vols beat UConn since 2007.
They added another single-digit loss to their record, though, falling five points short of avenging their first loss to LSU in January. The largest margin in a loss this season was seven points to South Carolina. Tennessee also dropped games to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Texas. With Vanderbilt entering the polls, all of Tennessee’s losses were to ranked opponents.
The Lady Vols started Caldwell’s first season going 13-0 before suffering their first loss, which was their best start to a season since going 15-0 in 2017-18. Their 7-0 start got them back in the rankings on Dec. 9 with wins over Florida State and then-No. 20 Iowa.
Tennessee has been ranked in the polls for the last 10 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 788 of 879 weeks ranked.
SUNDAY’S LOSS: Kim Caldwell hoped Lady Vols turned corner after beating UConn. Loss to LSU showed otherwise
Before getting ranked this season, the last time the Lady Vols had been ranked in the AP Top 25 was Week 4 of the 2023-24 season, which was released Nov. 27, 2023. 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.
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.
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: Updating Lady Vols rankings in college basketball polls after UConn upset
