Lady Vols basketball didn’t have any issues after a 10-day break between games.
Tennessee crushed Western Carolina 102-50 at Food City Center on Tuesday. The Lady Vols (5-0) dominated every area of the game from start to finish. The win against WCU (5-3) was the step forward Tennessee needed before playing its toughest nonconference games against Florida State and Iowa next week.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Talaysia Cooper hitting 3-pointers is matchup nightmare
Talaysia Cooper was scoring almost at will in the first half, which isn’t new – but she was also 3-for-4 from 3-point range. It’s the best 3-point shooting performance of the young guard’s career, and the redshirt sophomore looked confident doing it. She led Tennessee with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting with four assists, two rebounds and a steal.
Cooper finished 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, building off of her 2-for-4 shooting in the last game against Liberty.
“When she’s hitting the 3 – it’s already a hard matchup as it is, because she’s so explosive, she can finish with contact, getting downhill,” Western Carolina coach Jonathan Tsipis said. “We were trying to take away one and two first, and then she makes three 3s in the first half.”
Tsipis also complimented Cooper for making her game “diversified.” She’s going to get to the free-throw line, get in transition and make an impact on other parts of the game.
Tennessee taking steps defensively
After two lackluster defensive performances, the Lady Vols looked like a new team. Western Carolina’s 50 points ties the season-low of points allowed and its 40 field goal attempts are the fewest an opponent has taken this season.
The Catamounts shot 50% from the field, but they only shot 2-for-12 from 3-point range, their worst mark of the season. WCU scored 14 or fewer points each quarter and only had 28 points in the paint.
Lady Vols guard Ruby Whitehorn, who scored 16 points, said they worked on getting in the gaps, discouraging drives and being in help side over the break.
“I feel like we’ve gotten a lot more aggressive over this 10-day period,” Whitehorn said.
Ball pressure was also an emphasis for the full-court press, which helped the Lady Vols force 37 turnovers for 45 of their points. Part of the consistency with the full-court press was closing the trap.
“Before it would kind of just be two people in front of the ball, and it doesn’t matter how tall you are, if you’re not closing your traps, doesn’t really matter,” first-year Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell said. “And we did a good job in … really, the whole game of closing our traps and being aggressive.”
Caldwell was happy with the performance defensively, although the communication can improve. She also pointed out the team’s weakness in late shot clock situations where “we just don’t sit down and guard” to finish the possession.
Jillian Hollingshead ‘playing with confidence’
Jillian Hollingshead was everywhere for Tennessee. It was the senior forward’s strongest performance of the season, finishing with six points, six rebounds and two steals in a season-high 19 minutes.
Her rebounding and off-ball movement were key, and she made an impact in the full-court press. At one point, Hollingshead and Alyssa Latham trapped WCU in the backcourt, forcing Tsipis to call a timeout.
“She had a great night,” Caldwell said. “She was getting steals in the back, she was getting rebounds, she was playing hard, she was posting up – she was playing with confidence. So that’s exactly what we needed to see out of her.”
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It has taken a few games for Hollingshead to settle into her role in Caldwell’s system, but she appears to have found it now.
“Jill comes to practice every day and works hard,” Cooper said. “She never get down on herself, she always encouraging others. So the energy she brings in practice for others, it escalates her game … I feel like she’s going to be great this season.”
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: Unpacking Lady Vols basketball’s 102-50 win over Western Carolina
