On the final day of the “We Back Pat Week,” the No. 25 Tennessee women’s basketball team was defeated by No. 3 UConn on Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. After the loss, the Lady Vols are now 9-3 on the year, while the Huskies stay undefeated and improve to 9-0 overall.
“That’s probably going to be one of the best environments of the year for a regular-season game,” Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper said. “I’m really thankful and grateful to our fans for coming out. . . . Obviously, we’re really disappointed. We felt like we had a pretty good game plan going into the game. Our players felt confident and good about it, and we were able to execute it for the majority of the night. Obviously, in the fourth quarter, we just could not find a bucket. They changed their defense a few times and threw our pace off a little bit. We got a little tight but had some open looks and just couldn’t knock them down.”
More than a Game
“We Back Pat Week” is a week that is greater than basketball for Tennessee hoops. It is a time to remember the former-great head coach Pat Summitt and what she meant to the game of basketball and the impact she made on those around her.
On the final day of “We Back pat Week”, head coaches Kellie Harper and Geno Auriemma each gave $10,000 donations to two non-profits, the Pat Summitt Foundation and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Oh yeah, of course,” Suárez said. “Lady Vols basketball is Pat Summitt all over. The way Kellie Harper talks about her, the way the fans talk about her, you can see her all around here. Every day I feel like I get to know her better, and this week with the We Back Pat, it’s been a great experience. We are so grateful for her. She has done so much for women’s basketball, and she is the reason why we are here today on ESPN. We are so grateful for her and learning about her.”
The Pat Summitt Foundations’ mission is to provide grants to non-profit organizations that help develop treatments and a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame fights to “Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present and Promote the Future” of women’s basketball.”
Double-Digit Quartet
The Lady Vols saw four of their starters finish in the double figures in points. Rae Burrell led the pack with 18 points. This is the seventh time this season that Burrell has led Tennessee in scoring. She has averaged 14.9 ppg. since taking over a starting spot 21 games ago. Rennia Davis was next with 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and a block.
Tamari Key continued her current hot streak with 10 points, a season-high nine rebounds, and three blocks. Over the past four games, Key is averaging 12.8 ppg. and 6.8 rpg. Marta Suárez rounded out the group with 10 points.
A Tale of Two Halves
Tennessee looked drastically different in the second half of their match against UConn compared to their first half. In the first two quarters, the Lady Vols had worked their way to a 40.0/50.0/50.0 slash line and a one-point lead.
UConn would come out of the half with a new game plan to hold Tennessee to a 33.3 shooting percentage from the field and a 20.0% from three during the final two quarters. The game was decided in the final stanza, despite Tennessee out-scoring UConn in the first three quarters.
“We are still a great team; we just need to keep trusting the process, and we know what we have to work on,” Suárez said. “We know the talent we have. We just have to fix some small things, some small details. We just have to keep working in practice and keep on defense, boxing out. That’s mainly the things we have to work on. I mean, we shouldn’t be too worried about it; we are still a great team, and we know what we have to work on. We know what we have to do, and I believe we are going do it.”
The Huskies out-played the Lady Vols in virtually every aspect of the game in the final quarter. UConn won the quarter in point differential (+10), rebounding (15-7), assists (5-3), and personal fouls (2-5). UConn also shot better in the fourth. The Huskies had a 42.1% stroke from the field and 44.4% from behind the arc, compared to Tennessee who shot 31.3% from the field and 20.0% from three-point land.
Evina Westbrook took the reins for UConn in the final quarter. The redshirt junior scored seven points in the fourth quarter, along with grabbing three boards and dishing out one assist. Christyn Williams and Paige Bueckers both contributed five points in the final minutes of the game.
Up next for Tennessee is a match against No. 13 Kentucky on Sunday at 2 p.m. inside of Thompson-Boling Arena. This is a rescheduled game from January 3.
