Twitter Tantrum: Delino DeShields, former MLB player, current Louisville Bats manager and father of Lady Vols guard Diamond DeShields, was very open with his thoughts on Tennessee coach Holly Warlick’s coaching style and the Lady Vols play on social media during Tennessee’s Monday night loss to South Carolina.
DeShields took to Twitter to let out his frustration of his daughter Diamond DeShields not seeing the playing time he thought she deserved. Several of his tweets were directed at Warlick’s personal Twitter account, while others were directed at the Lady Vol basketball account.
Warlick said that she has since talked to DeShields and that everything is “fine” now.
“Parents are parents,” the fourth-year coach said. “Parents want their kid to make every shot, shoot every shot, play every minute, and I get that. It’s just a parent wanting his daughter to just do everything and be everything, and I get that. That’s what parents are supposed to do.”
Delino DeShields also sent out an apology Tweet Tuesday afternoon.
“I want to apologize to Coach Warlick and Lady VolNation. I’m not writing this to back away from my comments. What’s done is done. But my delivery was terrible and totally out of character. I’m part of the coaching fraternity and should have known better. A lot of people have chimed in, but those who really know me KNOW that I want nothing but the best for Holly, her staff, and all the young lady’s associated with that program. Hopefully, we can all grow from this.”
Taking care of the ball: Throughout the season, turnovers and poor 3-point shooting have dropped the No. 24 Lady Vols to one of their worst records in program history.
This season’s squad is the fastest to ever reach 10 losses in a season, and the team’s six SEC losses are the most ever by a Lady Vols team.
Remaining ever diligent, Warlick believes the team can turn things around heading into Thursday night’s matchup against Ole Miss (10-15, 2-10 SEC).
“These kids are resilient,” Warlick said. “They’re positive. They work hard, and they know they work hard. It’s just next day, next game.”
The Lady Vols will be looking to rebound from Monday night’s 64-58 loss to No. 3 South Carolina.
The team limited the Gamecocks to 36.7 percent shooting from the field and only six fast break points. The Lady Vols also out-rebounded South Carolina 43-30.
However, turnovers doomed the squad as Tennessee’s 19 giveaways resulted in 16 points from South Carolina.
“I think they’ve got their heads up,” Warlick said. “I thought we did some great, great things … I’ve said that we wanted to get three things done, and that’s to limit their transition points. I thought we did that. Control the boards, and we did a great job of that. And take care of the ball, and we did not do a good job of that.”
The team’s incredibly low three-point shooting percentage has put a hole in the Lady Vols’ boat, and the 425 turnovers committed this year is sinking the squad’s ship. Tennessee is shooting an SEC-worst — 26 percent from beyond the arc this year and they have a -2.75 turnover differential in conference play this season.
Redshirt junior Andraya Carter said that the team has taken notice of the turnovers and are doing everything they can to fix the issue.
“It’s definitely been a concern all season,” Carter said. “Any time we have close to 20 or 20+ turnovers, we come up short and we lose. I think it’s just going in these next days in practice, really focusing in on it and really honing in on it.”
The Lady Vols have committed 20 or more turnovers in seven games this year and are 3-4 in those games.
Their opponent Ole Miss is currently third in the SEC in steals per game with 11.6, and Warlick knows that her team can’t expect an easy win over the Rebels.
“We don’t look past anybody,” Warlick said prior to Wednesday’s practice. “They’ll be ready to play. They’re anxious to get back on the court, and they’re ready to play.”
The Lady Vols will take on Ole Miss Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena.
The game will be the “Live Pink, Bleed Orange” game. Both teams will wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness, and “Live Pink, Bleed Orange” t-shirts will be handed out at the door.
