Lady Vols basketball welcomes the Kentucky Wildcats to Food City Center on Thursday for the two teams’ annual meeting.
It is a battle between two ranked squads, while Tennessee (13-3, 5-0 SEC) has jumped out to a quick start in conference play. The toughest battle stands in front with Kentucky (17-3, 4-2) next up.
The most glaring situation is the loss of forward Janiah Barker, who has been ruled out after suffering a head injury against Alabama. Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell anticipates her team to be ready to fill in the gaps of Barker, though.
“If that’s the situation, I think it will be the same kind of scenario that we would be in when (Talaysia) Cooper didn’t play,” Caldwell said. “That you can’t ask for it from one person. Everyone’s gonna have to kind of raise the bar.”
Talaysia Cooper missed the team’s matchup against Arkansas on Jan. 11. Despite missing one of the team’s top producers, the Lady Vols had four players post double digits in the points column, led by Zee Spearman.
Along with Spearman was true freshman Mia Pauldo. The 5-foot-6 guard out of Paterson, New Jersey, has filled into her role nicely since the start of conference play.
“I think overall our team is sharing the ball better, so she’s getting more touches and I honestly think she could shoot more,” Caldwell said. “We would like her to shoot more. We’d like her to get more looks. And she turns some down. She turns a lot down really to create for her team. She doesn’t take bad ones and we want her to take more. We need her to take more. She really spaces our offense out.”
There hasn’t been a clear sense of the team running through one certain player this season, and that has begun to be played as an advantage by the Lady Vols. Despite missing Barker’s production, players like Spearman and Alyssa Latham will need to step up.
Latham had a bit of a breakout performance the last time out against Alabama, dropping 12 points in 23 minutes, along with four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The game against Kentucky serves as a chance for the team to not only prove they can continue to win without top producers, but that they can also compete with the top teams in the conference.
A big reason for the Wildcats success stems from junior center Clara Strack’s big season. Strack averages 16 points and 10 rebounds a game.
“She’s a tough matchup,” Caldwell said. “She plays incredibly hard. She’s another one that is a weapon from everywhere on the floor. She could shoot it in the middle of the floor, she can get to the rim, she can drive it, she can pick and pop, she can shoot those threes, she can block shots, she can guard. So she really does it all.”
Tipoff is at 6:30 pm ET at Food City Center on Thursday, Jan. 22.
