Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell knew her team wasn’t prepared for battle against Mississippi State on Thursday night before the tip was even tossed up.
The No. 15 Lady Vols were handed their worst loss since UCLA, dropping the team’s first home game of the season, 77-62, to the Bulldogs.
“I think that was pretty clear from the very beginning of the game,” Caldwell said. “I knew in shootaround that it was gonna be bad, it was gonna be ugly. I didn’t think it was gonna be that ugly. They out-worked us, they out-toughed us, start to finish.”
It was the second meeting between these two schools on the season, with the prior game taking place in Starkville, Mississippi, where the Lady Vols (14-4, 6-1) defeated the Bulldogs (15-6, 2-5) 90-80 in a high-scoring contest.
Unlike the last matchup, the Lady Vols’ offense was nowhere to be seen in the rematch. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Vols had shot just 32% as a team, while only making four three pointers on the day, totaling a grand 19% beyond the arc.
“I think the prep leading up, people not wanting to play, not listening, having to go back to repeating ourselves, and being late to warmups,” Caldwell said. “So, things like that just were kind of a slap in the face. This was a game I knew we really needed to win.”
The game featured the return of senior forward Janiah Barker, who missed the team’s meeting against Kentucky a week prior.
Barker had a solid first half despite inconsistent offense, scoring 10 points and five rebounds in her first 13 minutes.
Following the theme with the rest of the team, Barker slowed down in the second half. She attempted just one shot and scored no points in her final 13 minutes of play, along with just one rebound.
The Lady Vols’ best offensive scoring run of the day came during the middle stages of the fourth quarter, where the team went on a 5-0 run. They shot at 35% or lower in every single quarter, with the worst performance happening in the third when the team shot 5-for-18.
Even the free throws were a challenge, as freshman Deniya Prawl missed all of her six free throws in the game, four of them occurring in the first quarter. To add insult to injury, the first four free throws came within a few plays of each other.
“I don’t know that we gave up,” Caldwell said. “I don’t think we ever showed up. And I think that there’s a difference between that. I don’t think that we ever had it and we were hyped and we looked great.”
As a team, they shot 61% from the line.
The team-leader in points was guard Talaysia Cooper, who finished her night with 19 points, though she shot 9-for-24 in total. Mia Pauldo followed her up with 13 points in 26 minutes.
“I mean, she should have made some more,” Caldwell said. “I think she did a better job. She was getting to the rim, she was shooting the layups at the rim. None of us shot well at the rim tonight.”
In short, every facet of the game needs to be better if the Lady Vols want to remain atop the SEC, most importantly, the team’s effort. Their next game is a quick turnaround on Sunday against none other than the No. 1 UConn Huskies.
“You gotta fix us first,” Caldwell. “And if it looks like it did today, we’re gonna get ran out of the gym in the first quarter. And so, we gotta fix us first and then start our prep for them.”
