The Lady Vols remain the only program to appear in every NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Tennessee enters as the tenth-seeded team in the Fort Worth Regional 3 and will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a first-round matchup against No. 7 seed NC State on March 20 in a rematch of their season-opening thriller.
This marks the Lady Vols’ second NCAA Tournament appearance under second-year head coach Kim Caldwell. Despite a rough season that included a seven-game losing streak to close the campaign, Caldwell’s presence on her sport’s grandest stage lives on. She’s reached the dance in each season of her coaching career, leading Division II Glenville State to seven tournament berths, tallying one at Marshall and now two with the Lady Vols.
Tennessee (16-13, 8-8 SEC) squeaked into the field with the second-fewest wins by an at-large team since Monmouth won 14 in 1983.
A familiar foe
The first-round matchup will be the next chapter in a recent rivalry between the Wolfpack and Lady Vols, with NC State holding the momentum in the last two games. The last meeting came in the season opener at the Greensboro Invitational, where the Wolfpack held off Tennessee 80-77.
NC built an early lead, but the Lady Vols rallied from an eight-point deficit and grabbed a one-point advantage with 54 seconds left to play. The Wolfpack scored the next four points, and Tennessee fell after it couldn’t get the final shot off.
Talaysia Cooper led the Lady Vols with 23 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Khamil Pierre posted 21 points and 14 rebounds for NC State. Pierre’s prior experience against Caldwell’s full-court press system from her Vanderbilt days helped her group neutralize it.
Before that, the teams met in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack defeated Tennessee 79-72, building a 20-point first-half lead before holding off a late Lady Vols comeback to advance to the Sweet 16.
This will be the 18th game of the series between the two programs. Tennessee holds a 12-5 all-time advantage despite dropping the last two contests.
“I don’t love having to play a team that we’ve already played,” Caldwell said. “I think we’re both very different teams. We’ve both been through a lot since that game, so it’s going to be kind of not a rematch. We’re both different.”
Tennessee’s 44th March Madness
The Lady Vols’ streak stands alone in women’s college basketball history.
Tennessee is seven appearances ahead of second-place UConn, which has 37 straight tournament berths. The Lady Vols possess a record of 133-35 in NCAA play, boasting the most games played and the second-most wins.
Despite a late-season skid, the selection committee rewarded Tennessee for playing a tough schedule. The Lady Vols played 14 other tournament-qualified teams, but posted just a 3-11 record against them. Tennessee’s No. 10 seed is the second-lowest in team history, only behind its No. 11 seed in 2019.
Tennessee is 35-2 in NCAA First Round games, with losses coming in 2009 to Ball State and 2019 to UCLA.
NC State scouting report
The Wolfpack finished fourth in the ACC this season with a 20-10 record. Head coach Wes Moore, a University of Tennessee alumnus, is in his 13th season at the helm. Moore can boast loads of postseason experience, leading NC State to four Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight and a Final Four. The Knoxville native holds a 321–105 record with the Wolfpack.
Pierre, a Vanderbilt transfer, anchors the team from her forward position. The junior is averaging 16.8 points and a dominant 12 rebounds per game. Though she isn’t a threat from 3-point land, her ability to finish at the rim makes up for it. Junior guard Zoe Brooks and sophomore guard Zamareya Jones pick up the rest of the scoring slack, complementing Pierre on the offensive end.
“I think that they guard better than they did in game one,” Caldwell said. “I think that they rebound better. I think that they have two dominant guards and on the inside, we didn’t do a very good job rebounding with Khamil, and we have to fix that.”
Looking ahead
Should the Lady Vols beat NC State, their path to the second weekend doesn’t get any easier.
Tennessee eyes a potential date with two-seeded Michigan in the second round. The Wolverines sit at 25-6 overall, excelling at a 15-3 rate during Big Ten play this season. The Lady Vols and Michigan played three common opponents this season – UConn, Vanderbilt and UCLA. Neither team emerged victorious, but the Wolverines lost every game by one possession.
“We’re not chasing something we haven’t seen,” Caldwell said. “We’re chasing something that we have done. It’s really easy to get lost in it and say, ‘Oh, no, that doesn’t work.’ We need to just get back to a version of where we were for a month.”
