Tennessee moved to 7-5 on the season after its win against UCF 99-64 on Wednesday. The Lady Vols now prepare for a road test against No. 2 Stanford. 

Here’s how the Lady Vols graded out against UCF. 

Backcourt 

Jordan Walker got the nod at point guard on Wednesday. She had a good night and finished with five points and four assists. 

Jasmine Powell, a transfer guard out of Minnesota, came on in relief. She was the starter for most of the season but has been replaced by Walker recently. She had a good night and finished with seven points and five assists.

Jordan Horston has been playing on the wing more for Tennessee recently. She is thriving in the role. The role has allowed her to play aggressively, and her turnovers are down from a season ago. 

She finished Wednesday with a team-leading 15 points, seven boards, and five assists. Horston is a lockdown defender on the other end, using her length and rarely giving up a bucket. 

Tess Darby was a threat from range for the Lady Vols against UCF. She finished with 8 points, shooting 50% and hitting two threes. Sara Puckett also gave Tennessee a spark from beyond the arc, shooting 3-7 on the night with two threes. 

As a whole, the backcourt had a good night. They bounced back from a tough first half to put UCF away in the second half. 

Grade: A

Frontcourt

With Tamari Key out for the season, the frontcourt is going through some growing pains. UCF had some wide open lanes on Wednesday that would formerly be clogged by Key. 

Some of the issues may be from the defensive game plan. In the first quarter, Tennessee was running a man defense. Karoline Striplin – Key’s replacement and now the starting five – was forced to follow UCF’s center to the three-point line, opening the lane. 

Striplin finished with six points and two rebounds. She allows the Lady Vols to spread the floor and she can be a stretch-five. 

Jillian Hollingshead and Jasmine Franklin stole the show in the post on Wednesday. Hollingshead finished with nine points and Franklin had eight. Head coach Kellie Harper would play both on the floor, causing mismatches at the four and giving the Lady Vols easy buckets. 

Justine Pissott, who plays more as a stretch than in the post, gave Tennessee a spark from three on Wednesday. The McDonald’s All-American finished with 14 points on 5-8 shooting.

The frontcourt isn’t where Harper wants it yet, but it is getting better by the game.

Grade: B+ 

Offense

Like Horston said postgame, this team will win games from defense. 

In the first half, Horston single-handedly led Tennessee’s defense. The mysterious absence of Rickea Jackson is obvious on the floor. 

For most of Tennessee’s first games, defenses had to choose who to stop. You can’t stop Horston and Jackson. Now, with Jackson missing two games due to a “coach’s decision” and not coming on Wednesday until late in the third, the offense obviously struggles. 

In the second half, shots began to fall and Tennessee didn’t have offensive issues anymore. 

The offense is tough to watch at times, but it got the job done on Wednesday. 

Grade: C+

Defense

Harper has put an emphasis on defense in practice. She wants her team to out-tough and out-hustle other teams. 

There are obvious improvements, but the issues are still prevalent. UCF got almost half its points as second-chance points in the first half. 

It’s hard to stop a team once, it’s even harder to stop them two times in a row. The Lady Vols make things tougher for themselves with their struggles on the glass. 

The second half saw almost every issue get reversed.If Tennessee plays like they did in the second half on Wednesday, they will win a lot of basketball games. 

Grade: B

Coaching & Overall 

Every active Lady Vols scored a point on Wednesday. Harper will need every player this season, and the depth has become apparent. 

Tennessee’s bench scored 57 points against UCF. There isn’t much to complain about there. Minutes are fluid, and with depth like Tennessee, that works. 

If you don’t take the first half into consideration, it would be an A+ performance. Unfortunately, basketball doesn’t work like that. Tennessee came out flat, but turned it around in the second. 

Going forward against teams like Stanford or SEC opponents, coming out flat gets you beat. 

Grade: B