Zee Spearman started off her season in Greensboro, North Carolina, against No. 9 NC State with a performance that more likely won’t be remembered for her when she looks back on her senior season.
After the game, head coach Kim Caldwell had to remind Spearman not only the type of player she was last season, but the type of player she can continue growing into as the season rolls along.
“Her and I met after the NC State game, we watched some film,” Caldwell said. “Kind of on what she was doing last year that was successful and what she has been doing that was not successful.”
The response began on Friday in the Lady Vols’ regular-season home opener against ETSU, with the No.8 Lady Vols as a team playing a cleaner 40 minutes as they defeated the Buccaneers (0-2) 97-47.
Spearman finished with a team-high 24 points, just one point shy of her career high of 25 points that she posted on Nov. 5, 2024, against Samford last season.
“Just kind of reminding her who she is,” Caldwell said. “I think she can be one of the best bigs in the country at what she does, and I just wanted to remind her of that.”
Last season for Spearman, she found her own voice in the Lady Vols (1-1) system, starting 23 games while averaging career bests in both points with 11.6 and rebounds with 6.0 over 34 total games.
The senior season began for Spearman in a neutral-site contest against NC State. Despite receiving the starting nod and playing 30 minutes, Spearman finished with just three points on 1-for-8 shooting.
The switch in style and confidence from game one to two was more than apparent, and ot began the practice prior to the game against ETSU.
“We watched the film, and she was exceptional the next day in practice,” Caldwell said. “Putting people in the right spots and coming off of a ball screen, so she did a really good job of just seeing that and then making the immediate switch.”
Spearman posted 22 minutes against ETSU, but the most notable difference was her aggressiveness toward driving the lane, which led to her taking 14 free throw attempts on the day.
Driving the paint is something Caldwell and the staff have been preaching, and Spearman delivered after just one trip to the free-throw line the game prior.
Janiah Barker joined Spearman in the frontcourt, attempting a second-most seven free throws.
“I think it was good,” Caldwell said. “I wish we had a few more people that put their head down and got to the rim. It’s some things that we looked at after NC State, of why were we not trying to do this, and I thought those two did a good job of putting pressure on the rim and going to the rim.”
Barker finished her day with 15 points over 17 minutes, shooting 5-for-13 from the field.
Despite the big day from Spearman, she, as well as the rest of the team, is still looking to improve those numbers in the rebounding column before they head off to UT Martin on Sunday.
“It’s a real simple answer, we need to box out, honestly,” Spearman said. “We didn’t really box out today, and that was something that we struggled with last time out, so I feel like we need to fix that.”
