After losing Tamari Key to a season-ending diagnosis earlier this season, Tennessee was dealt another blow on Wednesday.
Head coach Kellie Harper announced that forward Marta Suarez would be temporarily stepping away from the team due to personal reasons. Suarez will be returning home to Oviedo, Spain, and continuing her studies remotely.
The 6-foot-3 forward averaged 4.9 points and three rebounds in 14 games this season. Suarez was sidelined all of last season due to injury. She earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors in 2020-21.
“We’re here to support Marta,” Harper said on Wednesday. “We’ll continue to support her the best we can. From a team standpoint, that’s a player that can play multiple positions we will be without. Obviously, sometimes you need to support them in different ways other than basketball.”
This Lady Vols team is no stranger to adversity, on and off the court.
On the court, Tennessee has played one of the toughest schedules in the country, facing off with six AP top-25 teams. Four of those teams fall in the top 10.
Off the court, the Lady Vols have had to deal with Key’s diagnosis of blood clots, sidelining her for the year. Now, they must cope with the loss of Suarez.
“They’ve been pretty resilient,” Harper said. “They’ve been bending, not breaking, through a lot of things. They do care for one another and they hurt when their teammates are hurting. It’s just another piece of adversity that this group’s going to have to work through.”
Suarez was absent for the Lady Vols’ past two games against Florida and Alabama. The post has looked very different from game one to today.
With the loss of Suarez and Key, Tennessee has lost a lot of size. Despite having two contributors out, the Lady Vols’ paint presence was solid through the first two games of SEC play.
“We have to understand it’s going to look different, and we have to utilize the strengths of the post players that we do have,” Harper said. “I like where we’re going. I like the way the group is trying to rise to the occasion, and rise to the challenge.”
Karoline Striplin has largely played the five since Key’s absence. The 6-foot-3 sophomore has brought a spark for the Lady Vols on both ends of the floor. She is averaging 4.6 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game.
“Karoline Striplin has come in and she’s been vocal defensively,” Harper said. “She has given great effort, she’s done a nice job on the boards. She’s been a presence being able to score a little bit inside and out.”
As for Suarez’s absence, Jillian Hollingshead has played a big role off the bench for the Lady Vols. The 6-foot-5 transfer from Georgia is a forward with guard skills.
Her versatility was put on show against Alabama in arguably her best performance of the season. She finished the game with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes off the bench.
“Jillian Hollingshead has come in and given us a punch offensively,” Harper said. “She gives us size, and length on the defensive end and on the boards, love where she’s moving towards.”
With the biggest roster in Tennessee history, Harper has depth. She also has versatility.
With the moving pieces and a tough schedule, it has taken time for the team to mesh on the court. Finally, Harper thinks we are beginning to see what this Lady Vols team is capable of. They have started SEC play 2-0.
“We were trying to put this puzzle together, a lot of beautiful, shiny pieces, but they’ve got to fit together,” Harper said. “We knew that was going to be a challenge coming in. We understood that. It’s taken a little bit, but I think now you can see what it could be.”
The Lady Vols have to use their depth for the gauntlet of the SEC schedule remaining. Tennessee still has to face No. 1 South Carolina and No. 7 LSU in conference play, as well as No. 5 UConn.
This team has faced adversity and bought into Harper’s system. They have shown growth thus far, fighting to remain in the postseason conversation.
The road for the Lady Vols continues as Mississippi State comes to Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday.
“I think we’ve seen some buy-in from the team with how we want to play with our system, and they’ve seen the correlation on the court,” Harper said. “Not always in wins, but definitely some wins, and our performance as being better. I think that has given them a lot of motivation.”
