The Lady Vols are showing progress, but their performance against Texas highlights that they still have room to grow before becoming true top-tier contenders.
No. 22 Tennessee fell to the No. 4 Longhorns 65-63 at Food City Center, taking one of the nation’s top teams down to the wire before failing to attempt a game-tying shot in the final seconds.
After losing three of their last five games, head coach Kim Caldwell’s Lady Vols (16-7, 8-3 SEC) have been through their fair share of tests this season. Up until Sunday afternoon’s skirmish the team had struggled to make any significant impressions. After already losing to the three teams ranked above Texas (24-3, 9-3) this season, Tennessee had a chance to improve its resume on a national scale.
While this result appears better than the Lady Vols’ other marquee matchups, Tennessee still couldn’t find the win column.
“I think that we ran out of time,” Caldwell said. “Could’ve used about a minute and a half left of that basketball game. So that says a lot about our players. They didn’t quit, we kept playing. Doesn’t feel great, but we don’t have a lot of time to sit and dwell on it.”
After Caldwell called out her players for a lack of effort during a road loss to South Carolina, they have had two games to show that they are still a team to be reckoned with.
“We played hard, we gave it all we had,” guard Talaysia Cooper said. “We played for 40 minutes, and that’s what matters to me.”
Those moral victories may not seem big now, but with the stretch Tennessee is in the midst of, building on the little things could go a long way.
“I feel like we played with a different level of energy,” forward Alyssa Latham said. “I feel like we were very competitive today. We didn’t put our heads down, we just tried to keep going for the next play.”
The mindset is to remain short-sighted.
After the loss, the Lady Vols will turn around for a game against Ole Miss on Feb. 17, and then a battle against Texas A&M on Feb. 19.
With freshman Mia Pauldo still not having a clear timetable due to injury, Cooper will continue to be asked to carry a majority of the scoring load. Cooper finished her day with a team-high 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting.
“I think she did a really good job of just playing through mistakes,” Caldwell said. “Again, she turned the ball over a lot, and when you turn the ball over that many times, it’s really easy just to get frustrated and shut down. And she didn’t. She still continued to put us on her back at times, and we got to continue to help her with the turnovers.”
Though it hasn’t been long since the worst loss in program history against the Gamecocks, Caldwell is expecting some quick changes based on some of the positive things she’s seen over the past pair of games.
”I think we got a wake-up call,” Caldwell said. “I think they’re awake now. I think we’ll see a different team. Again, we’re going to continue to be on them. You saw tonight with some of the games that were being played, you’ve got to show up every single night. It’s the toughest league in the country. You cannot take a night off against anyone.”
