When the Tennessee Lady Volunteers and the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles meet each other on the Thompson-Boling Arena basketball court Sunday for an exhibition game, the 2014-15 season for UT will officially kick off.
While the matchup Sunday may not offer high stakes or a quality opponent, the game does present Tennessee fans with the opportunity to get the first glimpse of this year’s edition of the Lady Vols basketball team.
The exhibition status of Sunday’s game has not prevented Tennessee freshman Jaime Nared from looking forward to playing in front of Tennessee fans for the first time in her career.
“We are so excited,” Nared said. “I mean just to step on this court, I have never even come to a game. I am excited to just finally be in this atmosphere and be in TBA.”
While a game against a Division II Carson-Newman squad will not reveal too much about how the Lady Vols will fare against quality competition in the 2014-15 season, head coach Holly Warlick hopes to have some questions answered on Sunday.
“How well we play together? We are going to go with different lineups. How hard are we going to play?” Warlick said. “I just want to see how we play together, obviously, how it is going to be an officiated game, how are we going to handle that. (To) just watch them play in a real game without being against each other and without being against guys.”
One of the most notable advantages Tennessee has over Carson-Newman is a difference in height, with Lady Vols forwards Isabelle Harrison and Bashaara Graves having a solid 2-inch height advantage over the Lady Eagles forwards.
When asked whether the Lady Vols will utilize this height advantage in the exhibition game, Warlick maintained her team will still heavily rely on guard play on Sunday.
“We are still going to push the ball,” Warlick said. “We are still going to run.”
Most teams will use a game against an inferior opponent as an opportunity for introspection, going back over the film of the game and recognizing the areas which need the most improvement.
This is the case for the Lady Vols in their upcoming game against the Lady Eagles.
“It is not so much focusing on Carson-Newman and who we are paying, we just want to see how we do against an opponent,” Warlick said. “We are going to try a lot of different things, just because that is what it is: an exhibition. And we are going to see where we are.
“This is a great time for me to go back, and watch the tape, and say, ‘You know what? We are weak in this area. We need to work on this area. We are really good at this,’ and have these young ladies watch themselves on tape.”
The Lady Vols’ contest against Carson-Newman will tip off at 2 p.m. and can be streamed online at SEC Network +.
