The Tennessee Lady Vols are Sweet 16 perfection and Pat Summitt achieved yet another unprecedented coaching milestone as the Oklahoma City region’s top seed steamrolled past Purdue 78-52 Tuesday night for a second round NCAA tournament victory on the Boilermakers’ home court.
In advancing to its 27th straight Sweet 16 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind., Summitt became the first coach male or female to reach the 100 NCAA tournament victories plateau. Tennessee (32-2) is the only school to have participated in all 27 NCAA Women’s Tournaments and the defending champions will play the winner of the Notre Dame-Oklahoma game Sunday evening in Oklahoma City.
The Lady Vols defeated the Irish and the Sooners in the regular season.
Candace Parker and Alexis Hornbuckle extended their farewell tour by scoring 24 and 14 points respectively to lead UT. Freshman reserve Vicki Baugh added 12 points and senior Nicky Anosike had 10 rebounds.
The Lady Vols joined their male counterparts in advancing to the Sweet 16 where the possibility of a UT national championship sweep is increasing with each victory. The women are pursuing their eighth title while the men would reach the Elite Eight for the first time in school history with a victory over Louisville in the East Regional semifinal Thursday evening in Charlotte, N.C.
The LVs will face Notre Dame on Sunday night. The fifth-seeded Irish edged fourth seeded Oklahoma 79-75 in overtime.
UT has a perfect 19-0 record against the Irish including Jan. 5th's 87-63 triumph in South Bend.
Notes…
-The Tennessee Lady Vols’ 100 all-time NCAA Tournament victories are the most by any program in the history of men’s or women’s basketball. The Kentucky men’s program has 98 all-time victories (not including vacated games).
-Tennessee’s 224 three-pointers this season rank second in school history (232 in 2003) and seventh in the SEC record books.
-Tennessee’s 607 three-point attempts this season are a new school record and ranks seventh in the SEC record books.
-Tennessee’s 207 blocks this season rank second in school history (238 in 1998) and tie for third in the SEC record books.
The win tonight…
-Improves the Lady Vols to 32-2 this season.
-Extends the Lady Vols’ winning streak to 10 games, including a 14-game streak away from Thompson-Boling Arena.
-Gives UT a 100-19 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, including a 2-0 mark this season.
-Gives UT a 42-0 all-time record in NCAA first and second round games.
-Gives Pat Summitt a career record of 979-182 in her 34th season at UT.
Nicky Anosike…
-Played in the 142nd game of her career, claiming sole possession of fifth place in the UT record books for games played.
-Stands in fifth place in the NCAA record books for career blocked shots in the NCAA Tournament (33).
Candace Parker…
-Moved past Tamika Catchings (760) and into third place in the UT record books for career field goals made (765).
-Scored in double figures for the 40th straight game and the 101st time in her career.
-Surpassed 20 points in a game for the 19th time this season and the 46th time in her career.
-Moved into sixth place in the NCAA record books for career blocked shots in the NCAA Tournament (33).
Shannon Bobbitt…
-Her one three-pointer today gives her 68 for the season and 137 for her career, ranking her fifth and fourth, respectively, in the UT record books.
-Moved past Sidney Spencer (336) and Tiffany Woosley (338) and into seventh place in the UT career record books for three-point attempts (341).
Alexis Hornbuckle…
-Had a career-high-tying seven steals with six minutes left in the first half. At the time, Purdue had eight points.
-Her eight steals set a new UT record for thefts in an NCAA Tournament game and are the fourth-most in a first/second round NCAA Tournament game by any woman since 1988. Former Lady Vol Nikki McCray had seven against Northwestern in the second round on March 20, 1993.
Vicki Baugh…
-Tied her career-high with 12 points
Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt
Opening statement…
“I’m really proud of our basketball team, they came in and committed to playing great defense. I told them after the game that we had 30 minutes of the best defense we played all season. I thought Alexis Hornbuckle really set the tone on how we were going to play on the defensive end. Going inside to Candice Parker was very, very effective for us. She played very aggressively and that established our inside game. It helps to have your guard play and inside action. Vicki Baugh came off the bench and did a super job; she was instrumental in us winning the SEC championship. I’m proud of our team; I’m excited to be moving onto the Sweet 16, that was our goal. We’ll put this one behind us and we’ll wait and see who our next opponent is.”
On Tennessee’s defense and Candace Parker …
“Our first priority from a defensive standpoint was to bring a lot of pressure. With Alexis Hornbuckle and Shannon Bobbit’s play, we managed to keep the guards in front of us. Candace Parker’s size -- she has such a presence inside -- I think people are constantly trying to find ways to get by her or score on her. It’s hard to get your shot up and over Candace; I think she’s becoming a much better defender. Playing good position is something she’s worked on and it’s made us a better team. I don’t think people realize her physicality in the paint until they go against her, but she does have a great presence for us.”
On taking the crowd out of the game …
“I’m excited for this team. I don’t think of numbers for me personally. We’ve never missed the Sweet 16 and I didn’t want this team to be the first. We knew Purdue would have a great crowd. I told our team not to take anything for granted here. We didn’t want the crowd to get into the game and we wanted to have a quick start. I was pleased with our rebounding. I thought the crowd at times really got into it and that’s good. For us, fortunately, by design our schedule allows us to be in some hostile arenas.”
On Purdue’s future…
“I think the future looks good for this team and this program. If you look at they players they lost, it was costly. They’re going to continue to recruit. You have players in this state. If you look around the country and think of the states that really produce a lot of talented players in the women’s game, I definitely think that your state is in the top five.”
Tennessee Guard Alexis Hornbuckle
On her game today…
“I had the mentality to have a 40-minute game. I knew I needed to help out my team on both defense and offense. It’s a whole new mindset come postseason.”
On the defensive game plan…
“We had to limit their touches, both the guards and the post. We wanted to apply as much pressure as we could and we did a great job of that today.”
On being a big favorite playing on the road …
“We know that we can’t give anybody any advantage, especially playing on their own floor. We had to step up and take control of the game early and that’s what we did.”
Tennessee Forward Vicki Baugh
On coming off the bench behind Candace Parker…
“I always have to be prepared. The whole team has to be there. I knew I had to bring the energy and stay prepared the whole game, and that’s what we did as a team.”
Purdue Head Coach Sharon Versyp
Opening statement…
“I am just really proud of this team. We continued to battle. The ladies don’t need to hang their heads whatsoever. No one thought we would do anything this year. I think this group has gone above and beyond expectations. It’s been one of most rewarding coaching jobs. Tennessee is obviously one of the best teams in the country. There were times that we battled and we looked really good and other times obviously they dominated. But, I couldn’t be any more proud of these ladies.”
On Candace Parker’s performance …
“We’ve gone against great players: Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Duke players, ODU players. She’s just a kid that has so much length and she can play one through five; that’s why she’s so difficult to guard. When she faces the basket, that’s when she’s most dangerous. Hopefully, down low, you can double team her a little bit, but she’s very uncanny and she’s extremely smooth. My hats off to her, she’s obviously one of the best players who has played the game.”
On her team’s success this season…
“They’ve gone above and beyond. We were just in the locker room for 15 minutes and every player had something to say. Kalika was like, ‘Remember this, how it hurt, but remember how we got here. Remember the adversity.’ This team has overcome more adversity than any team I’ve been a part of. Everybody just empowered each other. Everybody was very complimentary and they played their hearts out. This group could have thrown in the towel very early on. I get phone calls all the time and coaches coming up to me saying what a great turnaround for this group with all the injuries and a lot of things a lot of you don’t know, but it’s already rewarding. I don’t have to worry about the sting right now. It does hurt to lose but like FahKara said, she’s ready to put her shoes tomorrow and start working for next year.”
Purdue Guard Kalika France
On the emotions of her final game…
“I guess it still hasn’t hit me yet. I feel like we had a great season. We’ve overcome a lot from the beginning. We’ve done a lot. It’ll definitely be an experience that I’ll never forget, and I’ll take with me, and I’ll appreciate it greatly.”
On Purdue’s slow start…
“I feel like a lot of the things we did to ourselves. I feel like there wasn’t really anything they did that stopped us. If we had come out in the beginning playing hard, like we did toward the end of the first half and for all of the second half, then the game would have been a lot more competitive. But they’re a No. 1 seed, and with great teams that’s what they do, they rebound.”
Purdue Forward Keshia Mosley
On the experience of playing against Candace Parker and Tennessee…
“Tennessee is just a very good team. Playing against Tennessee was a very good experience, not just for me, but for our team as well. Next season, we’ve just got to come out playing even better.”