In the storied history of Lady Vol basketball, only once has Tennessee won its first two games by a combined larger margin of victory than it has in 2014-15 after a 91-39 thumping of Oral Robertson Mondaynight.
The #4 Lady Vols scored the first 10 points and never looked back.
Tennessee moved to 2-0 on the young season, outscoring its first two foes by a total of 97 points after a 97-52 pummeling of Penn on opening night last Friday. The margin of +97 through the first two games is the second-most in the history of Tennessee basketball. The record for the first two games is +99 in 1989-90, when the Lady Vols beat Stetson (112-39) and Virginia Tech (81-55).
In scoring 188 points in the first two games, Tennessee has its most points in its first two games since tallying 203 in the first two games of the 2001-02 season.
In her season debut, senior Ariel Massengale scored 21 points in 23 minutes, off the bench.
Junior Nia Moore had another huge game for the Lady Vols with 20 points and nine rebounds. Through two games Moore has 44 points and 23 rebounds. Bashaara Graves had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kortney Dunbar was the other double-figure scorer with 10 points.
Jordan Reynolds had an incredibly well-rounded game with five points, four rebounds, seven assists and seven steals, all without a turnover.
Defense was stifling all night as Oral Roberts made just 25 percent from the floor. That including a stretch of missing 18 field goal attempts in a row bridging the halves. The Golden Eagles missed their first 14 shots from 3-point range and finished 1-of-16.
The Lady Vols forced ORU into 30 turnovers and outscored them by a remarkable 41-0 in points of turnovers.
Oral Roberts (0-2) was led by 6-foot, 7-inch Vicky McIntyre, who had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
After scoring the game's first 10 points in a row, the Lady Vols extended that lead to 22-4, 28-8, 32-13 and eventually 46-17 at halftime. Moore topped the scoring chart in the first half with 12 points. Tennessee had seven players with at least five points in the first half as the Lady Vols shot 49 percent from the floor. On defense, Tennessee held Oral Roberts to just 21 percent on field goals including 0-of-7 from 3-point range.
The Lady Vols continued to dominate in the second half, taking a 30-point lead seconds into the stanza. The lead ballooned to 40 on a free throw by Massengale with12:47left, making it 60-20.
It increased to 50 with Massengale's layup with4:30left in the game, 79-29.
Tennessee continues its season-opening four-game homestand onFriday, Nov. 21, when Winthrop comes to Thompson-Boling Arena. That game can be seen on SEC Network + and heard on the Lady Vol Network with tip-off at7 p.m.