Tennessee didn’t look any worse for not having played in 10 days.
Quite the contrary, the Lady Vols were energetic and locked in Thursday night. They put a lot of effort into arguably the most impressive women’s basketball victory of Coach Kellie Harper’s tenure, upsetting No. 13 Arkansas 88-73 Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols missed their two previous games because of protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They hadn’t played since beating Lipscomb 77-52 on Dec. 28. Forward Rennia Davis suggested that the down time might have been beneficial since the players got extra conditioning. Given how well they played, the correlation was an easy conclusion. Having just two team practices before Thursday’s game added more weight to the thought.
But Harper’s take on the victory spoke to a different perspective.
“They’re really on the same page with the coaching staff,” she said, “and understand what we’re trying to do.”
The connection is vital to UT’s success and the best way to nurture it is through games. With each new opponent, the staff will turn the page to a different game plan. A new set of challenges will be faced. It’s incumbent upon the players to stay in lockstep with the progression.
Consider what the Tennessee men’s team went through last week. Back home from an impressive win at Missouri to start SEC play, the Vols were victimized by Alabama last Saturday, which was more capable offensively than Missouri. The Crimson Tide spread out UT’s defense and attacked individuals off the dribble. They then hit a flurry of 3-pointers in the second half. The combination resulted in Tennessee’s first loss, 71-63.
Chastened by his team’s play, coach Rick Barnes changed his starting lineup and urged his key players to play “with a little more fight.”
Four days later, Tennessee played Arkansas, which had a similar offensive MO as Alabama’s. The Vols put up a better fight and emerged with a hard-fought 79-74 victory.
Despite the loss, the Vols are better for what they went through the past week. The two games forced them to evolve and improve.
The Lady Vols (7-1, 1-0 SEC) play at LSU on Sunday. The Tigers are a completely different team than Arkansas. They emphasize defense and are more deliberate than the Razorbacks. The Lady Vols were intent on restraining the pace of Thursday’s game. They might be more inclined to speed up Sunday’s action.
“I’ve been picking these guys in the Top 25 for the last three weeks and they are a top 25 team,” Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said of UT. “I’ve watched them all. This is a really, really good Tennessee team, and one that has a lot of weapons now that you can’t key on any one person.”
Neighbors is an offensive-minded coach. Therefore, he likely was most impressed with UT’s Rennia Davis and Rae Burrell, who each scored 26 points against the Razorbacks.
The Lady Vols’ height and their ability to defend Arkansas, which attacked them much like Alabama attacked the Vols, was crucial to the outcome as well.
The Lady Vols stuck to their game plan. They need games to make a habit of it.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who covered University of Tennessee athletics from 1988-2019. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.