Dan Fleser
Tennessee got its closing act together for a refreshing change and the Lady Vols’ timing was as good as their play.
Playing their most vexing opponent and playing before the largest home audience of the women’s basketball season, they made all the right moves in the final two minutes and were rewarded with an 80-76 victory over No. 5 Connecticut.
The win was Tennessee’s first over the Huskies since 2007 and its first victory against a top 5 opponent since 2021. The outcome also interrupted, for the time being, a string of narrow defeats versus top 10 opponents. The Lady Vols had lost to Oklahoma, LSU, Texas and South Carolina by a combined 14 points with half of that total accrued last week against the defending national champion Gamecocks.
“It was about time we won a close game,” said UT coach Kim Caldwell, who drew a correlation between the result and the 16,215 in attendance at Thompson-Boling Arena by estimating the fans’ presence to be worth “10 to 15 points.”
The finish also had much to do with a stunning role reversal performed by Tennessee’s Zee Spearman. The 6-foot-4 transfer post player heretofore had been the could’ve-would’ve-should’ve poster child for the team’s struggles at closing time.
-Spearman could’ve won the LSU game but her jumper from right in front of the rim fell short.
-She would’ve grabbed the final rebound against Vanderbilt if she had timed her jump better or had a stronger presence. The basketball fell instead to the Commodores’ Mikalya Blakes, who scored the winning basket inside the final second.
-Spearman should’ve had more discretion on Sunday at Missouri. Instead, she drew a technical foul with 2:18 seconds left, adding unwanted drama to an already dicey conclusion to Tennessee’s victory.
She was a different player against the Huskies, scoring a pair of baskets – part of her team-high 16 points – and grabbing a crucial offensive rebound inside the final 1:41 after a Paige Bueckers’ 3-pointer had tied the score at 74 with 2:07 left.
“(Zee) had a really good week of practice,” Caldwell said. “I think she had a different level of focus going into the game. I think it means something to her. She was locked in. Never took a play off. Without her, we don’t have a win.”
Spearman, in turn, needed the assistance of teammate Talaysia Cooper, who was wrestling with a different sort of demon. She had missed Wednesday’s practice with the flu and looked bleary-eyed from the start on Thursday, a diminished version of the player who stuffed her stat line with 27 points, seven rebounds, six steals, four assists and three blocks against Missouri.
She managed 11 points and eight rebounds against Connecticut. Two of those points came via a pair of clutch free throws with 1:02 left. The points were made possible by Spearman’s rebound and turned out to be decisive. Before making those shots, Cooper had missed three of her four attempts from the line.
Cooper then set up Spearman for the final basket with a determined, curling drive and deft pass. After catching the ball, Spearman waited for a Connecticut defender to flash by before scoring to close it out.
When asked afterward what the late Pat Summitt might have said of the victory, Caldwell drew another correlation, linking the Lady Vols coaching legend with her late father Scott Stephens, who coached her in high school and coached with her at Glenville State.
“I’m sure she’s up in heaven with my dad. They’re probably having a cold one, celebrating.”
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.