Lady Vols basketball tips off the second season of the Kim Caldwell tenure on Tuesday night as Tennessee meets NC State in a non-conference matchup in Greensboro.
Expectations are again high for Caldwell’s Tennessee team, with the Lady Vols ranking in the top 10 of nearly every preseason rankings and analytical metric.
Here’s a close look at the 2025-26 Lady Vols hoops team.
More From RTI: Three Thoughts on Lady Vols Basketball a Day Before the Season Opener
One Big Question
Who Will Step Up From Range?
The biggest question about Caldwell’s second team is where the 3-point shooting will come from. The Lady Vols want to get to the rim more than last year, but there will still be plenty of shots from range being taken; it’s just a matter of who will be the ones letting them fly.
Now, with Ruby Whitehorn dismissed from the team, the question gets even bigger. While Whitehorn wasn’t the most efficient shooter, she certainly was someone with the green light to get off an attempt when open.
I’d be willing to bet it’ll be a freshman who leads the team in threes made this year. Mia Pauldo showed off her ability to hit threes in the 100-point exhibition win and has been money from deep in periods of practice open to the media. She’ll have a lot on her plate as a point guard under Caldwell, but her shot-making ability is uncanny and the reason she’s considered one of the top freshmen in the country.
Outside of Pauldo, look for Alyssa Latham and Nya Robertson to get their shots off. Those are two players who will be looked to do so efficiently, as well, for really the first time in their careers. Talaysia Cooper, Jersey Wolfenbarger, Zee Spearman and Janiah Barker will also get looks, but their attempts may not come at the same volume, with more of an emphasis to get downhill.
Accolades
Leading Scorer
Talaysia Cooper: You could really convince me of a handful of players to end the year as the team’s leading scorer. I’ll go with Tayalsia Cooper to repeat the honor, though, after producing 16.6 points per game a year ago. There’s no reason to believe this couldn’t go up, especially if she can hit at a higher clip from range. Other valid options are Nya Robertson, Zee Spearman and Janiah Barker.
Leading Rebounder
Janiah Barker: This one feels like a two-player race between Janiah Barker and Zee Spearman. After all, a year ago, both averaged 6.0 boards per game. I’ll lean Barker, though, given she will have plenty more opportunities to crash the class with the Lady Vols than she did at UCLA. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she ends up as a double-double machine.
Leading Assister
Mia Pauldo: This one is also between two options, but this time, I’ll go with a true freshman. Mia Pauldo led the team in the exhibition with seven assists in the game. Now, as a freshman, she’ll likely be slotted into Samara Spencer’s role from a year ago, which netted her 4.6 assists per contest. The other option is Talaysia Cooper, who was second on the team last season with 3.2 assists per game. I think she’ll raise that number to just a hair under four.
X-Factor
Alyssa Latham: For a team that needs shooting, Alyssa Latham could be the piece of the puzzle that makes everything work. She played a good bit as a sophomore in her first season in Knoxville a year ago, but her playing time should see a significant jump this year after playing just 14.1 minutes per night last season. Kim Caldwell noted how much work she put in over the summer, as well, which could lead to her being one of the most impactful ‘role players’ in the country.
“Alyssa’s huge. She’s been huge,” Caldwell said. “She had a really good off-season. I would say she probably had the best off-season of anyone. She stayed here, she worked, and she got better. And she’s rebounding better. She put on muscle mass. She is moving better. She’s shooting better. So she’s one that we had already kind of anticipated that she’s gonna be bigger than she was last year.”
Most Common Starting Five Prediction
Mia Pauldo, Nya Robertson, Talaysia Cooper, Janiah Barker, Zee Spearman
Kim Caldwell doesn’t roll with the same starters on a nightly basis. Instead, it’s merit-based, with the best performers from the previous game getting the nods. The formula is adding up a player’s points, assists, rebounds and steals in a game, then subtracting turnovers from the total. The results can be altered to balance the lineup or if a player requests to come off the bench, though.
With that said, you can’t necessarily predict the starting lineup, since it changes on a nightly basis. However, we can still project the five most common names to appear this season. I’ll go with the same unit that started the exhibition, but with freshman Mia Pauldo inserted for the dismissed Ruby Whitehorn.
Then, based off of Caldwell’s comments about pairings she’s intrigued by, it seems like she’ll try to keep Talaysia Cooper and Zee Spearman, and Janiah Barker and Jersey Wolfenbarger together.
A Bold Prediction
Mia Pauldo Will Win SEC Freshman of the Year
It’s not the hottest take of all time, considering she was one of the top-recruited players in the country, but she’s looking the part of an elite freshman so far. Whether it’s been at practices we’ve seen or the exhibition, she looks mature well beyond her age and in control of everything on the floor. With her rare ability to knock down whatever shot she wants, she’s going to be a massive piece of this team as a freshman. Playing a big role on a top-10 team is a good recipe to get Freshman of the Year honors.
Season Prediction
If you go by the AP Poll rankings and the NCAA Tournament started today, the Lady Vols would be a 2-seed in the bracket. I think that’s right. Tennessee will be one of the better teams in the country, but it’s still tough to project them to win the SEC or climb all the way up to the top line. They’re capable of it, I’m just not ready to predict that just yet.
Instead, I’ll take the Lady Vols to win all their out-of-conference games besides road contests at UConn and UCLA. In conference play, Tennessee should improve on its mark from last season and be one of the better-seeded teams in the SEC Tournament.
That would open the door for a great seed in March Madness that would create the path for a potential Final Four run.
Regular Season Record Prediction: 22-6 (12-4 SEC)
