Lady Vols basketball’s 89-65 loss to Louisville in Brooklyn on Saturday was historic for the wrong reasons. As pointed out by John Sartori on X, the 59 rebounds Tennessee allowed were tied for the most the program has ever allowed in a single game.
It tied the mark that South Carolina earned on Feb. 20, 2022, against a Kellie Harper-led team. The Gamecocks won that game 67-53 in a top-20 clash.
Louisville got 17 of its rebounds on the offensive side of the floor. The result was 24 second-chance points in the 24-point defeat. Leading the Cardinals on the glass was Elif Istanbulluoglu grabbing 14 rebounds to lead the game. Imari Berry came down with 13 and two others snagged eight, as well.
“I think for us, in the defensive rebound, we tried to make an adjustment at halftime, and didn’t look like it,” Caldwell said after the game. “We weren’t matched up. So when you’re not matched up, you can’t find a body, you can’t find a body, you can’t box them out. That’s part of it. And the other part of it, they just ran right through us about it.”
Per the Tennessee Women’s Basketball record book, Louisville’s 59 rebounds are tied for the most Tennessee has allowed in a single game in program history.
South Carolina had 59 on February 20th, 2022.
— John Sartori (@JohnSartoriTV) December 20, 2025
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The Lady Vols now sit at 7-3 on the season. All three losses have come to teams that were ranked at the time of playing, though the defeats to UCLA and Louisville both game by 20+ points and the narrow loss to NC State hasn’t aged well with the Wolfpack falling out of the AP Poll.
The lone strong win for Tennessee so far was a road clash at Stanford, which sat just outside of the rankings. All other games have been played against mid-major opponents.
The Lady Vols have one final non-conference game before SEC play arrives. Tennessee will host Southern Indiana on Dec. 22 in Knoxville at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will air SECN+.
Then, SEC play begins on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. ET in Knoxville against Florida. That matchup will air on SECN+, as well.
