After a disappointing loss to Louisville in Brooklyn, Lady Vols basketball turned around just two days later to play Southern Indiana at home to round out the pre-conference slate. The result was an 89-44 win for Tennessee to improve to 8-3 on the year.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
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The Score Didn’t Tell the Full Story
The Lady Vols won this game by 45 points. That doesn’t tell the full story, though. There were some positives to take from the second half, but the concerns early outweighed the good.
At halftime, Tennessee took just a 14-point lead into the break. UT was shooting 28.9% from the field and 32% on threes in the first half, struggling to get anything to fall. Even though the Lady Vols forced 17 turnovers, it resulted in just 20 of their points.
Almost all the offense came on open 3-point attempts against a zone, as well. I’m not saying don’t take the open shots, but it’ll be much tougher to get these looks when conference play begins.
For a team that was coming off a demoralizing loss to Louisville and is in its final game before SEC play, things felt far too low-energy and flat. It never felt like Tennessee was going to lose, but there were stretches where it was pulling teeth to score against a team that it is far better than.
There’s no more time before SEC play, now. The Lady Vols open things up with a Florida team that is very capable of beating them if they’re not focused. If it looks like the first half again, I don’t have much confidence it’ll go well. If it looks like the second half, then they can win a whole lot of games.
Talaysia Cooper Needs to Make More of an Impact
Tennessee is at its best when Talaysia Cooper is locked in and dominating. She’s shown the ability to do it plenty of times, as well, flashing the skillset of one of the most talented players in the country.
Cooper hasn’t looked like that player recently, though. Against Southern Indiana, it was hard to feel her impact at all. She finished with six points on a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. She shot 2-for-9 from the field in the game and 2-for-7 from range.
Cooper also contributed seven rebounds, which is a great number to be at, and passed for four assists, came up with two steals and turned the ball over only one time.
For Tennessee to hit its ceiling, she needs to be the player that’s threatening a quadruple-double, like she did at Stanford when she dropped 19 points, six assists, two rebounds and 10 steals. She filled up the other areas of the stat book against USI, but she needs to be much more involved on offense.
Another Strong Game for Mia Pauldo
It’s really a night-and-day difference for Mia Pauldo compared to how she started the season. Things seem to have slowed all the way down for her, and she’s fully capable of running the offense.
Against Southern Indiana, she produced 19 points on an efficient 7-for-11 shooting from the field and 5-for-9 on threes. She also added only one assist and rebound, but did not turn the ball over a single time. This resulted in a +22 in just 18 minutes on the floor.
This is obviously a great sign for the rest of this year, in which the Lady Vols will need her to continue to stretch the floor and move the ball. What gets you really excited is her future, though. She’ll have three more years of eligibility and could be a truly elite point guard by the end of her college career.
Final Stats
Up Next
Now, it’s time for the Lady Vols to begin their SEC slate. The first game is a matchup with Florida on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. ET on SECN+.
Then, it’ll be a trip to play Auburn on Jan. 4 at 4 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
