It was a tough week for Lady Vols basketball. As the No. 15 team in the country, it dropped a home game to unranked Mississippi State on Thursday before losing by 30 to No. 1 UConn on the road on Sunday.
As a result, Tennessee has tumbled in the updated AP Poll. The Lady Vols enter this week as the No. 19 team in the country. It won’t get much easier now, either. This week, UT plays at the first team outside the top-25, Georgia, and at No. 3 South Carolina.
Tennessee’s spot in the AP Poll is the eighth-highest in the conference. The Lady Vols trail No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 LSU, No. 7 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 13 Ole Miss and No. 16 Kentucky, and are slotted ahead of No. 21 Alabama.
More From RTI: Everything Lady Vols Basketball HC Kim Caldwell Said After 30-Point Loss to UConn
While the loss to Mississippi State was nearly 40 full minutes of frustration, Tennessee showed plenty of bright spots in the loss to UConn. The Lady Vols survived an early punch from the Huskies, fighting back to take a lead in the late stages of the second quarter. The game was tied up at the half as a result.
However, the final 15 minutes of the game were completely dominated by UConn. The result was the second-largest margin of defeat in Lady Vols program history.
Now, it’s quite the gaunlet ahead in SEC play for Tennessee.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be tough,” Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell said. “We gotta do it one game at a time. I didn’t really love where this was at in our schedule, especially with that game being moved. But that’s what the SEC is. You play – I think we only have two unranked games left on our schedule. And so, you have to do it one game at a time. You can’t look big picture. You gotta do it scout-specific and chip away at it.”
Next, the Lady Vols stay on the road. Tennessee will face Georgia on Thursday, Feb. 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET and will air on SECN+.
Then, the Lady Vols meet South Carolina on the road on Sunday. That game begins at 3 p.m. ET and will air on ABC.
