Lady Vols basketball is looking to snap a three-game losing streak, but it won’t be easy. Tennessee is traveling to play at Oklahoma and will be without Janiah Barker in the game.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of the matchup.
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How to Watch — No. 21 Lady Vols (16-9, 8-5 SEC) at No. 11 Oklahoma (20-6, 8-5 SEC)
- Start Time: 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
- Location: Lloyd Noble Center (Norman, Okla.)
- Watch: ESPN | PxP: Tiffany Greene, Analyst: Carolyn Peck
- Online Streaming: Watch ESPN
- Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App
- Vol Network radio crew: PxP: Brian Rice, Studio Host: Jay Lifford
Betting Odds
No odds listed yet
ESPN Matchup Predictor
Oklahoma – 68.8%
Lady Vols – 31.2%
What Kim Caldwell Said
On righting the ship defensively with little time before the postseason
“Yeah, we have limited practice time left. We have to have a day off. We’ll have another one-day prep going into Oklahoma. We’ll do a lot of it with film, we’ll do a lot of it with breakdown. I think there was a point in time in the year where we were pretty solid defensively, and that was kind of what we hung our hat on, was our half-court defense, and we just need to find a way to get back to that.”
On the challenge of playing Oklahoma
“Yeah, they play incredibly fast. They share the ball. We’re going to have to guard the 3-point line, and we’re going to have to guard the post. We haven’t been good at doing either lately. We’ve got to guard in transition, and it’s really going to come down to can we guard them, and we’ll have, again, one day prep, so we’ll have to watch film, get practice here, and then it’s an early game, too, so we won’t even have shootaround time, unless it’s at 6 AM.”
Last Five Games
Lady Vols:
- vs. Texas A&M, 82-74 L
- at Ole Miss, 94-81 L
- vs. Texas, 65-63 L
- vs. Missouri, 98-53 W
- at South Carolina, 93-50 L
Oklahoma:
- at Georgia, 71-67 W
- at Alabama, 79-71 W
- vs. Florida, 81-74 W
- at Vanderbilt, 102-86 L
- at Texas, 78-70 L
Where They Land In Rankings
Lady Vols:
AP Poll – No. 21
Coaches Poll – No. 21
Bart Torvik – No. 22
Oklahoma:
AP Poll – No. 11
Coaches Poll – No. 9
Bart Torvik – No. 14
Stat Leaders
Lady Vols:
- Points: Talaysia Cooper – 15.8
- Rebounds: Janiah Barker (OUT) – 6.8
- Assists: Talaysia Cooper – 3.8
Oklahoma:
- Points: Aaliyah Chavez – 18.4
- Rebounds: Raegan Beers – 10.2
- Assists: Aaliyah Chavez – 4.3
Prediction
The Lady Vols could certainly win this game. It’s really tough to predict they will with any confidence, though, given the recent stretch of games. When you add in that star forward Janiah Barker will be out with an injury, it has to make you even less optimistic.
The path for Tennessee to still pull off an upset is to create havoc with the press and force Oklahoma into turnovers. That could also get Aaliyah Chavez to press on offense, and she’s proven to be prone to some really inefficient games. The issue is that the Lady Vols’ press has been a weak point this year and has done more harm than good at times.
With Barker out, Tennessee will need Talaysia Cooper to have a big day. She looked gassed by the end of the loss to Texas A&M, though, with the short turnarounds this week. Freshman point guard Mia Pauldo should be well rested, though, after missing time with a concussion, and could be an x-factor.
Oklahoma 78, Lady Vols 64
