Lady Vols basketball took a trip to Brooklyn to play Louisville in a top-20 clash with the opportunity to make a statement. However, Tennessee fell flat in the second half, losing 89-65 in Barclays Center in front of a national audience.
Here are three quick takeaways from the loss.
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A Second Half Meltdown
Kim Caldwell has admitted that this team has struggled in the third quarter. She says every team takes different identities, and sometimes that takes form with consistently good or bad play in different portions of the game. The third-quarter woes showed up again for the Lady Vols against Louisville.
Tennessee got off to a strong start in the period after entering the half down five, though. With 5:46 left in the frame, the Lady Vols tied the game up at 48 thanks to a 7-0 run. However, that quickly came crumbling down.
To finish the second half of the third quarter, the Cardinals went on a 15-4 run. Tennessee struggled to take care of the ball and didn’t do a great job of forcing turnovers or contesting shots on the other end. The result was an 11-point deficit heading into the final 10 minutes.
It didn’t get any better in the fourth quarter, either. The Lady Vols were outscored 26-13 in the fourth quarter as things fully fell apart.
Lady Vols Got Killed on the Glass
There were plenty of issues on Saturday, but perhaps the biggest one was the inability to rebound. The Lady Vols were gashed 59-37 on the glass in the game.
Offensively, the team allowed 17 boards, which resulted in 24 second-chance points. That wasn’t the reason Tennessee lost, but it certainly played a big factor in things slipping away like it did in the second half.
For Louisville, UT allowed Elif Istanbulluoglu to grab 14 rebounds to lead the game. Imari Berry came down with 13 and two others snagged eight, as well.
Tennessee was led by Zee Spearman’s 12 and Janiah Barker did her job with seven rebounds. The effort behind the two wasn’t there, though, with Deniya Prawl next on the list at five.
Mia Pauldo Showed More Flashes
It wasn’t a strong start to the season for Mia Pauldo. You could see the upside, but she had some struggles that held her back from being an efficient piece of the team.
As December nears a close, Pauldo is hitting her stride, though. The five-star freshman had back-to-back great games in wins over Stanford and Winthrop. The next step was doing it consistently and stringing multiple games together. That’s what she began to do in Brooklyn.
Pauldo finished with 10 points on inefficient shooting, but didn’t have much help to seek out good shots. She did hit two threes, though. She also contributed four rebounds, four assists and a steal. She turned it over three times, as well, but it came in the second half with things out of hand.
There was stuff to clean up, but it was overall a strong game that she can build off of.
Final Stats
Up Next
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.
