Janiah Barker ‘Did Not Meet Program Expectations’, Didn’t Travel with Lady Vols for Oklahoma Game

Lady Vols basketball is without one of its best players for its game at Oklahoma. Janiah Barker did not make the trip to Norman with the team after being ruled out on Saturday night.

According to the ESPN broadcast, the reasoning is that Barker ‘did not meet program expectations’.

Barker is averaging 14.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game on 46.9% shooting from the field and 36.6% on threes. She has played in 24 games this year, starting in 18 of them. She plays an average of 24.1 minutes per night.

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Most recently, Barker had one of the best games of her career. Against her former team, Texas A&M, she produced 29 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, two steals and two blocks. This wasn’t enough for Tennessee to get over the hump, though, as the Lady Vols suffered a brutal 82-74 defeat at home.

Now, Tennessee is in the midst of a game against No. 11 Oklahoma on the road. After one quarter, the Lady Vols lead 22-20, though.

“They play incredibly fast,” Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell said about Oklahoma head of the game. “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.”

After the Sooners, Tennessee will play No. 7 LSU on the road and No. 5 Vanderbilt at home. Then, the SEC Tournament will begin as the final opportunity for the Lady Vols to build up their NCAA Tournament resume.