By Aidan Corley
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Vols donned the purple-trimmed jerseys, took to “The Summitt”, and honored the heroine of women’s college basketball during We Back Pat week the only way possible: with an emphatic 85-50 victory over Arkansas on a special Sunday afternoon inside Food City Center.
Tennessee (12-3, 4-0 SEC) continued its hot form winning a fifth consecutive game, and remaining undefeated in conference play sitting tied at the top of the SEC standings. On the contrary, the loss for Arkansas (11-8, 0-4 SEC) was its fifth in a row as they remain winless in conference play.
“It means a lot, she (Pat Summitt) has a great legacy from when she was here,” freshman Jaida Civil said. “As a freshman coming into something with a great background and trying to bring it back, I’m really glad to be a part of it.”
A losing recipe typically includes inefficient shooting and not taking care of the basketball, and Arkansas did just that.
The Razorbacks shot 27% from the field and 16% from beyond the arc, hitting only three three-pointers across 40 minutes. Arkansas even more glaringly gave up 26 turnovers, which is eight more than the number of field goals they converted all game. Those turnovers lead to 25 Tennessee points on the other end.
The Lady Vols cleaned up their bad turnover habits only giving up eight, half of what they average on the season at 16.3.
“We work on turnovers all the time in practice,” senior Zee Spearman said. “So I feel like we really lock in in our head… and just be calm with the ball.”
Another key ingredient to head coach Kim Caldwell’s success and her playstyle is depth, there were contributions from everywhere and everyone against Arkansas. On an afternoon where Kaniya Boyd and Talaysia Cooper were both missing, nine different players scored and played over nine minutes for the Lady Vols. Four players ended the game in double figures for Tennessee.
Spearman led the charge with 20 points along with 8 rebounds, while Mia Pauldo was right behind with 18 points and four assists. Janiah Barker and Civil each scored 13 and 12 points respectively.
Pauldo followed up her career night at Mississippi State with another impressive showing, the star freshman guard has come into her own since the start of conference play and shows a poise on the court beyond her years.
“I think she’s just good. I just think that’s who she is,” Caldwell said. “What’s impressed me the most is not her scoring, it’s at her size at her age to not turn the ball over more. On a team that has been poisoned by turnovers for her to not really be super heavy in that has been really impressive.”
Tennessee came out flying and looked untouchable to start the game, connecting on 10 of the first 16 shots and ending the first quarter with 29 points and an 11 point lead that proved to be too much for Arkansas to dig themselves out of.
Despite shooting percentages coming back down to Earth throughout the game, the Lady Vols continued to live and die by the sword they are best known for jacking up 41 three point attempts in the game, despite only connecting on 11 of them.
Much of Tennessee’s best work came in the paint, whether it be through Spearman willing her way to the basket or Pauldo gliding all the way to the rim with pretty passes in between. Tennessee ended the game with 36 points in the paint, and it’s what Caldwell wants to see more of.
“We told them multiple times ‘get to the rim, it’s how we’re scoring’, and they will just keep launching those things,” Caldwell said. “It’s not the end of the world when we’re going to get 50% of our offensive rebounds… so I think they could be a little more patient and work the ball around and get to the rim, if you can’t get to the rim play inside out.”
The Lady Vols will be back in action on Sunday when they travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide at 2 p.m. EST on SEC Network.