by Tyson Belton
KNOXVILLE, Tenn – The Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team prevailed in a blowout 101-53 win against Samford at the Food City Center on Tuesday.
This was the first-ever matchup between the women’s teams of Tennessee and Samford, and it was quite the rude awakening for the Bulldogs. This contest was determined majorly by the Lady Vols’ defensive scheme and pressure. The Lady Vols consider themselves as underdogs this year, so they’re coming out hungry and ready to give teams a headache as soon as the ball is tipped.
Coming out the gate in the 1st quarter the Lady Vols established full-court pressure and a fast-paced game, causing the Samford offense as a whole to feel under duress for the majority of the game and cause a total of 37 turnovers. The Lady Vols run a man-to-man defense press in the full-court setting, and the pressure doesn’t end when you cross half-court as they still trap ball screens, push the ball to boundary lines, and fly around in the passing lanes. With the causing of the 37 turnovers, the Lady Vols had a whopping total of 50 points off of Samford turnovers, almost what the Samford bulldogs had in total points as a team. Fortunately, the Lady Vols couldn’t score off two of Samford’s turnovers because they caused two back-to-back 10-second violations. When your defense is clicking it just makes your offensive game easy, as most of your possessions will be more fast breaks rather than half-court sets.
The Lady Vols lead the Bulldogs 26-17 ending the first quarter as Talaysia Cooper came out firing and finished the quarter with 10 points and three steals. The team really stepped up the defensive intensity in the second quarter by only allowing nine total points from Samford.
The Lady Vols controlled the pace and tempo for the whole game on both ends of the floor. Pressuring Samford with their aggressive ball pressure and getting most of the shots they wanted at their own speed on the offensive end. Jewel Spear stated that she’s “excited for the Kim Caldwell era” when asked about the future of the team. Head coach for Samford, Carley Kuhns said her team wasn’t expecting to play that type of basketball when asked about Tennessee’s hounding defense. Today’s game was marked as the third-highest steal total in Lady Vols basketball history.
Coach Kim Caldwell is able to play and coach the aggressive, fly-around defense because of the way she subs. Starting guard Samera Spencer stated the 5-in-5-out subbing rotation gives her players “fresh legs” and whenever they step on the court they’re able to give their maximum effort because they know they’ll be coming out of the game soon. The most somebody would usually play on the court before being subbed was on average three minutes.
With less than 20 total minutes played in the game, Zee Spearman led the team in points and rebounds as she recorded 25 points with an addition of 6 rebounds. 21 out of 25 of those points came in the second half for Spearman as she exploded on the offensive end from inside and knocked down free throws from the line when she was fouled.
The starters contributed to 61 out of the 101 points that the Lady Vols put on the board as they could just somehow always get the ball in the basket. They were the main reason for the turnovers Samford caused as they were responsible for 19 out of the 27 steals that the Lady Vols had as a team. Keeping the defensive intensity that this team carries starts all with the starters, they should keep it up and continue to be leaders if they want this season to go the way they want it to.
The whole team played together on one accord and in unison, a great way to start off the season. The way the Lady Vols played with “energy and effort” as coach Caldwell said, is what really makes great teams. All of the shots might not be falling as they shot 29.4% from the 3-point line, but if you continue to play with energy and effort and always give it 100% when you hit the floor, especially on the defensive side of the ball that builds culture and a winning mentality for your team.
The Lady Vols can celebrate tonight, but come back tomorrow to get into the film room and prepare themselves for their next game on Thursday at the Food City Center vs. UT Martin at 6:30 p.m.