WBB: #7 Texas vs #17 Tennessee, Thursday, 7:00 (ESPN)

LH817 · 2025-01-23T08:27:43-0600

The Longhorns (18-2, 4-1) need to pick up another win against a ranked opponent when they face the Lady Vols (15-3, 3-3) Thursday in the Moody Center. Tennessee started the season 13-0 under new HC Kim Caldwell but are in a bit of skid losing 3 of their last 5 by a combined 4 points:

Loss - #9 OU (sux): 87-86
Loss - #6 LSU: 89-87
Win - Arkansas: 93-63
Win - Mississippi State: 86-73
Loss - Vandy: 71-70 on a buzzer beater putback

Caldwell was in her 1st year as HC at Marshall last season and is known for playing with frenetic pace on both ends of the floor. In her only year at Marshall, her team was picked ninth in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll but proceeded to score 85.3 points per game (4th in NCAA) and force 24.2 turnovers while setting the program record for victories as well as winning both the regular season and conference tournament titles.

The Lady Vols are big fans of quantity over quality from beyond the arc, making 33.4% of their attempts (93rd), they lead the nation in 3-pt attempts per game at 34.9! The gap between them and 2nd place Utah Tech (31.4) is larger than the gap between 2nd and 10th. Texas (11.5 - 347th) would need 3 full games to get close to their per game average.

Like Texas, Tennessee's defensive pressure causes a lot of turnovers. Their 25.3 turnovers forced (5th nationally) is just slightly ahead of Texas' 24.8 (7th). The Longhorns do have a slight edge in assist to turnover ratio - 1.28 (19th) vs 1.21 (26th).

The Vols have 5 players averaging 10+ points per game:

G Talaysia Cooper: 18.4 ppg, 5.7 rebounds, 3.4 steals
G Jewel Spear: 13.2 ppg, 47/121 (38.8%) from 3
G Ruby Whitehorn: 13.1 ppg
G Samara Spencer: 11.6, 42/101 (41.6%) from 3
F Zee Spearman (6' 4"): 10.9 ppg, 6.2 rebounds (team leader)

Beyond Spearman, former McD AA F Jillian Hollingshead at 6' 5" is the only other player on the roster taller than 6' 2".

Keys to tonight's game for the Horns?

Stay disciplined on perimeter defense
Take care of the ball with an emphasis on avoiding live ball turnovers
Go into the paint early and often - get to the FT line and try to put a few fouls on Tennessee's limited post depth

@mln59 @thar0902 @wb3032 @icdb17 @BrownHorn

mln59 · 2025-01-23T08:30:57-0600