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Tennessee Lady Vols Lose to Texas Longhorns 72-67: 5 Takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

Dec 11, 2016; Austin, TX, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers guard Jordan Reynolds (0) and Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick speak during a time out in the second half against Texas Longhorns at Frank Erwin Center. Mandatory Credit: Sean Pokorny-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 11, 2016; Austin, TX, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers guard Jordan Reynolds (0) and Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick speak during a time out in the second half against Texas Longhorns at Frank Erwin Center. Mandatory Credit: Sean Pokorny-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols lost to the Texas Longhorns 72-67. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ women’s basketball loss.

It looked like another blowout loss by the Tennessee Lady Vols to a ranked team. But they only lost by five in the end.

Tennessee came back from 15 down in a hard-fought comeback against the Texas Longhorns on the road late Sunday afternoon to lose 72-67.

The women’s Volunteers fought back to even take the lead in the third quarter, but in a back and forth game, they ended up losing.

With the loss, the Tennessee Lady Vols fell to 4-4 on the year, while the Longhorns, ranked No. 17 in the country, improved to 3-4 n the year.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

1. The Tennessee Lady Vols may have found a spark.

Over the past few major games, Holly Warlick’s team has been rolling over and dying, losing by lots. However, this time, they hit a new switch. Sure, they lost the game, but fighting back from 15 down on the road showed a completely different level of heart from what they had been seeing.

And there are a few reasons for that happening.

2. Jaime Nared is getting aggressive.

After playing second-fiddle in the offense for a while, Jaime Nared was the person to carry the Lady Vols in a valiant effort Sunday. She finished with a career-high 22 points and added five rebounds and two steals. If she keeps this up, this team could get an unstoppable inside game. But that requires help from the other part, and it brings us to our next key.

3. Mercedes Russell is still far too soft.

Kelsey Lang punked Mercedes Russell on both sides of the court Sunday. She was held to to 3-of-7 on the day for only 8 points and only had 4 rebounds. Meanwhile, Lang went for 12 points, 8 rebounds, and had 6 blocks on the night. Simply put, she owned Russell.

Russell is one of the best players in college basketball, but she still has a ton of developing to do.

4. Diamond Deshields remains the biggest model of consistency.

The Tennessee Lady Vols only have one reliably consistent player, and it is Diamond Deshields. Deshields finished with 19 points, making up for the lack of efficiency from Mercedes Russell. She got help from Jaime Nared obviously, but Deshields, Nared, and Russell need to make for a dominating three-headed monster. But they all have to show up the same night.

5. Depth is only getting worse.

Yes, we keep harping on this issue, but it’s only getting worse. Did the Tennessee Lady Vols expend all of their energy in that comeback? After all, they only played seven people. All five starters played at least 32 minutes. And the bench only had 8 points.

This is the fault of Warlick and her refusal to recruit. Next year can’t get here soon enough.

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