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Tennessee Lady Vols Shock No. 2 Ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs on the Road 82-64 in Regular Season Finale: 5 Takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 23, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols shocked the Mississippi State Bulldogs 82-64 on the road. Here are five takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

After failing to do so for a decade, the Tennessee Lady Vols now have two road wins over Top 5 teams this year alone.

Holly Warlick’s team defeated the No. 2 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs 82-64 in total domination Sunday afternoon to close out the regular season.

With the win, Tennessee improved to 19-10 on the year and closed out SEC play with a 10-6 record. Mississippi State, with its second straight loss, fell to 27-3 overall and 13-3 in the SEC, losing out on a share of the regular season title in the process.

Tennessee lost to Mississippi State at home earlier in the year, but they also beat South Carolina on the road, which is why this is their second Top 5 road victory on the season.

Here are five takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ shocking win.

1. The Tennessee Lady Vols can clearly beat anybody.

This even applies to the UCONN Huskies. Holly Warlick’s team is, inexplicably, good enough to beat anybody on any given day despite their modest 19-10 record. They have now dominated one Top 5 team on the road and beat another, the top two teams in the SEC.

They, however, are not in the Top 25. This could still be an interesting twist, though. After all, one of the most famous Tennessee Lady Vols teams was the one that had 10 losses in 1996-1997 but got red hot in the NCAA Tournament to win the national championship. Could we be seeing another one of those this year?

2. Jaime Nared remains the X-factor.

For the most part, you know that Diamond DeShields and Mercedes Russell will put up big numbers. But the barometer for judging how well the Tennessee Lady Vols played has generally been over the past month whether or not Jaime Nared came up big. Did she score double-figures? How dominant was she.

Well, on this night, she stepped up like no other night. Nared had 30 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-14 shooting. She nailed 2 of 3 three-pointers and also went 12-for-13 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, she also scored in every way, posting up at times to help out Russell and stretching the floor. She did everything.

3. Rebounding was key.

Pat Summitt would be proud of this game. The Tennessee Lady Vols returned to their roots and won by dominating the Bulldogs on the glass. They finished the game with 39 rebounds, while the Bulldogs only had 26 rebounds. And 10 of those were offensive rebounds.

Meanwhile, Tennessee’s inside players weren’t the only people rebounding, although Mercedes Russell’s 10 rebounds were a big deal. It was the guards who dominated. Nared had nine rebounds, Jordan Reynolds had eight, and Diamond DeShields had five. But a big reason for the rebounding is the Lady Vols didn’t allow the Bulldogs the chance to get many rebounds. That’s our next point.

4. Shooting was red-hot.

This wasn’t just true with Jaime Nared, although she was the star. As Mercedes Russell did not become the go-to player in the paint due to Mississippi State’s defensive schemes, the Tennessee Lady Vols focused on stretching the floor in this game. The result was going 5-for-9 from the three-point line and shooting 29-of-53 overall.

Russell was still smart and efficient to help the shooting, though, as her 9 points came on going 4-for-6 from the field. She had help from Reynolds, who put up 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting and two three-pointers, and she also had help from another player. That player deserves another sole mention.

5. Diamond DeShields continues to prove she’s the NCAA’s MVP.

Okay, so Jaime Nared was the X-factor in this game with 30 points. But be honest. This looks nothing like the team a week and a half ago that could barely buy a win without DeShields. And they look nothing like the team that played the Florida Gators last Thursday when DeShields came off the bench.

But in this game, she’s back starting again, and look what happened. The Lady Vols score a second huge road victory. DeShields had 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and she also had six assists and five rebounds. So she was the one to keep everybody involved and in check, and it worked to perfection. As a result, the Tennessee Lady Vols got their most impressive victory of the season, and it bodes well for tournament time.