Remember Tennessee Lady Vols Elite 8 Upset Over UConn 20 Years Later

In 1997, the Tennessee Lady Vols shocked the undefeated Connecticut Huskies in the Women’s Basketball NCAA Tournament. Let’s remember the Volunteers win.

It’s ironic, really. The most storied women’s basketball program at the time was clearly the Tennessee Lady Vols.

But on March 24, 1997, they were the underdog Cinderella team set to face the undefeated and No. 1 seeded UConn Huskies. And they pulled off one of the greatest and most memorable upsets in NCAA history.

It wasn’t supposed to be like that, though.

Tennessee was coming off of a national championship the year before and they had won four overall under Pat Summitt.

Chamique Holdsclaw, the best player in college basketball, was just a sophomore. And this team entered the 1996-1997 season with a ton of hype.

In fact, the hype was so large that Summitt allow HBO to do a feature following her team throughout the season.

More from Vols Women's Basketball

Well, during the HBO feature, this team went from a favorite to a Cinderella. Injuries and distractions forced an up and down year. The Tennessee Lady Vols finished the regular season with a 21-9 record and just an 8-4 SEC record.

They suffered conference losses to the Georgia Bulldogs at home, the Arkansas Razorbacks on the road, the Florida Gators on the road, and the LSU Tigers on the road.

Meanwhile, in non-conference play, they lost to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs twice, the Stanford Cardinal in a blowout, the Old Dominion Monarchs of all people, and these same Connecticut Huskies in a blowout.

This was a disappointing team that failed to even come close to its preseason expectations. However, then the SEC Tournament happened.

The Lady Vols made it to the Semifinals of that tournament and barely lost to the Auburn Tigers. That meant they would enter the NCAA Tournament with a 23-10 record. Nobody had ever won the title with 10 losses.

But they had newfound confidence.

They got a No. 3 seed in the tournament and destroyed Grambling State and Oregon to get to the Sweet Sixteen. Then they met Colorado in Iowa. In a highly efficient offensive second half, the Lady Vols put away the Buffaloes with a 75-67 win.

That set the stage for this Elite Eight showdown.

For historical context, the rivalry between the Lady Vols and the Huskies was just beginning. Tennessee had lost to UConn in the national championship in 1995, which is really what started it. They won it a year later, but this season, a young Geno Auriemma had made his Huskies, not the Lady Vols, the favorite in the tournament.

Two years removed from Rebecca Lobo, UConn at 33-0 was sending a clear signal that they wouldn’t go anywhere.

The Tennessee Lady Vols, meanwhile, were just as inconsistent as this recent 2016-2017 team.

But for some reason, the red-hot offense of the Lady Vols that started in the second half of the Colorado game carried over.

They shot the Huskies out of the first half to take a 45-33 lead. UConn cut it to one point early in the second half, but the Lady Vols were just mentally tougher and knew how to win more. So it never got closer after 53-52.

Tennessee’s red-hot offense continued, and the Lady Vols shocked the Huskies with a 91-81 win to get to the Final Four. Chamique Holdsclaw, who had found her groove again in the tournament, finished the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Pat Summitt’s team shot 50 percent from the field, 5-of-9 from the three-point line, and 26-of-39 from the free throw line.

In an up-and-down, fast-paced game, the Lady Vols had no problem keeping up with UConn’s transition game, even though it had torched them during the regular season.

Here’s how the HBO Special covered the win.

Summitt was at her best talking to the team in the hotel. She clearly knew how good her team was and did not let them make any excuses for being heavy underdogs.

At the time, the win signified that the Tennessee Lady Vols were still the Queens of college basketball when it counted, and UConn had some catching up to do.

Tennessee would go on to beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in their Final Four game, and then they would get revenge on the Old Dominion Monarchs in the national championship game.

Then Summitt would bring in another top recruiting class to have the greatest team in history the next year.

But the highlight of the 1996-1997 season was this win over the Huskies. UConn may be the new powerhouse of women’s basketball today.

And it’s frustrating for Lady Vols fans to see.

But 20 years ago, the court was there’s and only there’s, and they reminded the Huskies of that in this glorious win.

Remembering the Tennessee Lady Vols Shocking Elite Eight Upset Over the UConn Huskies 20 Years Later

By Caleb Calhoun | Mar 24, 2017

In 1997, the Tennessee Lady Vols shocked the undefeated Connecticut Huskies in the Women’s Basketball NCAA Tournament. Let’s remember the Volunteers win.