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Tennessee Lady Vols fall to Kentucky: 3 takeaways from second straight loss

By Caleb Calhoun

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Smokey, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, performs during a time out in the second half against the Wright State Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Smokey, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, performs during a time out in the second half against the Wright State Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols suffered their second straight home loss and third this year as the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Women’s basketball Volunteers 73-71.

After falling to the Missouri Tigers on Sunday, the No. 13 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols were looking for a rebound at home against the No. 16 ranked Kentucky Wildcats Thursday night. But a horrendous offensive start produced a different result.

Holly Warlick’s team fell behind by 17 in the first quarter and went into halftime down by 10. But there would be no run in the second half, as Kentucky extended the lead back up to 16 in the third quarter. A furious fourth quarter rally brought Tennessee to within two, but Kentucky then pulled away in the end.

With the loss, the Tennessee Lady Vols fall to 12-3 and 1-2 in the SEC, and Kentucky improves to 15-2 and 2-1 in league play. Up next for UT is a two-game road trip beginning Sunday afternoon at the Georgia Bulldogs and then next Thursday evening at the Alabama Crimson Tide. Here are three takeaways from this game.

1. Half court offense remains embarrassing. 

Tennessee’s entire half court offense is operating as if they still have Mercedes Russell. They try to force it inside, and if it’s not there, they just pass it around the perimeter and milk the shot clock before making a bad pass down low or slowly taking a three. The Lady Vols were not as trigger happy as they should have been in this game, and it’s what kept them in their three-point shooting slump. It wasn’t just going 4-for-15. The problem was that they were so delayed on taking many of those three-pointers. The only true offense they could get was in transition, and even that was poorly played in this game.

2. Turnovers were once again the problem.

This feeds off the issue of no real half-court offense, but it’s also why the transition game struggled. The Tennessee Lady Vols had far too many turnovers. They had 19 overall, which is unbecoming of a team with all returning starters in the back court. The problem was based in them being too clumsy in the up-tempo game and also trying to force things inside. Evina Westbrook looked like a freshman again with eight turnovers on the night, but Rennia Davis didn’t help either with four. This has to change if they are going to make any run.

3. The game of runs is catching up to them.

The Tennessee Lady Vols have been a dangerous team of runs all year. They would use one great quarter to pull out wins but also allow themselves to be vulnerable to other bad quarters. This was a game where it bit them. They allowed a 17-point lead to Kentucky in the first quarter, and as they made it closer before halftime, you thought they’d close the lead in the third. But this time, the Wildcats pulled ahead. And by the time UT could close the gap in the fourth, it was just a little bit too late. That’s the problem with their mentality. They aren’t playing for four quarters and haven’t been all season, and it finally got the best of them. Holly Warlick needs to fix this immediately if her team is going to get back on track.