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Arkansas hands Tennessee Lady Vols fifth straight loss: Three takeaways

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 Arkansas Razorbacks upset the Tennessee Lady Vols 80-79. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ fifth straight loss.

The disaster continues for Holly Warlick and the Tennessee Lady Vols. After falling to the Arkansas Razorbacks by one point at home Monday, they lost their fifth straight game to fall to 1-5 in the SEC and 12-6 overall.

Arkansas built a double-digit lead in the first half, but in typical Tennessee fashion, they made this a game of runs and used a strong third quarter to make the fourth a thriller. Still, UT went up by four with less than two minutes left. Arkansas, however, hit back to back three-pointers to go up by two with a minute left.

At the exact minute mark, Cheridene Green scored an old-fashioned three-point play with an and-one to give Tennessee the lead back 77-76. But then the two teams traded buckets on the next three possessions, and with three seconds left, Evina Westbrook missed a three-point jumper, giving Arkansas the win to move to 14-5 and 3-2 in the SEC. Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ loss.

1. Holly Warlick is in trouble.

There’s no way around this. Phillip Fulmer gave her an extension this past offseason, she had everybody back from a No. 1 recruiting class mixed in with veterans, transfers, and more recruits, and she had this team at 12-1 early on. Now, she’s lost five straight, and the issues continue to be the same. That includes energy on defense, avoiding those disastrous periods of the games in which they give up big runs, and drawing up plays when needed. There was no play drawn up for Westbrook at the end with three seconds left, which was atrocious. These are things a coach should be able to do, and Warlick is not doing them.

2. What is wrong with Meme Jackson? 

One of the things exposing Holly Warlick is she hasn’t been able to get the offense going on a consistent basis without Meme Jackson, who adds a huge element with her three-point shooting. However, during this losing streak, she has failed to break double-digits once, and in this game, she went 0-for-4 and 0-for-2 from the three-point line. The Tennessee Lady Vols should be good enough to win anyway, but they clearly go as she goes. And she’s not going right now. To make matters worse, she got hit with an ankle injury in the third and is now day to day. So Warlick will have to go even more out of her way now to figure out how to win without her.

3. Evina Westbrook is the only one consistently showing up.

Some nights, Evina Westbrook is a solo act. This time, she brought the Lady Vols back again with 24 points and 5 assists. And she actually had help with a double-double from Cheridene Green, who also had the put-back and-one late, and 17 points from Zaay Green, her second straight game in double-figures. But with the offense showing up, they all quit playing on defense except for Westbrook, who had three steals. This is a problem. Perhaps it’s another indictment against Holly Warlick by not being able to motivate her players. But what is clear is that Westbrook is the only person who cares enough to show up every night, and that needs to change. It’s getting embarrassing given the lack of pride other players are playing with at this point. Either they’ve quit on Warlick, or they just don’t care that much.