All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee Lady Vols suffer awful home loss to Vanderbilt: 3 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) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Tennessee Lady Vols hit bottom by falling 74-69 to the Vanderbilt Commodores. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ loss.

After choking away a huge opportunity on Sunday, the Tennessee Lady Vols suffered what may have been their worst loss in school history Thursday. It is one that may have knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament for good.

Holly Warlick’s team had a pathetic outing on Senior Day and fell to the worst team in the SEC, the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vandy was able to improve to a mighty 2-13 in league play and 7-21 overall by beating UT 74-69 in Knoxville. Meanwhile, the Lady Vols dropped to 17-11 and 6-9 in the conference, guaranteeing a losing record in SEC regular season play for the first time in school history. Oh, this was also their first ever home loss to Vanderbilt.

Tennessee has one more game, against the third worst team in the SEC, the Ole Miss Rebels, on Sunday, before the SEC Tournament. But they clearly have to play their way into the tournament after this showing. Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ loss.

1. There was no heart inside.

The Tennessee Lady Vols got out-rebounded by Vanderbilt 34-22. They allowed Vandy to shoot nearly 54 percent from the field despite them going just 3-for-10 from three, which isn’t bad but not eye-popping either. All you can say about this is UT got outworked all night in the paint in beyond embarrassing fashion. After all, they forced more turnovers, shot even better from three at 3-of-7, and weren’t much worse from the field at over 47 percent. It was only a lack of hustle in the paint that cost them. And that is something they should be ashamed of.

2. Vanderbilt didn’t even need a big run.

Tennessee’s losses this year have consistently come due to big runs at some point, usually in the second or third quarter. They had a 15-9 lead at the end of the first in this game. However, Vanderbilt didn’t need a big run to win. They just consistently outplayed the Lady Vols after that, outscoring them for the final three quarters. While they went to sleep for a period of time in other games, they dozed off into deep REM sleep on Senior Night after the first quarter.

3. Key players went to sleep.

What stood out about the lack of effort is which players decided not to show up. Evina Westbrook, who has been bringing it all year, was 1-of-5 from the field and had 4 points while fouling out. Rennia Davis had 14 points but 6 turnovers. And Zaay Green was 0-for-4 on the night with no points. Only Cheridene Green showed up, with 20 points and 8 rebounds. All the other stars were either nonexistent or made tons of mistakes. And that’s an indictment against the leadership of this team. It was pathetic.