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Tennessee Lady Vols owned by Mississippi State in SEC Tournament: 3 takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Mississippi State Bulldogs owned the Tennessee Lady Vols in the women’s basketball SEC Tournament. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

Entering the SEC Quarterfinals on the bubble, the Tennessee Lady Vols had a huge opportunity as the No. 8 seed against the No. 1 seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs. But that opportunity amounted to nothing as they fell flat in a 83-68 loss.

Mississippi State outscored Holly Warlick’s team by 21 in the final three quarters for the win to improve to 28-2 overall. Tennessee, meanwhile, fell to 19-12 and will now have to wait until Selection Sunday to see if they miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

Despite a win over the LSU Tigers on Thursday, this blowout loss and their loss last week to the Vanderbilt Commodores will make it hard for them to sell their resume to the committee. Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ loss to Mississippi State.

1. Ball movement was atrocious again.

We said after their win over the LSU Tigers that Tennessee was having issues moving the ball in that game. It bit them horribly against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This team, led by a point guard in Evina Westbrook who is now a two-year starter, had 6 turnovers. They allowed Mississippi State to score tons of points off those turnovers as well. That was a waste of a great shooting night for this team, which was 9-of-9 from the three-point line. The hot shooting resulted in a decent 13 assists. But it all was meaningless due to too many unforced turnovers.

2. Tennessee lost its identity inside.

Cheridene Green and Mimi Collins are the two inside players in the starting lineup, and they combined for 11 points and 7 rebounds. Collins actually had no rebounds and 4 fouls. Meanwhile, Mississippi State’s forwards and centers combined for 45 points. They turned up the tempo to win this game, but it still stood out dramatically that they dominated the half-court offense as well. This was not Tennessee Lady Vols basketball. Mississippi State winning on both fronts is going to undeniably lead to our final takeaway.

3. Holly Warlick failed miserably. 

All of this game falls on Holly Warlick. Sure, Mississippi State is a better team. But she has seven McDonald’s All-Americans, and there’s  enough talent that when this team is hitting its shots, they can beat anybody. As we said, they were hitting their shots. But they still lost by 15 points due to turnovers. Warlick is the reason for those turnovers. She is in her seventh year as a head coach and has no idea how to beat a press. That caused numerous unforced turnovers. Warlick’s teams also NEVER use off-ball screens. They are the only team that seems to not know what they are. And she still holds true to the ancient idea that teams should pass up open three-pointers for more difficult midrange shots and force midrange shots in transition.

It’s embarrassing to watch, and any evolved coach could make those adjustments. Warlick didn’t. She doesn’t. The Tennessee Lady Vols led 23-17 after the first quarter. But after one adjustment by Vic Schaefer to turn up the tempo, Warlick’s team was lost the rest of the way, including getting outscored 26-9 in the second quarter and 16-5 in the final five minutes of that quarter. This was as fireable of a coaching outing as the Vanderbilt game. And yes, she should be slammed for how everything went down here, even if it was against Mississippi State.