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Tennessee Lady Vols survive opener vs. ETSU: Three takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Tennessee Volunteers fans reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Tennessee Volunteers fans reacts against the Purdue Boilermakers during overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols won Kellie Harper’s first game over East Tennessee State. Here’s what we learned from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ victory.

As they began a new era under head coach Kellie Harper, the Tennessee Lady Vols had to fight for their first win of the 2019-2020 season Tuesday night. UT escaped in a road win over the ETSU Bucs 72-68 to move to 1-0 on the season.

They won the first three quarters and were up by 11 going into the fourth. Then they extended the lead to 13. But ETSU slowly fought back and cut it to two with just under 20 seconds to go. After a missed free throw by Rennia Davis when it was 71-68, Rae Burrell saved the game with an offensive rebound.

There will undoubtedly be lots of concerns about how they looked in the win, but given all the attrition and the fact that this game was on the road, it was possible for them to have to survive a scare. Here are three takeaways from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ victory.

Shooting is a real concern.

Sure, they had a few too many fouls and a few too many turnovers. But the Lady Vols’ biggest issue in this game was horrendous shooting. Zaay Green had 17 points, but she was one-of-five from the three-point line. Jessie Rennie, a freshman recruited specifically to shoot, was 0-for-four from beyond the arc.

The team as a whole was three-for-18. Jazmine Massengill and Jordan Horston both missed one as well. Meanwhile, they were also atrocious from the free throw line, going nine-of-16. These things have to improve going forward for UT to have any chance.

Kellie Harper can go deep into her rotation.

We mentioned Massengill and Horston, and that’s a rotation at guard, and Horston had six assists. Despite the struggles, Harper is also clearly willing to use Rennie to spell Green. So she has a four-player rotation at guard.

On the wing, Rae Burrell can clearly back up Rennia Davis, and they played on the court together at times, as Burrell had seven points while Davis had 13. Then Harper is willing to go two-deep at the four and the five, which leads to our final takeaway.

Post play looks very promising.

Over the past few years, Holly Warlick would run a wing at the four and then just play a true center. Kellie Harper is willing to go two-deep at both positions, and that’s huge. At the four, junior college transfer Jaiden McCoy got the start, but Lou Brown came off the bench and was the star with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Things were even more impressive for the Tennessee Lady Vols at the five. Kasiyahna Kushkituah had only five points, but she had nine rebounds, and Tamri Key, a freshman phenom, came off the bench to drop a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Harper still hasn’t been able to find the clear-cut five best players, but she has a rotation down low, and that’s a big deal.