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Three takeaways from Tennessee Lady Vols 75-65 loss at LSU

By Caleb Calhoun

ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 14: A general view of megaphones for the Tennessee Volunteers cheerleaders against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the quarterfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 14, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 14: A general view of megaphones for the Tennessee Volunteers cheerleaders against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the quarterfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 14, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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In Baton Rouge, the Tennessee Lady Vols fell to the LSU Tigers. Here are three takeaways from the women’s basketball Volunteers’ losing.

For the third straight game, the Tennessee Lady Vols came out on the short end of the stick. It didn’t matter that they had a week off after losing to the South Carolina Gamecocks and Mississippi State Bulldogs, nor did it matter that Rennia Davis was back on the court.

Nikki Fargas’ LSU Tigers got revenge on Kellie Harper’s team with a 75-65 win in Baton Rouge, two and a half weeks after UT beat LSU 63-58 on Rocky Top. The Lady Vols hung tough for three quarters, trailing by one going into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers were then able to pull away.

With the win, LSU improves to 18-5 and 8-3 in the SEC. UT falls to 17-7 and 8-3 in the SEC as well. Up next for the Big Orange is a home game against the Texas A&M Aggies and then a visit to the Arkansas Razorbacks, two top 25 teams. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ loss in this game.

1. Lineup switch didn’t work.

Kellie Harper rewarded Rae Burrell for playing so well as the other wing player off the bench and filling in when Rennia Davis was out last week by starting her in place of Jordan Horston. It didn’t work. Burrell finished the game with one point and shot 0-for-seven from the field. Davis was herself, but it clearly works better for Burrell when they are each the individual wing players.

2. Interior defense was problematic. 

Again, this is the tallest team in Lady Vol history. However, they got outrebounded 41-35 and allowed 13 offensive rebounds. Meanwhile, despite LSU only hitting five-of-13 three-pointers, they shot 44.8 percent from the field and had 75 points. A lack of hustle on the inside showed, as no forward or center got five rebounds. Tamari Key did have two blocks, but it wasn’t enough.

3. Ball security improved.

Maybe this was one positive from Jordan Horston’s minutes being limited, but the Tennessee Lady Vols only had 12 turnovers on the night. Now, that’s not a small number, and they only had 12 assists, but against an aggressive team like LSU, that actually shows improvement for a team regularly committing 20 or more turnovers. This is something for them to build on in the future.