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Tennessee Lady Vols destroy Alabama 82-56: Three takeaways from epic turnaround

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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The Tennessee Lady Vols could have panicked and further collapsed after a 67-66 loss to the Georgia Lady Bulldogs Thursday at home in their first game this year as a ranked team. Instead, though, they rebounded in a huge way at the Alabama Crimson Tide Sunday afternoon.

After a tied first quarter, UT opened the second quarter on a 16-0 run, which was a 19-0 run overall and extended into a 21-2 run, to take full control of the game. In the process, they cruised to a huge 82-56 victory, never being truly threatened. This was a huge win for UT, as Alabama was their second straight one-loss opponent and the UConn Huskies come to town next, on Thursday.

Ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll and No. 24 in the Coaches Poll, the Tennessee Lady Vols improved to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. Alabama, who now has a week off before hosting the Auburn Tigers next Sunday, falls to 11-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. Here are three things we learned from this game.

1. The four biggest stars played their roles perfectly.

Kellie Harper’s team has a go-to inside player in Tamari Key, a facilitating combo guard in Jordan Horston, a major scoring threat in Rae Burrell and then a best overall player who can do anything in Rennia Davis. In this game, they all played their roles perfect. Davis was the star with 21 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists while shooting 8-of-14 from the field.

Burrell, meanwhile, was the other top scoring option with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Key and Horston, meanwhile, showed why they were five-stars in 2019 recruited to be an elite inside-outside duo. Down low, Key had 15 points and seven boards. Horston, meanwhile, had 14 points, seven assists, six rebounds and a block, using her size and athleticism to an advantage.

2. Three-point and free throw shooting made a huge difference.

Sometimes, the shots just fall for one team and don’t fall for the other. That was the case for the Tennessee Lady Vols, as the four go-to stars all shot 50 percent or better from the field. More importantly, they shot 8-of-14 from the three-point line. Davis and Horston were each 2-of-3,  and Burrell, Marta Suarez, Tess Darby and Jordan Walker all hit one.

Meanwhile, Alabama had a rough day from beyond the arc, hitting only 4-of-18 attempts. They also shot an abysmal 12-of-22, or 54.5 percent, from the free throw line, while UT was 6-of-8, largely thanks to Davis going 3-of-4. Those two things turned this into a blowout.

3. Ball movement improved dramatically.

Against UGA, Rocky Top looked like it was just learning how to play under Harper with a bunch of freshmen. They suffered 24 turnovers, including two key turnovers in the final 12 seconds to blow a chance at winning.

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Well, in this one, the opposite happened. Although they only forced 13 turnovers, they had just 12 turnovers and 18 assists. A solid shooting afternoon combined with limited mistakes like that is why the Tennessee Lady Vols were able to pull off the blowout.