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Tennessee Lady Vols to face Kentucky on Jan. 24 after Vanderbilt cancels season

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 4: General view of the exterior of Thompson-Boling Arena prior to the football game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 4, 2014 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Florida defeated Tennessee 10-9. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 4: General view of the exterior of Thompson-Boling Arena prior to the football game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 4, 2014 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Florida defeated Tennessee 10-9. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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After their originally scheduled Jan. 3 matchup with the No. 12 ranked Kentucky Wildcats was postponed due to COVID, the Tennessee Lady Vols have found a date to make up that game. It comes with another program shutting down the season because of the virus.

Rocky Top will host UK at 2 p.m. ET this Sunday, Jan. 24, on ESPN2, according to a release from the SEC. Initially, UT was set to visit the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, Tenn. that day. However, Vandy announced it has decided to cancel the season.

A Sunday, Feb. 14 matchup between Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Lady Vols was also scheduled in Knoxville. At this point, it’s unclear if Kellie Harper’s team will be able to play any replacement game that day, although they still have a game they could make up with the No. 8 ranked Texas A&M Aggies that was postponed on Dec. 31 due to COVID.

Replacing Vanderbilt with Kentucky means UT has two tough outing this week. They still have to face the No. 3 ranked UConn Huskies on Thursday. If they can win one of these two games, they’ll likely make a jump from their current No. 25 ranking in the AP Poll.

These two games come on the heels of them facing two one-loss teams, the Georgia Lady Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide, last week. They split those, losing to Georgia but dominating Alabama on the road. Overall, this is a brutal four-game slate that just so happen to be UT’s first four games as a top 25 team this year.

Given the fact that their strength of schedule is still currently outside of the top 80, this week is a huge opportunity for the Tennessee Lady Vols in more ways than one. They already have two quality wins over the Arkansas Razorbacks and Indiana Hoosiers, and Alabama could be considered a third. A fourth or even fifth one this week would be a major boost.