SEC Tournament: Three takeaways from Tennessee Lady Vols’ 77-72 win vs. Ole Miss Rebels

The Tennessee Lady Vols went on two 12-2 runs in the fourth quarter to overcome an eight-point deficit at the end of the third in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals against the Ole Miss Rebels. A defensive stop up by three with under 10 seconds left secured a 77-72 win. UT led 24-16 after the first thanks to this Jordan Horston shot from the other side of the court as time expired.

Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s team dominated the second quarter 25-13, though. Coming off back to back wins over the Kentucky Wildcats to end the regular season and the Arkansas Razorbacks Thursday, two ranked teams, there was reason to believe they would pull off this upset, especially since Rocky Top only beat them by one at home during the regular season.

With the win, the Lady Vols, ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll, improve to 16-6. Ole Miss falls to 11-11. Kellie Harper’s team will face the South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC Tournament semifinals Saturday at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET. Here are three things we learned from this victory.

1. Rennia Davis and Rae Burrell switched roles.

For a sixth straight game, Rennia Davis had over 20 points. She scored an impressive 33 in this one. However, while she was dominating the second half of previous games, her dominance in this one came in the first half, where she had 21 points. Davis crossed 30 by hitting numerous late free throws. She was also the star inside with 14 rebounds.

Rae Burrell, meanwhile, had been shouldering the load in the first half in past games while Davis found her rhythm. Well, in this one, Burrell stepped up in the second half. After five points in the first, she had 13 in the second to go with seven rebounds and two assists, so she did her part as well. These two continue to be an elite duo with Davis as the top option.

2. Foul trouble down low led to numerous offensive issues.

Although the Lady Vols outrebounded the Rebels 45-25, Tamari Key and Kasiyahna Kushkituah could not get anything going down low with the way the SEC Tournament quarterfinals were being called. Both got hit with four fouls, and neither hit double figures. Kushkituah had seven point, a block and two steals. Key had two points and a block. Both only had three rebounds.

This lack of inside dominance combined with Ole Miss’ press led to turnover issues. UT had 23 turnovers on the night. Davis had six, and Jordan Horston and Jordan Walker had five each. Turnovers almost proved costly at the end. Up by three with the ball, Burrell had a turnover that required that defensive stand we talked about, a forced turnover by the Lady Vols finally.

3. Elite shooting overcame the turnovers.

Rocky Top is lucky that it was having a red-hot shooting night to overcome those turnovers. It shot an amazing 7-of-10 from the three-point line and 22-of-25 from the free throw line. We brought up Davis and Burrell with their scoring. Davis was 2-of-3 from outside and 11-of-13 from the foul line. Burrell was 2-of-4 from outside and 6-of-6 from the foul line.

However, Horston was also elite. We brought up that three-point shot she hit. Well, she was 2-of-2 from the outside on the day and hit both her free throw attempts to finish with 12 points. Ole Miss shot well too, going 6-of-17 from the three-point line and 10-of-13 from the free throw line, but the Lady Vols did just enough to be better in this SEC Tournament matchup.