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NCAA Tournament: Three takeaways from Lady Vols’ 70-55 loss to Michigan

By Caleb Calhoun

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Smokey, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, performs during a time out in the second half against the Wright State Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Smokey, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, performs during a time out in the second half against the Wright State Raiders in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Kellie Harper’s second season as head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols came to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. As a No. 3 seed, UT lost to the No. 6 seed Michigan Wolverines in the Round of 32. With the loss, Rocky Top finishes the year 17-8. Michigan, meanwhile, improves go 16-5 and advances to its first Sweet 16 in history.

A close game through the first quarter and a half began to break open just before halftime, as Michigan finished the second quarter on a 7-1 run to go up by nine at the half. They then opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to take full control with a 40-21 lead.

Although it was an “upset,” Michigan was under-seeded in the NCAA Tournament, as they were ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll while UT was No. 13 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the Coaches Poll. Here are three things we learned from the Lady Vols’ loss.

1. Poor shooting and turnovers proved costly.

The offensive dry spell at the end of the second quarter and through the first half of the third quarter is how Michigan built its insurmountable lead. Included in that were numerous missed shots and too many turnovers. UT finished the game shooting 2-of-14 from the three-point line and 21-of-62 from the field overall with 16 turnovers. That was the difference.

It was a forgettable final game for Rennia Davis, who had a slump all day, which help caused the dry spell. She had 12 points but was 4-of-17 from the field. Rae Burrell was 4-of-8 with 11 points, but she had six turnovers, so the Davis/Burrell duo did not have a memorable final game together in orange. To be fair, Michigan played great defense with 13 steals.

2. Interior advantage was not maximized.

Although Davis and Burrell pick up the scoring load, the Tennessee Lady Vols’ key to advancing in the NCAA Tournament was always going to be using their height advantage and dominating inside. Well, they were out-rebounded by Michigan 42-40, neutralizing one way they could have taken control of the game.

Like Davis, Kasiyahna Kushkituah was playing her final game, and while she had 10 points, she only had five rebounds. Tamari Key had nine rebounds but only had seven points. The two centers could not dominate the way they usually do, and when you combine that with a poor shooting day along with too many turnovers, you have a recipe for a bad loss.

3. Defense still played well.

If the Tennessee Lady Vols didn’t have so many turnovers and allow themselves to get beat off missed shots, they wouldn’t have allowed 70 points. Their half-court defense wasn’t that bad. Michigan did shoot 6-of-20 from the three-point line, they were under 40 percent from the field overall. Simply put, they did enough on that end.

Rocky Top came away with eight steals in the game, and to her credit, Davis had two. They also even played well on the interior here despite struggling overall, as they had seven blocks. Key had four of them, and Jordan Houston had two off the bench along with a steal. Kushkituah had a block and a steal as well. The defense just wasn’t enough, though.