All for Tennessee
Fansided

Three takeaways from Tennessee Lady Vols’ 80-55 win vs. Oklahoma State

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee center Tamari Key (20) and guard Jordan Horston (25) during the NCAA women's basketball game between the Tennessee Lady Vols and South Florida Bulls in Knoxville, Tenn. Monday, November 15, 2021.Kns Lady Hoops Usf
Tennessee center Tamari Key (20) and guard Jordan Horston (25) during the NCAA women's basketball game between the Tennessee Lady Vols and South Florida Bulls in Knoxville, Tenn. Monday, November 15, 2021.Kns Lady Hoops Usf /
facebooktwitterreddit

Finally, the Tennessee Lady Vols got an easy victory. UT has been struggling to get past teams due to a combination of a difficult schedule and a bunch of injuries, most notably to Rae Burrell. However, even with those issues, Rocky Top scored its third straight Power Five win Saturday at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas.

UT beat the Oklahoma State Cowgirls 80-55. They only led 18-16 after the first quarter, but they then went on a 13-2 run to open the second quarter, and they never led by fewer than double digits again. From the end of the first half through the beginning of the third quarter, Kellie Harper’s team went on a 16-0 run and never trailed by fewer than 20 points after that.

With the win, UT improves to 6-0 on the year and will next host the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Wednesday. Oklahoma State falls to 3-3 and will visit the Auburn Tigers a week from Sunday. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ victory.

1. Front court remains dominant.

This is the formula for the Lady Vols to win games, and they used it to perfection Saturday night. Tamari Key finally avoided foul trouble, and that resulted in her coming away with 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. She was dominant once again down low.

However, Key wasn’t the only player on this front. Alexus Dye had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Keyen Green added seven points off the bench. UT dominated the glass, outrebounding the Cowgirls 52-26, and the guards helped with that as well, as Jordan Horston had nine and Brooklynn Miles had six off the bench.

2. Solid shooting opened things up.

Even when the Tennessee Lady Vols aren’t shooting well, they’re able to dominate up front. However, shooting the ball well does help things a lot, and that’s what they pulled off in this game. They weren’t elite, but they were 4-of-12 from the three-point line, and they also improved from the free throw line, going 18-of-26.

That’s not great, but it was just enough to generate a blowout win. This allowed Horston to dominate more in the paint, as she could go a lot more iso, and that resulted in her scoring 17 points. She also had nine assists because shots were falling. Tess Darby hit two threes, and Sara Puckett, who had 11 points, hit one off the bench.

3. Turnovers remain a problem.

It’s hard to criticize too many things from a blowout win over a Power Five school, but Rocky Top still doesn’t take care of the ball well. UT had 23 turnovers in this game, and this issue, which has plagued them all year, continues to show itself.

The Tennessee Lady Vols didn’t rack up turnovers in some sort of garbage time either. Horston had five of them. She’s doing a lot right now, and her aggression is generating lots of these, but they can’t continue as the schedule gets rougher.