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Tennessee Lady Vols dominate No. 19/20 Kentucky 84-58: Three takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee guard/forward Rae Burrell (12) with a 3-ppoint basket during the NCAA basketball game between the Tennessee Lady Vols and Kentucky Wildcats in Knoxville, Tenn. on Sunday, January 16, 2022.Kns Lady Hoops Kentucky
Tennessee guard/forward Rae Burrell (12) with a 3-ppoint basket during the NCAA basketball game between the Tennessee Lady Vols and Kentucky Wildcats in Knoxville, Tenn. on Sunday, January 16, 2022.Kns Lady Hoops Kentucky /
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After the men’s Tennessee basketball team got embarrassed by the Kentucky Wildcats, the Tennessee Lady Vols, ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll and No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, returned the favor against the UK women’s team. Kellie Harper got the best of her former Lady Vols teammate Kyra Elzy, as UT beat Kentucky at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. 84-58 Sunday.

Kentucky, ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 20 in the Coaches Poll, seemed in control early, building a 17-11 lead after the first quarter, but UT opened the second with two three-pointers. Trailing 23-22 with just over five minutes to go, Rocky Top went on a 14-2 run to go up by double-digits. A 15-2 run in the third put them up 53-31, and they stayed in control the rest of the way.

Tamari Key went down with an ankle injury in the first half and is now day-to-day. Fortunately for Harper’s team, who moved to 17-1 and 6-0 in the SEC, they are off until next Sunday, when they visit the No. 17/15 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Kentucky falls to 8-5 and 1-2 in the SEC and hosts the Florida Gators early. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ victory.

1. Defense and rebounding remains unstoppable.

Even with Key going down, UT wasn’t going to be denied in the paint. The Lady Vols cleaned up the glass, outrebounding Kentucky 50-29, and Key had six rebounds and a block before she went out of the game in the first half. Alexus Dye and Jordan Horston had seven rebounds as well, as did Keyen Green off the bench. Jordan Walker added six.

Meanwhile, the defense was superb. Kentucky shot well from the field overall, but they were only 4-of-18 from three, and UT forced 19 turnovers. That was largely due to steals, which they had nine of. Dye had two, and she also had a block like Key. This was a huge reason Rocky Top was able to dominate the game.

2. Welcome back Rae Burrell.

It was less than two weeks ago when Rae Burrell finally returned from injury, and Harper had her still coming off the bench to not mess with a good thing. Well, she showed she could still be dominant in that role, and this was her welcome-back game in terms of performance for the Tennessee Lady Vols.

Burrell was the star, hitting all four three-point attempts en route to 14 points while only playing 23 minutes. She reminded everybody why she was a preseason All-American, and it’s her second straight game scoring double figures. With Key going out, she needed to step up, and that’s exactly what she was able to do.

3. Elite shooting created a dominant inside-out game.

Obviously, by hitting all four three-point attempts, Burrell would be the story with elite shooting, but Tess Darby did her part as well, going 3-of-6 from three en route to nine points. Sara Puckett went 1-of-3 en route to seven points. Walker was also 1-of-3, and Horston went 1-of-2, as UT shot 10-of-20 from three on the day. They were also 10-of-12 from the free throw line.

This elite shooting allowed them to have a complete inside-out game. It’s why Green was able to have 14 points off the bench, Dye had nine points, Horston had 11 points and Walker had 10. They all mostly did their scoring in the paint, as Key did, with six points in the first half. This allowed the Tennessee Lady Vols to dominate, and if they keep it up, they could be unstoppable.