Tennessee Lady Vols blown out again: Three takeaways from loss at UConn
For the second straight game, the Tennessee Lady Vols lost a road matchup in a blowout, this time falling to the hated UConn Huskies 75-66 Sunday afternoon. UT has now lost three of four, their only win being a 13-point comeback to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Rocky Top after the Hogs lost leading scorer Makayla Daniels.
Kellie Harper’s team, ranked No. 7 in both polls, kept it close early and trailed by just seven at halftime. However, Geno Auriemma’s team, ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 9 in the Coaches Poll, opened the second half on a 14-0 run. UT never got closer than within 13 points after that.
Rocky Top falls to 19-4 and remains 8-2 in SEC play a visit from the Missouri Tigers set for Thursday. UConn improves to 15-4 and remains 9-0 in Big East play with a visit from the Villanova Wildcats set for Wednesday. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ loss.
1. Azzi Fudd shot UT out of the building.
Remember that time over 15 years ago when Chris Lofton went off and led the men’s Tennessee basketball team to a blowout win over the Memphis Tigers? That’s sort of what freshman guard Azzi Fudd did for UConn in this game. In the first start of her career, she went 7-of-9 from three and scored 25 points.
The rest of the team was 5-of-17 from three, not bad, but Fudd made the difference. It didn’t help that UT just happened to have an off-day from three in this one, going 3-of-15 from the field. However, Fudd’s outside shooting made this game insurmountable.
2. Keyen Green’s absence continues to wreck play in the paint.
Yes, this loss was a big deal. The Tennessee Lady Vols only have Tamari Key and Alexus Dye right now down low, and they have to pick and choose when to use their energy on offense or defense. Key had eight points today but honestly should have gone to the foul line at least four times. Dye had one.
Even worse, they combined for just four rebounds, and the two teams tied for 38 boards. Rocky Top’s big advantage is blocks and on the glass. UConn had seven blocks to their one, as Olivia Nelson-Odada had three blocks, and Aaliyah Edwards had 14 points and two blocks down low. Not having a post game advantage and getting outshot like that made this game impossible to win.
3. Little things were mostly done right.
We say mostly done right because the Tennessee Lady Vols did have 15 turnovers, and Jordan Horston had seven of them. Five UConn players each had a steal, including former Lady Vol Evina Westbrook, who had 14 points off the bench. However, that turnover count is an improvement. Also, they went 19-of-21 from the free throw line.
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Horston went 10-of-11 from the line en route to 26 points. Key and Rae Burrell were both 4-of-4 from the line, and that helped Burrell score 11 off the bench. Dye was 1-of-2. Being that elite from the free throw line and not turning the ball over should help the Tennessee Lady Vols in the future as long as they can somehow overcome lack of post depth and three-point disadvantages.