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Tennessee Lady Vols dominate Mississippi State with elite offense: Three takeaways

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee guard Jordan Walker (4) shoots a layup over Mississippi State guard Anastasia Hayes (0) during a game at Thompson-Boling Arena between Tennessee and Mississippi State in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022.Kns Lady Vols Mississippi State Basketball
Tennessee guard Jordan Walker (4) shoots a layup over Mississippi State guard Anastasia Hayes (0) during a game at Thompson-Boling Arena between Tennessee and Mississippi State in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022.Kns Lady Vols Mississippi State Basketball /
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It was almost panic time. The already injury-riddled Tennessee Lady Vols were up 15-7 on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the second quarter and saw Tamari Key leave the game with an ankle injury. She returned, but with questions about her health, MSU was able to make it a three-point game by halftime, trailing only 30-27.

Well, Kellie Harper’s team, ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll, remained poised at Thompson-Boling Arena Thursday night and broke the game open with an offensive onslaught in the third quarter. An 11-0 run early in that quarter that was part of a 21-2 run overall put them up by 23, and they turned that into an 86-64 victory.

UT is now 22-6 and 11-4 in the SEC with a top 10 matchup against the LSU Tigers at home coming Sunday to close out the regular season. Doug Novak’s team falls to 15-12 and 6-9 in the SEC with a visit from the Arkansas Razorbacks Sunday to close out the regular season. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ win.

1. Tamari Key led a dominant postgame.

She may have left for a period of time in the second quarter, but when she came back, Tamari Key took over. With Jordan Horston and Keyen Green out, she has to give UT a dominant edge in the paint, and she did that with an amazing performance. Key had 23 points and 15 rebounds, including five offensive rebounds, to go along with an amazing six blocks.

With her efforts, the post was able to dominate in general. Alexus Dye did her part as well with 13 points, eight rebounds, a block, a steal and an assist. They had 50 rebounds to MSU’s 27. Rae Burrell had 11 points but was off on the night, going 4-of-15. That combined with Horston being out should’ve made this a loss. Key and Dye stepped up to make sure that didn’t happen.

2. Tess Darby led an amazing three-point effort.

Dominating in the post is how the Tennessee Lady Vols can overcome having no Horston, no Green and an off-night from Burrell against a team like Mississippi State. Shooting well from three is how they can turn it into a blowout, and that’s exactly what they did, going 8-of-15 from beyond the arc on the night.

The star was Tess Darby, who went 5-of-6 from three en route to 17 points. Burrell, Jordan Walker and Karoline Striplin all hit a three too. Crazy enough, UT was this efficient even with Sara Puckett going 0-for-2 from outside, but that’s because Darby was just that incredible.

3. Turnovers were still a problem.

Horston being out opened up the possibility that turnovers would be cut down, as it was the one drawback from her exceptional play this year. Well, that didn’t show Thursday. Although UT had an amazing 27 assists, it also had 19 turnovers, so this problem remains. Burrell, in her off-night, was the biggest culprit with six turnovers, even though she had five assists and two steals.

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Dye had four turnovers, and Kaiya Wynn had three off the bench, although she did have four assists. The best in the backcourt were Puckett and Walker, who had four and seven assists respectively with one and two turnovers respectively. Puckett added two steals. Overall, the Tennessee Lady Vols moved the ball well, but these issues still aren’t fixed.