Sara Puckett hit a three with 20 seconds left to give the Tennessee Lady Vols a one-point lead, and Tamari Key then hit two clutch free throws to clinch UT’s 70-67 win over the Belmont Bruins in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in Knoxville, Tenn., at Thompson-Boling Arena Monday. It’s their first Sweet 16 trip since 2016.
Kellie Harper’s team, the No. 4 seed, nearly blew a 14-point lead in the third quarter. Bart Brooks’ No. 12 seed team went on a 9-0 run and a 15-2 run in the third to tie it up at one point. They took a 63-60 lead with just under three and a half minutes to go and led 66-64 from the 2:24 mark to the 20-second mark.
UT improves to 25-8 on the year and will face the No. 1 seed Louisville Cardinals in Wichita, Kan., this Saturday for a trip to the Elite Eight. Belmont’s season ends with a 23-8 record. Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee Lady Vols’ March Madness victory.
1. Post players carried the way
It was an ugly game all the way around, especially in the second half, but Rocky Top had the size down low, and they exploited it. Alexus Dye finished the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds. She was incredibly clutch late, as when the game got close, she scored eight straight points.
Meanwhile, Tamari Key had 18 points and three blocks to surpass Candace Parker and become the school’s all-time leader in blocked shots. Playing smaller schools would naturally give them this size advantage, and they got away with exploiting it in their first two wins.
2. Defense and rebounding for most of the second half was awful.
Another speech from Harper was needed at one point like this one she gave when they hosted the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Tennessee Lady Vols went to sleep on the glass and on defense in the second half. Despite their length advantage, they only outrebounded Belmont 44-40, and Belmont had 18 offensive rebounds to UT’s 15.
On one possession in the second half, Belmont had three offensive rebounds and then an and-1. This is what spurred the comeback. Defense in general was awful down the stretch too. At one point, they allowed Belmont to score on eight straight possessions. They buckled down in the final two minutes, not allowing a field goal, but it was awful for a while.
3. The shots didn’t fall…until a crucial one did.
If you said Rocky Top would only commit nine turnovers and Belmont would shoot below 26 percent from three, you’d think they would win this by 30. However, in addition to the defense and rebounding falling apart, the shots were just off in this one. UT went 3-of-13 from three. Rae Burrell was 2-of-12 from the field and 1-of-6 from three with five points in a rare off-night.
However, when it mattered, a key shot fell. Puckett’s corner three to give the Tennessee Lady Vols the final lead was clutch, and she was solid all game, finishing with 12 points. Jordan Walker still had eight assists as the team had 19, so ball movement was good, but the shooting was just off. You can live with that, though. Defense and rebounding was the concern in this game.