March Madness: Five takeaways from Tennessee Lady Vols’ Sweet 16 loss to Louisville

Their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2016 ended immediately. Kellie Harper’s No. 4 seed Tennessee Lady Vols were eliminated from March Madness Saturday with a 76-64 loss to Jeff Walz’s No. 1 seed Louisville Cardinals with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.

Rocky Top fought back from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter to cut it to two in the fourth quarter. However, Louisville then went on an 8-0 run. UT then cut it to five with just over three minutes left, but the Cards then closed things out on a 10-3 run.

UT’s season comes to an end with a 25-9 record. Louisville, meanwhile, improves to 28-4, advances to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight and will face the winner between the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines and No. 10 seed South Dakota Coyotes on Monday. Here are three things we learned from the Lady Vols’ March Madness loss.

1. Horrible passing led to turnovers and missed opportunities.

Turnovers were a problem for the Tennessee Lady Vols all year, and that was no different in this game. They had 18 while Louisville only had seven. However, the way they turned the ball over was what really stood out. The turnovers were a byproduct of hesitancy in the passing lanes. All game, the Lady Vols were a second late to make the right pass.

This showed up in the fourth quarter. After cutting it to two, the Lady Vols got the ball with a chance to tie. Their next three possessions were a turnover passing to break a press, a turnover on an in-bound pass and then a shot-clock violation after missing an open three. Mistakes like this were a problem all year, and they sent them home Saturday.

2. Rae Burrell would not be denied.

In what was likely her final game with the Lady Vols unless she takes advantage of the COVID eligibility ruling, Rae Burrell did everything she could to lead Rocky Top to victory. She finished the game with 22 points, six rebounds, one assists and one steal on 9-of-19 shooting.

That steal actually came after the two-point deficit turned back into a 10-point deficit. Burrell got a steal and a layup that cut it to six at the time. She has been banged up all year, but in this game, she truly did everything she could to help UT advance in March Madness. It just wasn’t enough.

3. Poor shooting made things worse.

It was just an off-game for the Tennessee Lady Vols. They went 5-of-21 from the three-point line, and one of those was a brick from Burrell that luckily bounced in. Speaking of Burrell, even with her solid play, she was still 2-of-8 from outside, including that lucky bounce shot. Tess Darby was the one exception, going 3-of-7 from three.

However, this poor shooting really manifested itself at the foul line, as the Lady Vols were 11-of-19 on free throws. Louisville wasn’t much better, going 13-of-21. Still, if this team just shot its average or slightly above its average from the stripe and the free throw line, we’re talking about eight more points.

4. Rebounding kept the game close.

Heading into March Madness, we knew the advantage with the Tennessee Lady Vols would be their length, and they were able to use that to their advantage once again here. In their third-quarter comeback, crashing the offensive boards was a huge reason they made this a game.

Louisville was outrebounded 52-36 and gave up 23 offensive rebounds. Tamari Key led the way with 10 boards, and Alexus Dye had eight. Dye also had nine points largely due to offensive boards. This has been a strength of the program all year, and there’s another factor that led to it here, which leads to our final point.

5. Tamari Key was off, but there was a silver lining.

If there’s one thing to excite the Lady Vols over the offseason it’s the fact that they finally found more depth in the post. How they found it, though, is why they lost this game. Tamari Key got into foul trouble early and couldn’t play much. When she was on the court, she was off, missing two easy buckets in the fourth and going 1-of-4 from the free throw line with just three points.

Given her issues, Key was out for a while. Karoline Striplin came in and helped continue the Lady Vols’ dominance in the post, as she had a solid seven points and six rebounds, including four offensive boards. An issue ever since Keyen Green was hurt was post depth, and Striplin may have had her coming out party. It cost UT March Madness, but it bodes well for next year.