NEW YORK – Jaida Civil flew down the court with the ball in her hands, pushing in transition at a frantic pace.
She found Kaniya Boyd at the arc, and Boyd drove into the paint. Jersey Wolfenbarger cut hard down the baseline as she saw the drive, and Boyd hit Wolfenbarger in stride. The 6-foot-5 forward caught the ball and hit a reverse layup in one fluid motion, cutting the deficit to four points with four minutes left in the third quarter.
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That was the last time Lady Vols basketball showed signs of a fight in an 89-65 blowout loss to No. 17 Louisville (11-3) at the Barclays Center on Dec. 20. No. 18 Tennessee (7-3) got outscored 9-2 to finish the third quarter and 35-15 the rest of the game.
Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell saw her players put their heads down after a few bad breaks. They worried about the wrong things, and they didn’t take accountability to fix the problems that allowed the game to spiral out of control.
“It kind of melted and it kind of spread, and then we could never recover,” Caldwell said. “And then it turns into a 24-point loss – and had there been 10 more minutes, it would have probably been a 50-point loss.”
There wasn’t a single area of the game that Tennessee executed to the level it should have. It got destroyed on the boards from start to finish and got outrebounded 59-37 while Louisville scored 24 second-chance points. Tennessee only outpaced the Cardinals in points off turnovers 26-22, and committing 17 turnovers of its own made a comeback impossible.
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The Lady Vols lack the discipline to get multiple paint touches before launching shots like Caldwell harps on, and they don’t share the ball enough. They take plays off on defense, and their full-court press barely slowed Louisville down.
Tennessee had a breakout win at the Women’s Champions Classic last season, and its ranked win over Iowa propelled it into SEC play.
A year later, the Lady Vols suffered its worst loss of the season. They looked disconnected and directionless playing in a system based on effort when they had little of it to show. They showed flashes of their potential, but no consistency.
“This is a terrible result. This is not a good result,” Caldwell said. “I was really hoping that we would take a big step forward, and I do think we’ve gotten better. It didn’t show. It’s not showing on the floor, but in practice, everything is getting better.”
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Last season, Tennessee had a senior-heavy roster with nine returners. The Lady Vols have as many freshmen as returners this season. Three of their five seniors are transfers, and only four returners play significant minutes.
None of that excuses the lackluster showing against Louisville. But it also means that Tennessee has the potential to grow as the season progresses, especially given that there are three freshmen with significant roles.
Senior forward Zee Spearman, who led Tennessee with 18 points and 12 rebounds, repeated one thing in all of her answers after the game – they have to stay together as a team.
“Honestly, this is a bad loss for us, but we can always come back from anything,” Spearman said. “The season isn’t over, we’re just getting started. We’re just learning each other, we’re just (building) chemistry with each other. This is a young team, so it takes time.”
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But there has been very little progress on the court against ranked competition throughout nonconference play. It’s concerning that at the end of December, Tennessee is still struggling to translate what Caldwell is seeing in practice to games.
There’s a possibility that the losses will mold Tennessee into a better team. But there’s also a chance that, at this point in the season, this is just who the Lady Vols are.
Caldwell hopes that isn’t the case.
“It would have been great to have the same result (this year). … It would have been a signature win for us,” Caldwell said. “I really hope that this was not our signature today.”
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Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Kim Caldwell has plenty to worry about after Lady Vols loss to Louisville
