Lady Vols basketball is in the midst of an 11-day break between games, and Kim Caldwell is hopeful Tennessee will return with “a little more pop, a little more juice on both ends.”
No. 18 Tennessee (6-2) went 1-1 on its trip to the West coast that started with a blowout loss to No. 4 UCLA on Nov. 30. The Lady Vols return to Food City Center against Winthrop on Dec. 14 (2 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
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Despite an ugly win over Stanford on Dec. 3, the Lady Vols started the month with a win. And they’re aiming to win their last three games before conference play, which includes a matchup with No. 20 Louisville on Dec. 20 in Brooklyn, New York.
“We don’t want to lose. We talk about that. We want to go undefeated in December,” Caldwell said Dec. 11. “That’s easier said than done, but we need to stack some wins together going into SEC play.”
How Talaysia Cooper has improved this season
Talaysia Cooper has become a better all-around player this season, and her passing is a big reason why.
Caldwell has seen the redshirt junior take a pass-first mindset when she has the ball in her hands a lot of the time, which she didn’t see as much last season. Cooper leads the team with 4.8 assists per game.
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“She’s really being a willing passer, almost too much. Sometimes I want to say, ‘Hey, you need to put your head down in this scenario and go score,'” Caldwell said. “I think she’s taking a step in the right direction. And she’s put some really good days together where hopefully we’ll see a new and improved version of her after this break.”
The problem with Tennessee’s full-court press
While Tennessee has found success in most games forcing turnovers with its full-court press, there are times when opponents get easy layups or a two-on-one situation when they break the press. The Lady Vols have given up too many easy buckets when they can’t force a turnover.
Caldwell said the main issue is the rotations in the back of their press. The top of the press has done its job, but Caldwell said “it just needs to be five people playing together,” and they’ve looked at different options during the break.
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“You can’t go if you don’t have pressure, but our back has been missing or stuck in between and we need to go all the way,” Caldwell said. “If they score, they got to score quick. It’s got to be a contested pull-up and then go the other way. Our back rotation has done a better job in the break of rotating up.”
What Kim Caldwell wants more of offensively
Tennessee’s 3-point shooting percentage is 28.4% on 33 attempts per game.
The Lady Vols had an improved two-game stretch when they shot 35% against Coppin State and 36.7% against UCLA. But they followed it shooting 19.2% on 26 attempts against Stanford.
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“Our shots are open. And yes, maybe they’re open because it’s on the scout not to guard them, but we’re taking shots that in our offense are open,” Caldwell said. “So just continuing to learn with the pace and the flow and the shot clock.”
But Caldwell wants her team getting downhill to the rim more. They should be getting more layups and more advantage situations because they’re pressing, Caldwell said.
“We need to be putting our head down and getting to the rim or putting our head down and getting a dump-down pass,” Caldwell said. “That’s non-existent in our offense right now. I think once you do that and you see the ball go in, everyone plays a little more relaxed.”
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 lists Lady Vols’ areas to improve as long break ends
