Tennessee, Louisville rely on pressure defense

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pressure defense should figure prominently in Tennessee's second-round tournament game against Louisville on Monday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

Which team better handles that pressure could determine who advances to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

"We’re both aggressive teams," Louisville's Myisha Hines-Allen said. "We like to get out in transition. The way to get out in transition is with pressure defense.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from them."

Louisville repeatedly harried Chattanooga with a trapping half-court defense in its 82-62 victory Saturday. Not only did the Mocs have 15 turnovers, they struggled to get into their half-court offense against the Cardinals.

Dayton had an awful afternoon shooting against Tennessee’s aggressive defense. The Flyers made only four of their 20 3-point attempts and shot 32.3 percent overall in a 66-57 defeat.

"They’re a scrappy team as well and trap a lot, too," Louisville guard Asia Durr said of the Lady Vols. "When they get stops, they love to run. We have to be cautious of that."

Streaking to 20: Tennessee's victory Saturday over Dayton extended the program's streak of 20 or more victories to 41 consecutive seasons.

"We've had a rough season," UT forward Jaime Nared said. "We understand this isn't easy."

Passing Victory: Louisville set an NCAA tournament school record with 28 assists against Chattanooga. That was also a season-high assist total for the Cardinals.

Guard Mariya Moore led the Cardinals with 10 assists. Hines-Allen and Briahanna Jackson each had five.

“Coach (Jeff Walz) says, ‘Don’t stand around and watch, move when you don’t have the basketball,’ ” said Jazmine Jones, who had three assists against Chattanooga.

Deadeye Shooting: Those sharp passes led to numerous easy baskets for the Cardinals, who made 61 percent of their shots for the second-best NCAA tournament mark in school history.

Jones hit seven of eight field-goal attempts, and Hines-Allen was 8-for-11.

Cardinals Go Deep: Walz had used 10 players by the midway point of the second quarter against Chattanooga. Nine Cardinals played nine or more minutes, and none of them played more than 33.

UT isn’t nearly as deep. It used eight players against Dayton, but Kortney Dunbar played only a minute. Both Jordan Reynolds and Diamond DeShields played 38 minutes.

3-Point Shutout: Tennessee went 0-for-5 on 3-point attempts against Dayton. That’s the first time the Lady Vols have failed to make a 3 since a 74-64 loss to Mississippi State at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 8, when they were 0-for-6.

Louisville made 7 of 12 3-point attempts against Chattanooga.

National Recruiting: Tennessee and Louisville both rely heavily on national recruiting.

Louisville has only one Kentucky player, freshman Jessica Laemmle. The Cardinals have players from California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Illinois, Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas.

UT has only two in-state players, Alexa Middleton and Meme Jackson. The Lady Vols also have players from Oregon, Georgia, Illinois and London, England.

Series Record: The Lady Vols have won two of three games all-time against Louisville, but the loss was huge.

UT was one game away from the Final Four in 2013 when it lost to the Cardinals 86-78 in the Oklahoma City Regional. Louisville had advanced to the Elite Eight by knocking off No. 1 Baylor in the Sweet 16.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.