UT Lady Vols: 3 questions concerning struggles
Dan Fleser
A Tennessee women’s basketball season that began with exclamation points is unraveling into question marks.
Sunday’s 70-59 loss at LSU was the Lady Vols’ fourth in six games. But it was their first loss to an unranked team since last season. By their own admission, they were outworked and their performance was uncharacteristic. The game resembled last season’s underachievement rather than this season’s revival.
More:Tennessee Lady Vols collapse in second half, lose at LSU
The fallout for Tennessee (17-4, 5-3 SEC) on Monday was a drop of two places to No. 12 in the Associated Press’ weekly Top 25 poll. As for long-term considerations, here’s three questions to consider:
Is there a hangover from losses?
Center Mercedes Russell doesn’t think the Lady Vols still are feeling the effects of three recent losses in four games against ranked opponents. During that stretch, the Lady Vols blew a 23-point lead at Notre Dame and lost 84-70 on Jan. 18.
More:Tennessee Lady Vols suffer more for loss to Notre Dame
“We definitely learned a lot from that stretch of games,” she said. “but we’ve put it in the past.”
Whatever the case, they’re now struggling to sustain a sufficient level of effort. Rebounding, a reliable gauge of that quality, is lagging. UT has been outrebounded in two of its past three games. It’s rebounding margin for the season is plus-8.8. During SEC play, it’s only plus-4.
LSU overcame spotty shooting with a 44-32 rebounding edge and pulled off a 24-point swing against UT. The Tigers trailed by 10 points in the first half and led by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter. The point swing versus Notre Dame was 39.
Is fatigue an issue?
The players don’t support this notion and neither does coach Holly Warlick.
“It has nothing to do with fatigue,” she said after Sunday’s loss. “It has something to do with going up against a team that wanted it more than us.”
More:Holly Warlick on Lady Vols: 'This team is special. We're going to get back on track'
Jaime Nared echoed that sentiment. But the senior forward also said, “Six players play a lot of minutes. We know that’s going to happen. So we have to take care of our bodies.”
That thought leads to a third question.
Can UT extend its bench?
In the past two games, Tennessee has played more players, going nine deep on both occasions. To some extent, foul trouble necessitated the substitutions.
More:Can Tennessee Lady Vols take charge of improving their defense?
Playing time didn’t result in production against LSU. Tennessee’s reserves played 39 combined minutes but produced just two points and two rebounds. These totals were a far cry from last Thursday against Ole Miss, when the yield was 24 points and eight rebounds in 50 minutes.
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