University of Tennessee Athletics
@LadyVol_Hoops Report (12/28/15)
December 28, 2015 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- After 10 full days away from competition, #13/16 Tennessee (8-3) returns to action on Wednesday night, taking on Stetson (8-4) at 7:01 p.m. Eastern time at Thompson-Boling Arena.
UT leads the all-time series with the Hatters, 5-0, last meeting SU on March 19, 2011, in a 99-34 NCAA First Round victory in Knoxville.
This year’s contest, which will be live streamed on SECN+ / WatchESPN, will mark Tennessee’s last non-conference game before the Lady Vols begin Southeastern Conference play on Monday night at #23/NR Missouri (12-0).
Back From Break
After departing Portland Dec. 19 headed for their respective homes during winter break, the Lady Vols returned to Knoxville on Dec. 26 and began preparation for Wednesday’s game.
Still, the respite at home was very much appreciated.
“I think we all got pretty good gifts overall,” Mercedes Russell said. “I think spending time with our families was probably the best one.”
With school still out, the team got back to work with two-a-days on Sunday and Monday. The team finds the total focus on basketball to be quite helpful as the team attempts to prepare for the rest of the season.
“We’re just spending a lot of time in the gym,” Jaime Nared said. There is no school, no people here, so we have a lot of time to get in the gym and work on our own game. We have a lot of time to spend as a team.”
That goes for off-the-court as well.
“We are a very close group. It’s even better that we are on the same team. We love spending time with each other, even though we are together all the time on the court; we spend time together off the court.”
Head coach Holly Warlick has been pleased with her team’s effort in practice since returning to campus.
“I think we’ve been great,” Warlick said. “We gave them off six days, and I think for the most part they came back very focused and in shape. Te’a Cooper has just stuck out to me. She’s taken her game to another level. I think she must have done a lot while she was at home.
“Overall, I think they’re in good shape and good spirits. They really stepped up and met the challenge. We’ve been going two-a-days, and I think they’ve done a really great job.”
Keeping The Momentum
Tennessee’s 53-50 win at #7/7 Oregon State on Dec. 19 to close out the first part of the season was huge for a team coming off a loss just three days earlier at #15/14 Stanford. The victory, in front of a raucous crowd of 8,223, came after UT withstood a second-half onslaught by the Beavers to preserve the program’s biggest road win since knocking off a #7/7 LSU team in 2007.
Despite having 10 days away from competition, the goal of everyone is to continue the momentum generated with that victory and catapult this team into the orbit that was projected for it when the season began.
“We’ve got to keep the momentum, Russell said. “We have to keep that energy and that level of play that we played with at Oregon State, and we have to keep going every single game from here on out.”
“It was a good win,” Nared said. “That should be our expectation though, to come in every game and be prepared and play Tennessee basketball. I think that’s what we have to do more of. We’re getting better, that’s all you can ask for right now.”
“I definitely think it was great for us, especially going into a break,” Russell said. “You don’t want to go into a break with a loss. That’s always tough. I think the way we played really made a statement.
“Our defense in the first half was amazing. They weren’t hitting big shots, but we knew they were going to hit their run in the second half, and they did. We just had to make sure that we hit back. I think overall offensively and defensively we played really well vs. Oregon State.”
Film Study
The eight game home stand to start the season meant the Lady Vols didn’t have much time between games. Including a stretch of four games in nine days, the Lady Vols didn’t have more than one or two practices before having to play their next opponent.
They were able to watch film on the opponent, but were not able to do as much self-scouting as they would have liked. After the loss to Stanford, the Lady Vols holed up in their Corvallis hotel for a three-and-a-half hour film session.
“For a player to focus for three-and-a-half hours, you’d think there’s no way; our players focused. We took a break between quarters. I think they visually saw what we were saying was a bad shot, a good shot, what we expected. I think it helped tremendously. It’s nothing that they don’t know, but I think seeing it and understanding it made a huge difference.”
“It was very beneficial,” Nared said. “We spent a couple hours in the film room, just watching our Stanford game. We just learned a lot, seeing what are good shots, bad shots. Learning about our team, learning what we need to do to be better. Film sessions really help us learn what we need to get better at. A lot of times when you are playing you don’t see everything that goes on. So watching it and learning what you can do is really beneficial.”
“Lately we’ve definitely stressed getting into the paint, getting that mid-range jump shot or layups more often than threes,” Mercedes Russell said. “Just because those are higher percentage shots. I think getting that look first will open up more shots for us.”
So far this season the team is shooting 22.8 percent on three pointers, while post players Mercedes Russell and Bashaara Graves are combining to shoot 59.8 percent from the floor.
“It was very eye-opening; we have two of the best bigs in the country and we just realized they need more touches,” Nared continued. “We have one shooting 72%, it wasn’t the coaches saying this, we just realized what we need to do as a team. We have basketball-sound people on our team. Just watching film and learning what we need to do as a team is great for us.”
Injury Update
The Lady Vols have dealt with their fair share of injuries so far this season, but things may be starting to look up.
Only four players have been available for all 11 games, and only Mercedes Russell has started every game. The team has not had a game this year with all 12 players available to play.
Jaime Nared returned to action on the West Coast swing. She started both games against Stanford and Oregon State.
“I had one practice before that road trip,” Nared said. “I feel a lot better now. A basketball game and practice are totally different. Finally being in a game and playing with this group, it was a lot of fun. I was just happy to be on the court again.”
Nared jumped right into the mix against Stanford tying for team-high honors with 12 points and recording her first career game with multiple three pointers. She followed that up by grabbing six boards in a return to her home state against the Beavers.
Kortney Dunbar returned from a right leg injury against Wichita State after a three-game absence.
The Lady Vols will add one more player to the mix as Alexa Middleton is set to return against Stetson after missing the last four games with a left foot injury.
Tennessee hasn’t had more than nine players available since the November 27 game against Albany, more than one month ago. They expect 10 to suit up on Wednesday.
Holly Warlick provided an update on Jasmine Jones and Nia Moore who still remain sidelined.
Jasmine Jones (head injury): “I don’t believe she will be playing on Wednesday. She’s doing individual work and they’re still watching her.”
Nia Moore (ribs): “Moore is getting there. It’s still real sore. I am not going to play her if it’s sore. She’s not comfortable, and I am not comfortable doing that.”
