Tennessee (12-7, 5-2 SEC) makes a midweek trip to Athens to face the Georgia Lady Bulldogs (10-10, 1-6 SEC) on Thursday night.

UT and UGA will meet at 7:02 p.m. ET inside Stegeman Coliseum in a contest televised by SEC Network.

The Lady Vols are playing their second straight game away from home and the fourth contest in the past five on the road, standing 2-2 in SEC games as the visiting team. The Big Orange women find themselves in a tie for second place in the SEC standings with Ole Miss at 5-2, with #1 South Carolina leading at 7-0 and #9/11 LSU in fourth at 5-3 in league play with losses to S.C. and two teams (Auburn, Miss. State) the Lady Vols defeated on the road in the past few weeks.

Georgia had a 10-4 record after earning a victory in its SEC opener vs. Texas A&M before dropping its past six contests. The Lady Bulldogs held Auburn to 12 points and trailed by three after the first 10 minutes Monday night before the Tigers pulled away at home to win, 67-49.

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

Opponent: Georgia
Date: Thu., Feb. 1
Tip-off: 7:02 p.m. ET
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum
Watch: SEC Network
Radio: Lady Vol Network
Online: Live Audio, Live Stats

TENNESSEE

Roster Schedule Game Notes

GEORGIA

Roster Schedule Game Notes

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BROADCAST DETAILS

Eric Frede (PxP) and Christy Thomaskutty (Analyst) will serve as the announce crew for the SEC Network broadcast.
All games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
The contest can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play. Jay Lifford is the studio host.
A link to the live audio stream can be found on the Hoops Central page or the schedule on UTSports.com.
For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click on the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then select the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
Air time is typically 30 minutes before tip-off.

NOTING THE LADY VOLS

Tennessee is coming off a loss to Ole Miss, but the Lady Vols have won eight of their past 10 games and sit in second place in the SEC standings.
Since Rickea Jackson returned from injury, she and Jewel Spear have averaged 17.9 ppg. and 15.0 ppg., respectively.
Each has had a 30-point game, marking the first time since 2017-18 multiple Lady Vols (3) did that in the same season.
During the nine-game stretch since Jackson came back, Tennessee has averaged 78.2 ppg. and hit 45.2 percent from the field and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Jasmine Powell has been a strong facilitator and filler of the stat sheet at 9.7 ppg., 4.7 rpg. and 5.8 apg. with 52 assists to 27 turnovers during that time.
In SEC play, Tennessee ranks No. 3 in scoring offense (75.6), No. 2 in field goal percentage (45.8) and No. 2 in free throw percentage (78.9).
Tamari Key is shooting 72.7 percent from the field in SEC play.
UT is fourth in the league in reb. margin at +4.1, grabbing 39.6 and allowing 35.4.

SEASON RESET

After functioning without All-America and SEC Player of the Year candidate Rickea Jackson for eight games from Nov. 13 to Dec. 10 and posting a 4-4 record during her absence, Tennessee has been a drastically different team since she was cleared following a lower leg injury.
The Lady Vols are 7-2 since Jackson returned to action and are in a season-best stretch where they have won eight of their past 10 games.
Among those triumphs are top-60 NET victories over No. 27 Mississippi State, No. 44 Oklahoma, No. 49 Vanderbilt, No. 54 Florida and No. 60 Auburn. The win over Oklahoma in November was without Rickea Jackson.
In addition to getting Jackson back, UT has been bolstered by the continued improvement of 6-foot-6 center Tamari Key. The school's all-time leading shot blocker was sidelined after eight games a year ago due to blood clots in her lungs and understandably needed time to reacclimate to the rigors of the game.
Tennessee also has had to absorb the loss of reserve point guard Destinee Wells, who suffered a lower leg injury just prior to the Wofford game and is out for the season. Fifth-year standout Jasmine Powell has impressively picked up more of the load, and junior Kaiya Wynn has stepped up and provided a spark off the bench on both ends of the floor.
With the players available for the past nine contests stepping into and accepting their roles, the Lady Vols have competed cohesively as a team, with different players each game emerging to provide valuable contributions in starring and support capacities.

FAMILIAR FACES IN DIFFERENT PLACES

Tennessee junior Jillian Hollingshead was a member of the Georgia women's basketball program in 2021-22 before transferring during the offseason to the Lady Vols after her former coach, Joni Taylor, took the head coaching job at Texas A&M.
UGA's head coach, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, may be a familiar face to UT women's hoops observers.
"Coach ABE," as she is known, came to Athens in 2022-23 following six seasons (2016-22) as the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF).
Her Knights lost only four times in 2021-22 en route to American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and an NCAA Second Round bid, and one of those setbacks came at the hands of Harper's Tennessee squad in Orlando, 49-41, on Nov. 12 in the Lady Vols' third game of the season.
Prior to that, she was at the University at Albany and brought her sixth and final team from that program to Knoxville on Nov. 27, 2015, when the Lady Vols defeated the Great Danes, 63-55, during a season in which Abrahamson-Henderson also took that school to America East regular-season and tourney titles on its way to an NCAA Second Round showing.
As a highly-regarded high school recruit from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Katie Abrahamson spent two seasons playing basketball for Andy Landers at Georgia from 1985-87 before finishing in her home state at the University of Iowa and graduating in 1990.

COMMON THREADS

Kellie Harper and Katie Abrahamson-Henderson share the distinction of each playing in the SEC as well as serving as head coaches at Missouri State.
Harper played point guard for Pat Summitt and led Tennessee to three NCAA titles during a career spanning from 1995 to 1999 before holding the head coaching job at Missouri State from 2013-19.
Playing two years at UGA for Andy Landers from 1985-87, Abrahamson-Henderson went on to lead Missouri State from 2002-07.
University of Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White was the A.D. at UCF from 2015-21 and has guided Tennessee Athletics from 2021 to present. He hired Abrahamson-Henderson and was her boss from 2016-21.
UCF assistant coach Nykesha Sales played at UConn from 1994-98 and left Storrs as the program's all-time leading scorer.
Sales' and Harper's playing careers overlapped, with Sales winning an NCAA title at UConn as a freshman in 1995 and Harper claiming three straight from 1996-98 from her freshman through junior seasons. The battles between the schools at that time were epic events in women's sports that drew in even casual sports fans.

RECAPPING THE LAST GAME

The Lady Vols dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday in a game that featured nine lead changes and five ties, with the Rebels taking an 80-75 victory in The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss.
UT trimmed the deficit to one, 76-75, with 1:35 remaining but could never wrestle away the lead.
Senior Jewel Spear was the game's top scorer, pouring in a season-high 30 points for Tennessee (12-7, 5-2 SEC) on 64.7 percent shooting from the floor. Fifth-year senior Rickea Jackson also was in double digits with 15 points and six rebounds on the day.
Ole Miss (15-5, 5-2 SEC) was led by Marquesha Davis with 25 points. Madison Scott managed a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Kharyssa Richardson and Kennedy Todd-Williams were also in double figures with 21 and 11, respectively.

POSTGAME NOTES VS. OLE MISS

PRODUCTIVE START: Tennessee produced its best offensive first quarter of the season vs. Ole Miss. The Lady Vols tallied first-frame highs in points (27) and field goal percentage (68.8) vs. the Rebels en route to a 27-21 lead after the opening 10 minutes. UT's previous highs in the opening stanza in 2023-24 were 26 points in the opener vs. Florida A&M and 56.3 percent shooting at Florida State and vs. Memphis. UT's previous best numbers in SEC play this year included 20 opening-period points at Auburn and vs. Vanderbilt, with 52.9 percent shooting in quarter one vs. Vandy.
DANDY DISHING BY JP: Jasmine Powell recorded her third-straight game with five or more assists and sixth occasion in the past 10 contests. She finished with six dimes against the Rebels on Sunday and has recorded 21 over her past three games for a 7.0 apg. average during that span as well as a total of 57 over her past 10 contests to put 5.7 in those match-ups.
A JEWEL OF A GAME: Tennessee's Jewel Spear supplied her team a season-high 30 points vs. the Rebels, surpassing her previous 2023-24 best of 21 vs. Kentucky on Jan. 7. It was UT's second 30-plus scoring effort of the campaign, following Rickea Jackson's 31-point outing at Florida State. Spear's four three-pointers vs. Ole Miss ranked as her top total vs. an SEC foe and her third contest of four-plus this season, including four vs. Wofford on Dec. 19 and five vs. Florida A&M on Nov. 7.
KEY TO EIGHTH ON SEC BLOCKS LIST: With two blocked shots vs. Ole Miss, Tamari Key ran her career total to 321 and moved into a tie for eighth place on the SEC's career blocks list with Sylvia Fowles (LSU, 2004-08). Key now is seven away from seventh-place Martha Alwal (Miss. State, 328, 2011-15).

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NET RANKINGS

Tennessee stands at No. 56 in the NCAA NET rankings through games of Jan. 29.
UT has a 5-7 record vs. teams currently ranked in the NET top 60.
The Lady Vols have defeated No. 27 Mississippi State, No. 44 Oklahoma, No. 49 Vanderbilt, No. 54 Florida and No. 60 Auburn.
Kellie Harper's squad has fallen to No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 Indiana, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 35 Texas A&M, No. 43 Florida State, No. 48 Middle Tennessee, No. 52 Ole Miss.
Rickea Jackson did not play vs. Notre Dame, Indiana, Ohio State and Middle Tennessee, and Jillian Hollingshead was out due to injury as well vs. Middle Tenn.
Remaining on the schedule, Tennessee has games slated vs. NET top-60 opponents in No. 1 South Carolina (home and away), vs. No. 12 LSU, vs. No. 36 Texas A&M, at No. 37 Alabama, at No. 49 Vanderbilt and vs. No. 59 Arkansas.

MILESTONE WATCH

Rickea Jackson is 39 points shy of 2,000 for her career and 124 away from tallying 1,000 as a Lady Vol.
Jackson has scored 1,961 in 113 career games, including 876 in 46 contests as a Lady Vol.
Tamari Key has 950 points and is just 50 away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau.
Jackson and Key can become the 49th and 50th players to accumulate 1,000 points in a Lady Vol uniform.
With a blocked shot vs. MTSU on Dec. 6, Tamari Key reached 300 for her career and became the ninth player in SEC history to hit that mark.
Key now has 321 blocks through the Ole Miss game and has equaled Sylvia Fowles (LSU, 321, 2004-08) in eighth on the SEC's all-time career list. Just ahead of her on that list in seventh is Martha Alwal (Miss. State, 328, 2011-15).
Against Liberty, Tess Darby hit six three-pointers and surpassed Taber Spani (143) and Shannon Bobbitt (147) to move into eighth on UT's career three-pointers list. She now has 154 through the Ole Miss game.
Darby, who is appearing in her 100th game, is pursuing Brittany Jackson (161, 2001-05), Shekinna Stricklen (163, 2008-12) and Ariel Massengale (164, 2011-15), who reside in seventh, sixth and fifth, respectively.
The senior currently ranks No. 8 in career three-pointers attempted at 404, standing behind No. 7 Brittany Jackson (443, 2001-05).
Kellie Harper won her 100th game as head coach of the Lady Vols when UT defeated Vanderbilt on Jan. 21.
Harper is now 15 shy of 400 for her career in 20 years.

UT'S SCORING OFFENSE ON THE RISE

Tennessee has climbed to No. 3 in the SEC and No. 33 nationally in scoring offense at 77.2 points per game.
UT has done so and is still averaging 75.6 ppg. in conference play despite playing four of the top six scoring defenses in No. 1 Auburn (61.1), No. 3 Ole Miss (65.3), No. 5 Texas A&M (6) and No. 6 Vanderbilt (67.9).
The Lady Vols' averages also come against a schedule rated No. 8 in difficulty for the games it has already played, without Rickea Jackson for eight games due to injury and with Tamari Key still limited in mobility during the first half of the season.

UT-UGA SERIES HISTORY

The Lady Vols are 24-5 in Knoxville, 16-3 at neutral sites and 14-11 in Athens vs. the Lady Bulldogs.
UT has won two of the past three, but the teams are 4-4 over the past eight meetings.
Tennessee is 1-3 vs. UGA in overtime games.
The Lady Vols have a 14-3 postseason record against Georgia after winning in the 2015 SEC quarterfinals.
This is Kellie Harper's sixth meeting with UGA as a head coach. She was 6-2 vs. the Lady Bulldogs as a player (1995-99) and is 3-2 as Tennessee's skipper.
UT beat Georgia, 83-64, in the 1996 NCAA title game in Charlotte to begin a run of three straight crowns.
Tennessee (18) and Georgia (7) rank No. 1 and No. 2 in SEC regular season championships.

A LOOK AT THE LADY BULLDOGS

Georgia features only one player averaging double figures in scoring, with 6-foot-2, fifth-year forward Javyn Nicholson filling that bill at 15.2 ppg.
Nicholson also paces the Lady Bulldogs on the boards, pulling down 9.0 per contest.
In SEC play, Nicholson's numbers are 13.0 ppg. and 7.6 rpg., with Taniyah Thompson and Asia Avinger producing 9.9 and 9.6 ppg., respectively.
UGA has faced challenges putting points on the board vs. SEC foes, averaging only 56.3 ppg. and hitting 37.3 percent from the field.
Georgia allows 71.0 ppg., but it held Texas A&M to 50 in defeating the Aggies in the league opener.

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH

Katie Abrahamson-Henderson is 32-22 in her second season at UGA and 404-179 in her 19th year.
Abrahamson-Henderson has compiled 13 20-win seasons as a head coach, including 11 straight.
She also served as a head coach at Missouri State (2002-07), Albany (2010-16) and UCF (2016-22).
Coach "ABE" took her 12th team to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

GEORGIA'S MOST RECENT GAME

The University of Georgia women's basketball team fell on the road to the Auburn Tigers, 67-49, on Monday evening at Neville Arena.
Junior guard Asia Avinger led Georgia with 14 points, while De'Mauri Flournoy added 11. Graduate guard Honesty Scott-Grayson paced the Tigers with 21 points and six rebounds.
Georgia shot 34 percent from the floor and committed 23 turnovers to fall to 10-10 overall and 1-6 in the SEC this season. Auburn improves to 14-6 and 3-4 in league play.

LAST UT-UGA CONTEST

Tennessee improved to 6-0 in SEC play the last time these teams met on Jan. 15, 2023, defeating Georgia, 68-55, in front of a season-best crowd of 9,772 on Rocky Top.
Debuting their Summitt Legacy series Summitt Blue uniforms, the Lady Vols (14-6, 6-0 SEC) won their seventh straight game and claimed victory for the 12th time in their past 14 contests, remaining in a tie for first place in the league standings. The triumph also was the 50th home win for Kellie Harper as head coach at her alma mater.
Senior Rickea Jackson was the game's high scorer with 23 points. Junior Tess Darby was also in double digits for Tennessee, tying her season best of 16.
UGA (13-7, 2-4 SEC) was led by Brittney Smith and Diamond Battles with 14 and 12, respectively. The Lady Bulldogs were limited to 30.2 percent shooting from the field and suffered an 0-for-14 afternoon beyond the arc, becoming the first team since LSU (0-for-4) on Feb. 2, 2017, to be held without a three-pointer by the Big Orange.

UP NEXT

After the trip to Georgia, Tennessee is back home on Sunday to face Missouri (11-10, 2-6 SEC) at 2 p.m. ET, with SECN+ streaming the game live.
Various in-venue videos and activities will be focused toward the celebration of Black History Month.
A promotion featuring $10 kids' 12-and-under pricing will be available for this game.
Lady Vol Destinee Wells will sign postgame autographs.

Hoops Central: Lady Vols at Georgia

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

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TENNESSEE

GEORGIA

THE LATEST FROM THE LADY VOLS

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tess Darby

Jillian Hollingshead

Rickea Jackson

Tamari Key

Jasmine Powell

Jewel Spear

Destinee Wells

Kaiya Wynn

University of Tennessee Athletics

Hoops Central: Lady Vols at Georgia

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

RELATED LINKS

TENNESSEE

GEORGIA

THE LATEST FROM THE LADY VOLS

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tess Darby

Jillian Hollingshead

Rickea Jackson

Tamari Key

Jasmine Powell

Jewel Spear

Destinee Wells

Kaiya Wynn

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