Hoops Central: RV/RV Lady Vols vs. Carson-Newman

October 30, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Watch Live Listen Live Live Stats UT Game Notes C-N Game Notes 2024-25 Record Book 2024-25 Game Program

KNOXVILLE -- RV/RV Tennessee hits the court for its first game of the 2024-25 campaign and the initial home appearance of the Kim Caldwell era on Thursday night, facing Carson-Newman in an exhibition contest.

The teams will meet at 6:30 p.m. ET in Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.

The programs will compete for the third straight season and for the 19th occasion in an exhibition tilt. The Lady Vols are 18-0 in those match-ups after winning 105-72 in last season's tussle on Oct. 30. UT stands 14-2 all-time against the Lady Eagles in regular season games, with the Big Orange winning the past 12 such battles and C-N last registering a victory in the series in 1925.

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

Opponent: Carson-Newman
Date: Thurs., Oct. 31
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. ET
Venue: F ood City Center
Watch: S ECN+
Radio: Lady Vol Network
Online: Live Audio, Live Stats

TENNESSEE

Roster Schedule Game Notes

CARSON-NEWMAN

Roster Schedule Game Notes

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BROADCAST DETAILS

Myan Patel (play-by-play) and Caylan Arnold (analyst) will have the call for the SECN+ broadcast.
All of the 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 also can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play.
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 click on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
Air-time generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.

GAME PROMOTIONS

There are no special promotions for this game.
Tickets are available at AllVols.com.

PARKING, TRAFFIC FLOW, ENTRY ALERTS

Fans coming to campus looking to purchase basketball parking will do so on-site with a credit card for men's and women's hoops.
Those parking in the G-10 garage are requested to enter from Neyland Drive.
There is a free shuttle service from the Ag Campus for all fans. All shuttles are fully accessible for those with disabilities.
The shuttle location on the Ag campus is on River Drive near the Brehm Animal Sciences Bldg. and across from the CF lot.
Shuttles begin two hours prior to tip-off. Return shuttles run until two hours postgame or until the Food City Center is cleared.
Accessible shuttle loading and unloading for those with disabilities is located next to Arena Din-ing.
For regular shuttles, the unloading and loading areas near Food City Center will be as follows: Prior to the game, regular shuttles will unload at Chamique Holdsclaw and Lake Loudoun Blvd. After the game, regular shuttles will load at Lake Loudoun Blvd and Phillip Fulmer Way.
All tickets and Tennessee Fund parking passes are digital.
Fans will again see walk-through metal detectors outside of all Food City Center entrances.

KIM CALDWELL ERA BEGINS

Kim Caldwell was announced as Tennessee's new head coach on April 7, 2024, becoming the fourth leader of the Lady Vols during the NCAA era.
Caldwell will begin her ninth season as a head coach with an overall record of 217-31 (.875), including 149-13 (.920) in conference games.
She has directed teams to eight NCAA Tournaments, one NCAA title (NCAA DII, 2022), two NCAA Final Fours (NCAA DII, 2022 & 2023), seven conference championships and five conference tournament crowns in eight years as a head coach.
The Parkersburg, W. Va., native arrived in Knoxville after leading Marshall to a 26-7 record (17-1 in the Sun Belt Conference) in 2023-24, a sweep of SBC regular season and tournament titles and the school's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1997.
She was named 2024 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year and Spalding Maggie Dixon WBCA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year for her impressive job with the Thundering Herd.
Prior to that, she guided Glenville State (W. Va.) to a 191-24 (.888) mark in seven campaigns, earning the Pat Summitt Trophy as the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year after guiding the Pioneers to a 35-1 record and the 2021-22 national championship.

EXPECT FAST & FURIOUS

Caldwell brings a high-octane offense and pressure defense to Rocky Top, which her previous teams executed extremely well.
Her first Marshall team last season ranked No. 4 nationally at 85.3 ppg., which incredibly is the lowest ranking and average her teams have ever had.
Caldwell's units have never ranked worse than fifth nationally for three-pointers made per contest, rating No. 3 in 2023-24 at 10.6 per game.
Marshall averaged 13.2 steals per game a year ago, ranking No. 3 in the NCAA. Her teams have never been lower than fourth in steals per contest.
The Thundering Herd forced foes into 24.2 turnovers per game in 2023-24, ranking No. 2 in the country, and placed third in turnover margin (7.94).
Caldwell squads also hit the offensive glass hard, ranking in the NCAA's top six seven times, including No. 5 a year ago at 16.4 o-boards per game.

SPEAR, PUCKETT LEAD RETURNING CAST

Tennessee welcomes back eight players from a year ago, including two starters, and features seven who will compete as Lady Vols for the first time.
UT returns Jewel Spear (13.1 ppg., 69 3FGs) and Sara Puckett (9.9 ppg., 4.9 rpg., 38 3FGs) the only Lady Vols to start all 33 games a year ago.
Tess Darby (5.2 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 44 3FGs), whose 170 career treys rank No. 5 in program history, has started 73 games and played in 113 while at UT.
Jillian Hollingshead (4.6 ppg., 4.5 rpg.) was a key reserve a year ago, notching eight starts.
Destinee Wells (6.8 ppg., 3.5 apg.) played in 10 games in 2023-24 after transferring from Belmont and is returning from a season-ending injury.
Edie Darby (1.1 ppg., 0.8 rpg.) and Avery Strickland (0.9 ppg., 0.8 rpg.) return after playing in 13 and 20 games, respectively, and seem to fit Kim Caldwell's playing style.
Kaiya Wynn, who played in all 33 games and put up 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest as a reserve, has been lost for the season due to an Achilles injury in her right leg. Kim Caldwell made that announcement on Oct. 22. Wynn has expressed a desire to return next season.

STRONG PORTAL REINFORCEMENTS

Caldwell added five transfers via the portal, filling needs in the areas of scoring, rebounding, defense, athleticism, experience and depth.
Samara Spencer (13.9 ppg., 3.5 apg., 40 3FGs) and Ruby Whitehorn (12.3 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 25 3FGs) were starters at Arkansas and Clemson, respectively.
Alyssa Latham (8.6 ppg., 7.0 rpg., ACC All-Freshman) and Zee Spearman (6.3 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) started at Syracuse and Miami, respectively.
Favor Ayodele (4.7 ppg., 6.2 rpg., grabbed 10 rebs. nine times) was a part-time starter at Pitt and former two-time JUCO All-American.

REDSHIRTS SET TO MAKE UT DEBUTS

Tennessee welcomes two lightning-quick redshirt guards who were top-35 players coming out of high school.
Talaysia Cooper redshirted after playing a season at South Carolina. She was a McDonald's High School All-American and ranked No. 18 by espnW in 2022.
Kaniya Boyd was rated No. 35 in the 2024 espnW class rankings and enrolled at UT in January 2024 after suffering an injury prior to her senior year of high school.
Boyd was the MaxPreps Nevada High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year and Nevada High School Coaches' Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year as a junior in 2023.

ROSTER LOADED WITH EXPERIENCE

Tennessee features a roster with eight members who are seniors or fifth-year players and 12 total who are classified as juniors or above. Kaiya Wynn will miss the season due to injury, but she still will impact the team with her leadership on the sideline.
Eleven of UT's 15 players have started games during their careers.
UT's 2024-25 roster members combined for 199 starts during the 2023-24 campaign and a total of 567 during their careers.
Of those 567 career starts, 357 come from returnees and 210 originate from newcomers (underlined below).
Jewel Spear (121), Samara Spencer (97), Destinee Wells (94), Tess Darby (73), Ruby Whitehorn (62) and Sara Puckett (50) lead UT in career starts.
Others with college starts include Alyssa Latham (26), Favor Ayodele (15), Avery Strickland (11), Zee Spearman (10) and Jillian Hollingshead (8).
Tennessee has five returning players who started last season, including Jewel Spear (33), Sara Puckett (33), Tess Darby (8), Jillian Hollingshead (8) and Destinee Wells (4). They combined for 86 starts a year ago.
Transfers Samara Spencer (33), Ruby Whitehorn (29), Alyssa Latham (26), Favor Ayodele (15) and Zee Spearman (10) had 113 combined starts in 2023-24.

SIZING UP CALDWELL'S STAFF

Kim Caldwell built her first staff at Tennessee by hiring five people with whom she's worked before, another who was in the orbit of her previous staff members, and two veteran coaches from SEC schools.
Caldwell recruited Roman Tubner and Gabe Lazo, associate head coaches at Alabama and Mississippi State, to make the move to Knoxville and join her staff as assistants.
Two more assistants, Jenna Burdette and Angel Rizor, followed Caldwell to Tennessee after each served stints alongside her at Glenville State and Marshall.
The fifth assistant, Lexie Barrier came to UT after spending the past two seasons at JMU. She previously worked at Marshall as an assistant in 2021-22 alongside Jenna Burdette prior to Caldwell's arrival.
Graduate assistants Mashayla Cecil and Maggie Stanley also came from Marshall, where Cecil was an assistant coach and Stanley was Caldwell's director of operations. Cecil also played for Caldwell at Glenville State from 2019-22.
Nolan Harvath, UT's director of women's basketball sports performance, came from West Virginia University, but he previously served as Caldwell's director of strength and conditioning at Glenville State from 2018-20.
Caldwell retained five staff members from the previous regime, including Dr. Catherine Greene, executive director of basketball operations/chief of staff; Heather Ervin, director of student-athlete success & external relations; Josh Theis, director of video and creative content; Casi Dailey, associate director of sports medicine; and Haley Hall, assistant director of operations.

UT/C-N SERIES NOTES

According to the Lady Volunteer record book, this is the 36th meeting between these schools in women's basketball.
It marks the 19th match-up in an exhibition contest, with UT winning all 18 previous battles in Knoxville.
In regular-season match-ups, Tennessee leads the all-time series vs. Carson-Newman with a 14-2 record. There also was another contest in 1971 when no final score was available.
UT and C-N had a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the first of those seasons and the decision to face Georgia College in the exhibition contest during the second of those campaigns.
Tennessee opened the 2023-24 season with a 105-63 exhibition victory over Carson-Newman on Oct. 30.
The Lady Vols have eclipsed the 100-point mark against the Lady Eagles 14 times in 18 exhibition contests.
UT scored a series-record 135 points against C-N on Nov. 6, 2008.

A LOOK AT THE LADY EAGLES

The Eagles lost 30 percent of their scoring from last season, which mainly came from the program's all-time leading scorer Braelyn Wykle, who graduated as the program's leader in three-pointers made.
The top returnee is All-South Atlantic Conference forward Lindsey Taylor, who scored 14.7 points on average and led the rebounding effort with seven per night.
Taylor was the fifth-most efficient scorer in the NCAA a year ago, hitting 60 percent of her shots.
Three other starters return from a NCAA Tournament team, featuring 1,000-point scorer Campbell Penland, who averaged 10 points per game and is sixth all-time in three-pointers made at Mossy Creek with 163.

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH

Mike Mincey begins his 14th season as the head coach of the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles in 2024-25.
He is 264-118 during his time at the school.
During the 2023-24 season, Mincey became the winningest coach in program history, with a 91-66 win vs. UVA Wise, eight days after winning his 250th game.
In 2023-24, C-N reached the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time under Mincey.

THE LAST TIME THESE TEAMS MET

Six Lady Vols scored in double figures, as No. 11/12 Tennessee cruised past Carson-Newman, 105-72, at Food City Center on Oct. 30, 2023.
Forward Rickea Jackson led the charge for UT, recording 17 points, while guard Kaiya Wynn and forward Sara Puckett each contributed 12. Guard Jasmine Powell totaled 11 points and Jillian Hollingshead chipped in 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Guard Destinee Wells made a statement in her debut as a Lady Vol, notching 11 points, six assists and a steal with no turnovers in 19 minutes. Tamari Key recorded seven points, making her first game appearance since a medical diagnosis ended her 2022-23 season in December.
The Lady Vols shot 50 percent from the field while recording assists on 22 baskets and out-rebounding the Lady Eagles, 47-28.

UP NEXT

Tennessee opens the season at home on Tuesday night, as Samford becomes the first regular-season opponent of the Kim Caldwell era on Rocky Top.
Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m., with the game available for viewing on SECN+ and hearing on the Lady Vol Network broadcast on radio stations statewide and via the web on UTSports.com.
Please purchase tickets at AllVols.com or by calling the Tennessee Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-332-VOLS or 865-656-1200.