When Tennessee’s grip on its South Eastern Conference opener began to slip, the Lady Vols fell back on something they had rehearsed.
Practice.
Florida erased a 17-point deficit and briefly took the lead Thursday, putting immediate pressure on a Tennessee team still learning how to manage adversity.
This time, the Lady Vols responded.
They regrouped for a decisive stretch that sealed a 75-65 victory to open SEC play.
“We’ve been talking about playing through adversity,” coach Kim Caldwell said. “I thought we did a better job of that, of playing as a team, sharing the basketball at times in spurts. Beginning of the game, into the game when it mattered and we needed it, we shared the ball.”
The test came in the third quarter.
After Florida surged ahead, Tennessee answered with a 9-0 run fueled by defensive stops and transition baskets, flipping momentum back in its favor.
For guards Talaysia Cooper and Alyssa Latham, the response reflected work done earlier in the week.
“I say it starts in practice,” Cooper said. “We had a couple of great days in practice. But having great practices like consistency, I feel like that led us to kept going in the third quarter.”
Latham said the growth has been about maturity as much as effort.
“Also having maturity in practice and allowing it to translate into the game,” Latham added. “When we are down, we didn’t blink an eye and we just kept playing.”
Caldwell said Tennessee still experienced a lapse, but the difference was how the team handled it.
“To be completely honest, I do think we still had a meltdown,” she said. “I just think we recovered. We didn’t let the meltdown become a 22-point loss.”
That recovery, Caldwell said, came from accountability built during practice.
“We have talked a lot, we have worked a lot, we have called out behaviors, we have showed behaviors, we have taped behaviors,” she said. “They knew coming in they had to play as a team.”
Tennessee’s best basketball came early, when it pushed the pace and shared the ball in transition.
“Just stacking days in practice, listening to coach Kim, knowing that we have to stay together,” she said. “We can’t have meltdowns. Just because you miss one box out don’t mean you should miss the next 10. Next play mentality.”
The win provided an early measuring stick as Tennessee enters the grind of SEC play, where margins tighten quickly.
“We got to mature quickly because SEC play you got to be good on the road,” Caldwell said. “You got to be good everywhere.”
On Thursday, Tennessee showed that its practice habits are beginning to hold up when the pressure rises.
