Sunday marks another measuring stick caliber game for Kim Caldwell, but this one’s different
Knoxville, Tenn. – A less than ideal third quarter in the Lady Vols’ first SEC game of the season, could be the teaching moment Kim Caldwell and staff refer to all season.
Many of the games this season for Tennessee have been measuring stick-type games, first FSU, then Iowa, and everyone holding their breath in the first SEC game against Texas A&M.
Now, No. 9 Oklahoma is coming to town and they’re a team Caldwell believes could position themselves to be in the National Title conversation at the end of the year.
Where this measuring stick analogy differs, is it’s no longer about is Caldwell’s team is pretenders or not, but could Caldwells’ team be a Top 10 team in the country.
What we’ll learn on Sunday is how close or far away are they from that mark.
What we know so far, is the third quarter has been a problem area for the Lady Vols.
It happened again against the Aggies, Tennessee was up comfortably at the half, still, Caldwell’s message to the team was, win the third quarter, win the first two minutes of the half. She stated it again as the team ran back out onto the court.
Despite those efforts, the exact opposite happened.
The Aggies scored the first 7 points of the 3rd with 8:44 to go then following a Caldwell timeout Aggies scored one more layup before, taking the first 9 points of the half, before Tennessee went on a 6-0 run over the next 46 seconds capped by a Jewel Spear made 3, 54-35.
That time out was a rare one by Caldwell, as she’s only called a handful this season. That time though, she was dying to call that timeout.
The message was simple.
“Just repeating it, getting ahead of it. Making sure, again we’ve talked about it, our third quarter and making sure we’re having basketball conversations in the locker room before I get in there, said Caldwell. “That they’re focused, and again not thinking the game is over at half. It’s college basketball, the game’s never over at half. So just making sure they’re taking leadership on their own and that I get echoed, is important.”
Being the more physical team is also something Caldwell’s preached a number of times this season, but they certainly weren’t in that third quarter.
The one sequence that stood out most to me was when TAMU’s Jada Malone made a nice layup for A&M, then hustled back on defense, intercepted the pass, and dished it back to her teammates. It didn’t stop there. She then hustled back on offense, got the first shot off, and then grabbed the offensive rebound, took the foul, and finished with a made free throw!
Now, that fast-pace hustle and aggressiveness is what Caldwell wants, but from her team.
A&M also dominated in the paint for stretches of the game. Their ability to drive downhill hard led to a 30 to 12 point advantage in the paint.
That can’t happen against Oklahoma.
“We want people to play at our pace, we just got to a better job of protecting the rim. And beating them to their spots,” said Caldwell.
Two players that have such an instant and effortless impact on the team, Jewel Spear and Talaysia Cooper.
And good for Tennessee, they’re very different shooters. Cooper attacks from midrange and at the rim and Spear is so confident from the perimeter.
Against an Oklahoma team whose 18th in the country in field goal defense, holding opponents to about a 35% conversion rate, having a strong presence from three could be a key factor to the game.
So good thing for Spear, she has the “green light.”
“She’s in the gym, she’s such a good leader, she doesn’t take bad, selfish shots, she’s in the gym getting shots up, she creates shots for other people. You just trust her,” said Caldwell.
However, the biggest battle might come on the boards.
Oklahoma leads the country in defensive rebounds per game, averaging about 34. While, the Lady Vols lead the country in offensive rebounds, with about 22 per game.
That’s where Jillian Hollingshead and Zee Spearman need to make their biggest impact.
“Zee could rebound more. Her and I talked on the bus last night (following Texas A&M game), the more she offensive rebounds the better she is, the better our team is. So instead of waiting and letting the offense come to her, she can go and get more offensive rebounds. She’s going to be huge for us the rest of the year defending in the post. She can really defend any position, but the bigger they get she’s going to have to protect the rim for us,” said Caldwell.
It’ll be another tight battle for the Lady Vols on Sunday when the two teams tipoff at 3:00 from Food City Center.