Fayetteville, Ark. – Tennessee found its second win of SEC play with a 30-point win over Arkansas.
The Lady Vols’ defense held the Hogs to 17 or fewer points in each quarter, en route to a 93-63 victory on the road.
Three takeaways following a much-needed bounce-back win for the Lady Vols.
1. Repairing the Rebounding
The inconsistency with rebounding on both ends of the court has played the Lady Vols in its last two conference matchups.
Poor defensive rebounding against Oklahoma and LSU dropped Tennessee’s average to 22.6 per game which is 311th in the country!
They had a prime opportunity to make strides with their defensive rebounding as the Razorbacks are not physical with their offensive rebounding. They’re 292nd in the country, averaging less than 10 a game.
The Lady Vols dominated that battle. Arkansas had 6 offensive rebounds compared to Tennessee’s 22.
The Lady Vols’ offensive rebounding is much stronger, they’re one of two teams in the country averaging 20 or more offensive rebounds a game.
Though, they’d have a battle against the Razorback’s defensive rebounding game. The Hogs average 27 a game.
Midway through the first quarter at the 4:43 mark, Tennessee went on an 8-0 run over 1:47. It was capped by a second chance put back by Sara Puckett.
The Lady Vols would finish with 21 second-chance points.
Ruby Whitehorn had a strong putback in the third quarter, when she was down in the post she grabbed the offensive board in between three and finished with a layup off the glass to push UT ahead 53-35.
This margin was much closer, the Lady Vols finished with 21 offensive boards to Arkansas’ 20 defensive grabs.
This will continue to be a great point of emphasis as the team looks to continue making strides with its physicality in rebounding.
2. Turning the Hogs on its Razorbacks
Tennessee has been such a dominant team when it comes to cashing in points off opponent’s turnovers.
It started early against the Razorbacks.
Samara Spencer had two steals within 30 seconds in the opening minutes of the game while playing her former team on the road.
One of her steals finished with a feed to Whitehorn to give the Lady Vols the lead back midway through the first quarter.
Tennessee led 16-11 after a putback from Cooper and a steal and score off the press from Kaniya Boyd. Lady Vols picking up the defense after a bit of a slow start.
Later in the game, a turnover off the press when Tennessee forced its 17th backcourt 10-second violation of the season.
Then, Talaysia Cooper sank a corner three on the next possession.
Tennessee forces 27 turnovers on average per game, they forced the Hogs to turnover 22 times. UT was able to cash in 28 points off those turnovers.
3. Fear the Spear
Jewel Spear joined an elite Lady Vol company when she registered her first point of the game against Arkansas.
The 5th year joined the 2,000-point club at Tennessee on Sunday.
In an otherwise off night for the guard, her 182 points entering the game against the Razorbacks gave her 1,999 career points.
Prior to Sunday, Spear had three straight 20-plus scoring games featuring five or more made threes in each contest.
She finished with 6 points and went 1-5 from the three-point line.