As Tennessee hits the road for three games in four days, leadership will be tested.
Knoxville, Tenn. – The Lady Vols are about to enter into a really tough stretch that features three games in four days. It starts with a road match against Memphis on Wednesday night.
Following a record-setting performance against North Carolina Central, where Samara Spencer set a Lady Vols record with nine three-pointers, and the team set an NCAA record in Men’s and Women’s D1 Basketball with 30 made three-pointers, it’s back to reality.
So much so that when the team returned to practice Lady Vols’ Head Coach, Kim Caldwell had this one light-hearted message for Spencer.
“I went up to her and I said, “Do you have a big head or do I need to be on you all day in practice?” And she just kind of laughed and she had a really good practice (on Monday),” said Caldwell.
In that message, it’s evident Caldwell is not letting any of these wins carry more weight than what they’re worth, because of what’s right around the corner; conference play.
In the Week 7 release, Tennessee is among seven SEC schools featured in the AP Top 25 Poll.
She also knows she doesn’t need to be a cheerleader for the team right now. Even prior to the record-setting day, the team has mentioned Caldwell always supports them, but she won’t blindly be a cheerleader for them.
Social media will take care of that.
“They can watch the good on the internet,” Caldwell said Tuesday. “Their highlights are all over the place. Everyone else is telling them they’re great. It’s my job to make sure that they’re back down to earth. So we’re just watching the things we need to fix, and then we’re moving it on.”
This mini road trip will also help the Lady Vols to prove that they can win away from Knoxville, regardless of the caliber of competition it’s a chance to prove something.
“We’re motivated to go on this little road trip and prove that we can win outside of this arena,” Caldwell said.
It will also test the team’s leadership, discipline, and commitment to the goals they’ve laid out for the season.
How will they maximize their time in between games? As Caldwell reiterated, they’re on winter break right now, so there shouldn’t be any distractions dividing their attention.
She said they better not be wasting the limited downtime watching Netflix.
“You always want your players to be watching the game they just played, no matter how it went,” Caldwell said. “They should be watching it on the bus. They should be watching it on the plane.”
This message, reminiscent of Tennessee Basketball’s assistant coach Rod Clark’s story when describing what makes Jahmai Mashack an elite defender.
“This was a few hours before we leave (for the game), and I seen him on the bench, laying stomach down on his phone. And I was like. “Man, what you doing? Watching YouTube?” And he was like, “Oh yeah, I’m watching Jeremy Roach highlights.” So the dude he’s about to guard in two hours, he’s watching highlights of, on his own,” exclaimed Clark.
Clark added, “This is all on his own, no one asked him to do this. But that’s how much time and effort he puts into the game and how pride he takes in being the best defender in the nation. Because I don’t care how many guys are up for National Defensive Player of the Year, I know none of them are doing that.”
No surprise by the end of their trip he was named the Championship MVP and All-Tournament player.
