Kim Caldwell praises Alyssa Latham as 'one of the most athletic people on the floor'

It’s been a good first season for Kim Caldwell as the head coach at Tennessee. Much of that credit goes to the Lady Vols’ players, who have shown improvement throughout this season. That includes Alyssa Latham, who is one of the more interesting players that Tennessee has on its roster.

In particular, Latham played a massive role in Tennessee’s recent win over Alabama and, after the game, Caldwell praised her for her athleticism and how it helped the Lady Vols.

“She’s one of the most athletic people on the floor,” Kim Caldwell said. “And she can find buckets that other people can’t. She can go get offensive rebounds. She can get steals. She’s a really good and smart slasher cutting. So, she just needs to continue to do what she’s doing.”

In that win, Alyssa Latham had seven points, three rebounds, and an assist in 16 minutes off the bench. She would go on to follow that up with a six-point performance in Tennessee’s road win over Florida on Sunday. Her biggest game of the season, from a scoring perspective, was in December against Florida State, scoring nine points and adding seven rebounds in 17 minutes during that game.

This is Alyssa Latham’s first season with the Tennessee program and she’s been working her way up and becoming more comfortable throughout the season. Primarily, her role has been to come off the bench, only making one start, and she’s averaging 3.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0.2 assists per game. However, in seven of her last eight games, she’s scored more than her season average in points, showing how she’s continued to grow under Kim Caldwell.

Last season, she played for the Syracuse Orange. There, she averaged 8.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game. She had started 26 of 32 games with Syracuse, and was averaging 27.6 minutes per game compared to 13.6 minutes per game this season. In the process, she was named to the ACC All-Freshman team in the 2023-24 season.

On the back of a four-game winning streak, Kim Caldwell now has Tennessee at 21-6 overall and 8-6 in SEC play this season. That’s good for eighth in the current conference standings. It’s also already the program’s most wins in a season since the 2022-23 campaign. Their final two games will be against Kentucky and Georgia as the Lady Vols look to build momentum going into the SEC Tournament and presumably the NCAA Tournament.