New-look Tennessee sets NCAA record with 30 3-pointers

It’s not even two months into Kim Caldwell’s first season at the helm at Tennessee and she’s already breaking NCAA records. 

The Volunteers broke the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball record for most 3-pointers in a game when Tennessee made 30 shots from deep on Saturday against NC Central. The record was previously held by Western Illinois women’s basketball, which made 28 threes in 2018.

Tennessee came into the game shooting 29% from long distance, and hadn’t made more than 26% of their 3’s in each of the past three games: wins over Western Carolina, Florida State and Iowa.

But the Vols were torrid from deep on Saturday, going 30-of-63 from beyond the arc in the 139-59 victory. 

“That was huge,” Caldwell said. ”We needed that. I have known we can shoot better than how we’ve been shooting, and I knew it was going to happen at one point in time. It was only a matter of time. We could not continue to shoot well in practice and bad in games. So for us, to get that weight off of our shoulders and to see some go in, was good.”

Tennessee improved to 8-0 with the rout over NC Central. The Vols will face Memphis on the road on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t just the program who set records on Saturday. Senior guard Samara Spencer became the first Tennessee player to make nine 3-pointers in a single game – and Caldwell wasn’t surprised. 

“She’s just special,” Caldwell said. “She plays incredibly hard. She’s on every 50/50 ball that’s around her, and she was in the gym twice today getting shots up. She shot before shootaround and she shot before the game. When you put that type of work in, you deserve the outcome. I was really happy for her that she had that kind of night, and she also was so selfless.”

Spencer finished with 33 points, 10 assists and three steals, while shooting 9-of-13 from long range. Talaysia Cooper and Tess Darby each made five 3-pointers and Avery Strickland finished with 3 3’s. 

The Volunteers are one of just nine teams that remain undefeated. Caldwell, despite implementing a new style of play with a brand-new roster, has also implemented a new culture – and it seems to be working.

Caldwell came over from Marshall this past offseason, where she was 26-7 in his lone season as the head coach of the Thundering Herd. Caldwell also spent seven seasons at Division II Glenville State – where she won a national title and had a 217-31 overall record. 

“It’s been good,” Caldwell said of the season thus far. “We’re just trying to take it one game at a time and get better every game. When you play this style of play, it’s different and there’s a lot more freedom. It takes time to kind of figure it out and be comfortable being uncomfortable. We always ask our players to do more. We don’t put players in a box. We want you to score at all three levels and we want you to guard full court…It’s been good to see them thrive and rise to the challenge in their new roles.”