Growth of guard Kaniya Boyd important for Lady Vols

Coaches in any sport will tell you the key to a successful year is how much your team grows as a group and individually during the season. For Tennessee Lady Vol head coach Kim Caldwell and her first squad, that’s certainly the case.
The growth and development of Zee Spearman in the post has been and will be key to the teams success the rest of the regular season and in post season. But Spearman’s growth is not the only key. Another player who’s role is growing is redshirt freshman Kaniya Boyd.
Caldwell said the turning point for Boyd was really when she returned from Christmas break. Since this Boyd has gotten more comfortable and confidence. The result has been an increase in minutes and production. In the first seven league games, Boyd averaged 14 minutes a game. Over the last six games, Boyd’s average has increased to 19 minutes. She has played 21 minutes or more in four of those six.
“She is important for us all over the floor,” Caldwell said. “The more confidence she gets down the stretch the better our team will be.”
Boyd’s impact is being felt on both ends of the floor, but her growth offensively has been the biggest area of improvement.
Over the last six games, Boyd is 12 of 15 from the field. In the first seven games in 2025, Boyd was 7 of 16. Starting with the South Carolina game, Boyd has a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio.
Tuesday when Caldwell met with the media head of her team’s Thursday night match up with #17 Alabama (6:30pm ET, SEC+), the head coach made her feelings clear about her young guard.
“She is one of our best, if not our best defender on ball. She will make things happen in the press. She can go get rebounds anytime she wants. I think that’s something she needs to be reminded of during games that she could just do. Just go get rebounds. She will take charges. She will dive on loose balls. She’s doing a really good job of realizing she’s one of the fastest players on the floor every night. So if you want to go get a lay up, turn the jets on kid and go get a lay up. And I trust her. I trust her to be out there. She plays hard. She talks. She doesn’t act like a freshman. She’s on our teammates. She’s leading. She’s vocal and she is the future of this program,” Caldwell said.
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For Boyd and her senior laden teammates, the future is now as the Lady Vols fight for a top 16 season in the NCAA Tournament which would mean hosting the first two rounds of the dance.
Alabama is the next challenge and Caldwell said it’s one of their biggest test to date.
“I think Alabama is playing as well as anyone in the SEC right now,” Caldwell stated. “They had a huge win over Texas A&M. They had a great win at Mississippi State. They had their bye week. They have gotten better. I think they are at their peak right now. That’s how we are going to talk about it.
“I think this is a huge defensive test for us. We have been playing defensive minded teams the last couple of games and now we have to be the defensive minded team. We have to really guard the three point line. They are a team that has six players who can give you twenty. We have to play team defense but you have to step up and do your job.
“We are going to play the 18th ranked team in the country. That’s not something you overlook. You don’t look big picture, you just look at the next game.”
Following the Alabama game, the Lady Vols travel to Florida (Sun., Feb. 23rd then they are at Kentucky (Thurs., Feb. 27th) before returning home to Food City Center to close out the regular season on Sunday, March 2 against Georgia.