Lady Vols look to continue upward trend on the road
After three straight home wins, the Tennessee Lady Vols return to the road on Sunday for the first of back to back games away from Food City Center.
The first of the two is in Gainesville against a Florida team that’s 14-13 on the season.
The Gators are coming off a 74-52 win over Texas A&M while the Lady Vols have one three including Thursday’s 88-80 win over No. 18 Alabama. But playing on the road is different. Tennessee is 13-3 at Food City Center with losses to 3 top 10 teams. They are 4-3 on the road with losses at Texas, LSU and Vanderbilt.
“I think the next game is a huge game for us. You gotta go on the road in this league. We haven’t played well on the road in the league since early (in the year),” head coach Kim Caldwell said. “Last time we went to Missouri we didn’t do what we were supposed. So just making sure we come out focused and come out playing hard. Anytime you go on the road you get a little nervous and we have kind of be spoiled the last week (playing at home).”
Tennessee won their first two road games in league play beating Texas A&M and blowing out Arkansas. Arguably the most disappointing loss of the season was at Vanderbilt where the Commodores scored on a last second offensive put back on a day where Tennessee struggled with just 5 points in the second quarter. The Lady Vols won at Missouri after a struggling start three weeks ago. You can make a case that the Missouri game was a turning point offensively in terms of shot selection and movement. Against the Tigers, Tennessee had just 24 points in the paint. Since that game Tennessee is averaging 44 points a game in the paint (5 games).
“I think the spacing is better,” Caldwell explained. “We still have times, I think it was the last game, where we still had times where we all are just standing in a line. We want our corners to be filled, but they are recognizing it quicker, and they are understanding, ‘Hey, this is why you have to be in this spot.’ Our gaps could still be a little bit better. That would give us bigger room to drive. I think we still have some people that clog those gaps.”
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Playing in the paint and playing inside out will obviously be key on the two game road swing. So will the play of Talaysia Cooper. Cooper has been better on the road than at home. On the road, Cooper is shooting 47% from the field while only shooting 39%. In the last two wins, Cooper has scored 27 points, has 9 steals, 11 rebounds, 10 assists.
“When she fill ups the stat sheet for us that’s when she is at her best,” Caldwell offered.
Sunday, Tennessee and Cooper look to be at their best on the road as they look to finish better than they have in their last three games.
“I think we are trending in the right direction,” Caldwell said. “I think we just need to finish games. I think all of the games at home, the last two specifically we had double digit leads that could have easily gone to 20-25, maybe even 30 and we just didn’t finish.”
Tip-off Sunday is set for 1pm ET and will be televised on the SEC Network.
