Lady Vols and LSU square off in Baton Rouge

After plenty of celebration and two days of accolades, Kim Caldwell and the Lady Vols jump back into the frying pan as they seek a second straight top 10 win this time on the road at LSU. 

Tennessee is no stranger to the Tigers having lost 89-87 at home as LSU scored with a second to play to take the lead and Tennessee missed a fall away jumper in the paint to tie the game. 

The challenge Sunday is different on the road in what will be the most hostile environment the Lady Vols have played in to this point. 

Following an impressive at nationally attention getting win, there are plenty of challenges for the Lady Vols just 72 hours later.

1 —Handling success — The biggest question is can Caldwell get this team back refocused and on to the next one. The buzz that Caldwell’s team generated Thursday night was palpable. It was the topic Friday morning on Nashville radio with Ramon, Kayla and Will. The social media buzz was still going strong throughout the day on Friday. 

Players phones have been blowing up with congratulations as have the coaches so the first challenge in trying to pull off another top 5 win on the road is handling the success from Thursday night by quickly turning the page. 

In game one of this match up, Tennessee struggled to get going. LSU jumped out to a 26-17 lead at the end of the first quarter and the Vols played catch up till they took the lead in the fourth quarter.

A week ago at Missouri, Tennessee was dreadful to start the game falling behind by 11 and needing a blazing hot first quarter from Talaysia Cooper to keep it from being a blowout.

“I think she’s always a little bit timid the first quarter so that was huge. If she didn’t have that first quarter I don’t think we win that game,” Caldwell said. 

When you play Tennessee is’ always going to be a game of runs because of style and pace of play. Can the Lady Vols be dialed in and focused enough not to let LSU get a fast start with a run Sunday afternoon.  

2 — Hold your own in the paint — Tennessee’s paint numbers against UConn were good. The Lady Vols won the battle of the boards by 14. Both teams had 42 points in the paint. It was certainly good work by Caldwell’s team. Sunday is different. LSU is bigger across the front line and Tennessee’s challenge will be to play better inside compared to when the two teams met the first time. 

In the first match up LSU had 60 paint points to Tennessee’s 30. The Lady Vols had 14 points off offensive rebounds and LSU had 24. Tennessee was just 10 for 20 on lay ups while LSU was 18 for 28 (64%). 

Tennessee competed and were good at the rim on Thursday night. They will certainly have a different test on Sunday.

3 — Finish — The Lady Vols were terrific down the stretch Thursday night. As Caldwell noted the fans were a huge part of that. But every time UConn closed the gap or tied the game, Tennessee answered. The Lady Vols make 5 of their last 6 field goal attempts. The one miss ended up back in Tennessee’s hands on an offensive rebound. UConn in the final 3+ minutes never got a defensive stop.

When Tennessee and LSU played a month ago, it was LSU who finished as the Tigers made 4 of their final 5 field goal attempts. When Tennessee tied the game or even got the lead, they could never extend it because LSU had an answer.

Who can score baskets and who can make stops in the final four minutes? Given the first match up, that seems to be the story of the game if the Lady Vols can enter the fourth quarter within reach. 

The Lady Vols and LSU tip-off at 4pm et on ESPN.