Game Thread: Lady Vols v Florida A&M, Tues Nov 7, 6:30, Food City Center, Knoxville

#151
#151
Striplin and Wynn both look much improved from last season. Spears is a beast and her shot is pure. RJ had a little off an off shooting night but still managed to score 13. Wells offense is not there YET, but her ability to run the offense is so good. Our defense will get better, but i’m impressed by our offense.
 
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#153
#153
A few quick thoughts:

1. Karo had a great game. Shout out to her! She inserted her will after struggling during the two exhibition games.
2. FEAR DA SPEAR. We need that in Tallahassee.
3. Kellie played straight man the whole game, lots of minutes for everyone. FSU has great guards, so I’d expect Kellie to mix it up some Thursday night.
4. 1-0, and something a few teams we know can’t say :cool:
 
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#154
#154
Tennessee got the guards this year to match the frontcourt. Wynn and Spear look very good. They are athletic and can move the perfect compliment to a strong core of post players.
Destinee Wells is a floor general!
Powell had some moments tonight.
Edie Darby is not a typical walk-on.
Certainly caught my attention.
 
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#155
#155
Aladywhovolunteer said:
Tennessee's depth will be a factor In close games. Wynn is having another excellent showing. I don't think Tennessee has had a shooter like Spear during Coach Harper's tenure. Striplin is having a great night as well. Offense is ahead of defense but I think that is expected. Team looked good and played hard.
Click to expand...
I would say Rae Burrell as a junior had that same kind of shooting ability. The injury her senior year limited her.
 
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#156
#156
Just got home from the game. I agree with the above-mentioned accolades for Wynn, Striplin, and Spear. One point overlooked is that the team just came off a tremendous high playing against the professional all stars two days ago, especially Rickea who played her heart out in that game. I imagine if was difficult for her to get as fired up for this one just two days later.
I am very concerned about our defense. Yes it is early and it hopefully will improve greatly during the year. However, the defense made the two worst teams on our entire schedule, Carson Newman and Fla A&M, look like they have elite offensive players for drive and penetrate and 3-point shooting. I think this defensive concern will make is essential for Wynn to play significant minutes throughout the season given she is the best guard defender we have and is no longer a liability on offense. We don't need her at all for three point shooters as we have those in spades, but her contribution on defense, penetration on offense, and miraculously foul shooting (pray it holds) makes her indispensable for the team with this unique skill set. I would be fine for her to be the first sub in when we play quick guards, which we be par for the course against ranked and SEC teams.
 
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#158
#158
Great for Jewel and Karo to have breakout games. Fear the Spear indeed. She has an interesting release but its deadly. IMO Puckett continues to play well. She drained a 3 fm the exact spot she hit the Belmont game winner from. Boy did Jill work hard too, had 12 rebounds I believe. Wells is the dynamic distributor we'd hoped for.

It's great to have offensive options when Rickea is off, and being blanketed like she was tonight. Bridget G decided RJ was not going to beat them. I'm sure that's going to happen alot this season. Guards had a really hard time getting passes into the post.

I was really disappointed in the defense. White girls who shoot 3s continue to have their way with us. What is it? Why can we not close out on 3s? Also, again, they got to the rim way too easily several times. Seems like we play good one on one defense for a long time on a possesion then boom they pop a 3 or blow by us. I will say FAM hit some pretty low percentage shots tonight.

I was also a little disappointed that we weren't sharper, like So Carolina was yesterday. Just look really primed and ready. We better be in a couple of days at Fla St. Anyone hear if Coates will be playing?
 
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#159
#159
A decent result against an extremely outmanned opponent. I would encourage folks to read neither too much or too little from this one. Florida A&M was 6-23 last year. And before anyone jumps on me with salad forks with the lemon juice still on 'em so it hurts when you stab, I'm not saying Tennessee is good or bad or anything. I'm just saying it's hard to read too much into this game. Probably some room to improve on defense. Florida A&M is not a high scoring bunch, so it would have been nice to see them held under 50. I look forward to seeing just who gets what rotation spots in Thursday's game, as that one will be a real deal.

Also, folks saying "fear the spear" is doubly amusing since that's one of FSU's catch phrases. On to Thursday.
 
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#160
#160
The announcer said that Jackson is the straw that stirs the drink for the Lady Vols, well Spears has a straw in that drink. She is the real deal. It appears that this is the best shooting team KJH has had. The team needs to work on it's defense but that will come once KJH comes up with a starting lineup. They have to limit the turnovers but a lot of that was the result of multiple lineup changes. I love KJH strategy of giving everyone a chance to play in a winnable game. It gives each player a chance to play in real live game situations.
 
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#161
#161
On the postgame show, Brian asked Kellie about TK's limited pt and she sounded almost impatient. Maybe with the situation. She said it's real now, games count and so they're just looking for opportunities when matchups may be favorable for her. Said tonight there just weren't many. Bless TK, I'm sure she's the most impatient of everyone.
 
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#166
#166
Kaiya could be SEC 6 player of the year OR Kellie could start her and bring Sara off the bench which would probably be my preference but I see the argument for starting her.

Wells is THEE Point Guard.. her scoring will come and when it hits…… watch out.

Powell has good moments.

Rickea was swarmed in the beginning of the game and some shots just didn’t fall.

Fear the Spear.

Karo/Jillian are dynamic in the post.

I like Edie.

Defense is a concern to me and why I’d look at starting Kaiya. She rebounds and defends and honestly creates for herself better than Sara or Tess so her offensive output with those minutes could be higher. I’m trusting her more and more and I think Kellie sees it too. If she goes to the bench, Sara herself could be SEC 6POY.

Race w/ your best runners.

Wells
Spear
Wynn
Jackson
Hollingshead

Powell
Striplin
Puckett
Key
Darby/Ace


Edie
 
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#168
#168
dapeak said:
Kaiya could be SEC 6 player of the year OR Kellie could start her and bring Sara off the bench which would probably be my preference but I see the argument for starting her.

Wells is THEE Point Guard.. her scoring will come and when it hits…… watch out.

Powell has good moments.

Rickea was swarmed in the beginning of the game and some shots just didn’t fall.

Fear the Spear.

Karo/Jillian are dynamic in the post.

I like Edie.

Defense is a concern to me and why I’d look at starting Kaiya. She rebounds and defends and honestly creates for herself better than Sara or Tess so her offensive output with those minutes could be higher. I’m trusting her more and more and I think Kellie sees it too. If she goes to the bench, Sara herself could be SEC 6POY.

Race w/ your best runners.

Wells
Spear
Wynn
Jackson
Hollingshead

Powell
Striplin
Puckett
Key
Darby/Ace


Edie
Click to expand...
I don’t trust Wynn handling the ball.
 
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#170
#170
glv98 said:
Great for Jewel and Karo to have breakout games. Fear the Spear indeed. She has an interesting release but its deadly. IMO Puckett continues to play well. She drained a 3 fm the exact spot she hit the Belmont game winner from. Boy did Jill work hard too, had 12 rebounds I believe. Wells is the dynamic distributor we'd hoped for.

It's great to have offensive options when Rickea is off, and being blanketed like she was tonight. Bridget G decided RJ was not going to beat them. I'm sure that's going to happen alot this season. Guards had a really hard time getting passes into the post.

I was really disappointed in the defense. White girls who shoot 3s continue to have their way with us. What is it? Why can we not close out on 3s? Also, again, they got to the rim way too easily several times. Seems like we play good one on one defense for a long time on a possesion then boom they pop a 3 or blow by us. I will say FAM hit some pretty low percentage shots tonight.

I was also a little disappointed that we weren't sharper, like So Carolina was yesterday. Just look really primed and ready. We better be in a couple of days at Fla St. Anyone hear if Coates will be playing?
Click to expand...
Off night for Rickea for sure but we have some weapons to pick up the slack. Spears and Rickea are going to be formidable 1-2 punch.

Great to see Karo, Sara and Kaiya getting off to great starts. Very happy with both Powell and Wells at PG (both were solid).

Strickland continues to look like a really solid role player

Defense is a bit of a concern but I think they can make an intensity jump when needed.
 
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#172
#172
madtownvol said:
Off night for Rickea for sure but we have some weapons to pick up the slack. Spears and Rickea are going to be formidable 1-2 punch.

Great to see Karo, Sara and Kaiya getting off to great starts. Very happy with both Powell and Wells at PG (both were solid).

Strickland continues to look like a really solid role player

Defense is a bit of a concern but I think they can make an intensity jump when needed.
Click to expand...
I think Jackson looked tired. Played a lot of basketball in a few days.
 
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#174
#174
I think that FAMU makes some noise this year in their league. They were very athletic and were making their open shots. Their record last year doesn't really apply since Gordon hit the transfer portal last year and replaced all of her starting lineup.

Our coaches said before the game that they didn't have a scouting report because of this and it being their first game, which would explain why it took a quarter to adjust their defense and offense.

Voltopia said:
A decent result against an extremely outmanned opponent. I would encourage folks to read neither too much or too little from this one. Florida A&M was 6-23 last year...
Click to expand...
 
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#175
#175
Oldman70 said:
I don’t trust Wynn handling the ball.
Click to expand...
Who doesn't love Wynn and I'm so happy for her hard work. But we may be getting over our skis on her a bit. Great to see her hit a 3, but her offensive game still needs work and when I watched replay, KW gave up several of those to-the-rim D problems. As did Powell, Wells, and Spear.

In the postgame interview, KJH indicated Wynn's role will still be as defensive stopper. She's def quicker than Sara, but doesn't do alot of things as well, esp on offense. IMO it's Tess's off the bench minutes Wynn is likely to take.

Dang Edie! I still don't think she gets meaningful mins but her improvement and progress is very impressive. IMO she's actually more skilled at this point than Strickland. But no shade on Strickland, she plays hard and fearless and after time in strength and conditioning and more practice experience I think she actually will contribute in the future.
 
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