Game Thread: Lady Vols V Wofford ; Tues 6:32PM ; Home ; SECN+

#251
#251
glv98 said:
Kellie Harper is cursed. Period. Terrible news about Wells. Game buddy said that looked like a season ending brace. Wells has been struggling but she's shown flashes. Glad she has another year, she's probably played a little to much for a med redshirt. It's another impactful injury blow, it leaves us paper thin at pg. As someone said upthread, love Kaiya and her improvement but just no to her as backup pg. Jewel seems a better option and we may see Edie some.

Thank goodness JP is playing her butt off. She was terrific tonight. She is really locked in right now. Still a tall order to be the PG one and only going into SEC play. Scary as hell.

But how, how in the world, does JP keep doing the world's worst end of quarter play? Several have said it's actually the plan for her to overdribble, never pass, and throw up an awkward prayer at the buzzer. Are there really people on that sideline who think this is a good idea? Everyone sitting around me was like "Oh Jeeze, here it goes" and actually laughing. That this continues is just gobsmacking to me.

Great to get RJ back and hooray for 20 mins. I believe she could score in double figures in her sleep. But man, she was frustrated with herself over all the missed shots. She was cruising a bit, not going full tilt yet, but still collected six rebounds. Now we just have to hope the dreaded lower leg feels ok in the morning.

Sure was nice to see Jewel get on back on track. We need her scoring. Also thought Sara played well. Those two really benefit fm Rickea's presence.
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Tamari got a Redshirt Season with 9 games played. Wells is right on the Cusp. There is a chance she will get that Medical Waiver from this injury. We only have 29 games in the regular season. Depending on how many games we can win in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament would probably count to the overall games played. The second part of your comment about Rickea. She just does something with the spacing of everyone else. She attracts so much attention it is almost like everyone else just gets better less contested looks at the rim. It makes a huge difference having Rickea at that four spot Rather than Sara who is great out in open space on the perimeter but struggles mightly down on the block. Rickea's Return will probably help Sara the most. Love the fact that Karoline is showing off her ability to score from the three. Gives Rickea even more space to operate when the four players around her can consistently score from the 3-point line.
 
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#252
#252
Dak1219 said:
Tamari got a Redshirt Season with 9 games played. Wells is right on the Cusp. There is a chance she will get that Medical Waiver from this injury. We only have 29 games in the regular season. Depending on how many games we can win in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament would probably count to the overall games played. The second part of your comment about Rickea. She just does something with the spacing of everyone else. She attracts so much attention it is almost like everyone else just gets better less contested looks at the rim. It makes a huge difference having Rickea at that four spot Rather than Sara who is great out in open space on the perimeter but struggles mightly down on the block. Rickea's Return will probably help Sara the most. Love the fact that Caroline is showing off her ability to score from the three. Gives Rickea even more space to operate when the four players around her can consistently score from the 3-point line.
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Oh Noe’s, dak. The spelling police are on their way… 😉

Karoline. Hence, Karo! I’m assuming you’ve been victimized by autocorrect… 🤣
 
#256
#256
WinnerCircle said:
Reading the comments.. it’s good to see most of us watched the same game.
Solid win.

The defense was strong.
Nobody can question defense tonight in an attempt to prove a point against the team.

Tennessee routinely extends the rotation and that leads to inconsistency.

The final scores in both the wins and losses this year so far have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I would trust Jewel Spear handling the ball more when JP sits as opposed to Kaiya Wynn.
Wynn plays better off the ball.
Jewel played some PG at Wake.
From my observation, Jewel could be providing this team so much more offensively if they played to her strengths.
Same with Jillian. Will never be a back to the basket kind of post player but is every bit of the starting Cs at Mississippi St. and Ole Miss.
Both of those players will give TN fits if things aren’t figured out soon.
With a set rotation of 8, Tennessee could win a lot of games in SEC play.
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Good points but our defense was bailed out by Wofford missing a lot of open threes. We dominated the interior (as one would expect the bigger team to do) but still had problems on the rotations around the perimeter.

That has been the teams defensive Achilles heel and I was hoping to see a bit more improvement.

Otherwise, a lot of pluses from this game. Rickea looked more like herself in the 2nd half.
 
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#257
#257
glv98 said:
More likely Jewel. I think she had the ball in her hands alot at Wake Forest.

Our margin for error keeps getting smaller and smaller.
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So long as Powell can avoid foul trouble, injuries, illness, and fatigue and play with her characteristic high energy for 38 to 40 minutes per game, the loss of Destiny will not be a critical.

If it turns that Powell has any human frailties (which of course would be because Jon is Kellie's assistant), then the situation gets much more worrisome.

I will give Kaiya huge props for upping her game this season but she is not ready to play major minutes at PG against high caliber opponents; Edie could be fine putting a few minutes in here and there when other opponents are resting their main PG but she is also not ready for prime time.

So, yeah I agree that the Powell/Spear era must be upon us. It seems like the only potentially sustainable/workable option.
 
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#259
#259
madtownvol said:
So, yeah I agree that the Powell/Spear era must be upon us. It seems like the only potentially sustainable/workable option.
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Unfortunately, when asked about a backup for JP in the post game, KJH said it is Kaiya and Edie. Period. Said they're already getting the reps in practice. I don't really understand why Jewel would not be considered. Probably bc of Jon lol.

So basically now we need JP to be wrapped in a velvet glove the rest of the season. A rare bit of good luck is that she's playing by far the best of her time here. I love the fact that JP actually jumps! Other than Rickea, and a little bit Jill, she's the only player on the team who actually has a vertical. She's also tough as nails like Jordan Walker, but more skilled.
 
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#260
#260
glv98 said:
Unfortunately, when asked about a backup for JP in the post game, KJH said it is Kaiya and Edie. Period. Said they're already getting the reps in practice. I don't really understand why Jewel would not be considered. Probably bc of Jon lol.

Basically now we need JP to be wrapped in a velvet glove the rest of the season. A rare bit of good luck is that she's playing by far the best of her time here. I love the fact that JP actually jumps! Other than Rickea, and a little bit Jill, she's the only player on the team who actually has a vertical.
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I don't think we have a bad situation with Kaiya being the backup point guard if she can get out of a couple of bad decisions. She is not a good shooter, but handles the ball very well and much better defender than Wells. If they could run some isolation plays for her she can get to the line and has been a reliable free throw shooter thus far this season. I don't mind her being in there if the game is close and they are fouling us to the line. 74 percent on 27 attempts is a good stat. Tough to lose Wells as everytime we get a player back we lose someone else.
 
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#261
#261
Volfan2012 said:
I don't think we have a bad situation with Kaiya being the backup point guard if she can get out of a couple of bad decisions. She is not a good shooter, but handles the ball very well and much better defender than Wells. If they could run some isolation plays for her she can get to the line and has been a reliable free throw shooter thus far this season. I don't mind her being in there if the game is close and they are fouling us to the line. 74 percent on 27 attempts is a good stat. Tough to lose Wells as everytime we get a player back we lose someone else.
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Have to disagree. Kaiya's ball handling is better, but not near good enough right now to face elite guards as the main ball handler. Edie is actually a much better ball handler just way too small. Agree KW is a good ft shooter and a much better defender than DW though.
 
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#262
#262
Great win, but will be interesting how the players like Striplin, Powell, Hollingshead and Spear perform against better competition.
 
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#263
#263
I wish TK had gotten more mins. Her course has been so choppy. I'd like to just see her play for about a full quarter.
 
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#264
#264
mike099 said:
Great win, but will be interesting how the players like Striplin, Powell, Hollingshead and Spear perform against better competition.
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They are a better group when Rickea is able to play. One could say without her injury we would've won the Notre Dame and MTSU games. Have a lot of confidence in Striplin she has proven she can play against anybody in the last five or six games. The players that haven't done enough are Hollingshead, Darby, and Spear and Puckett have been up and down. None have to do as much as they have before a lot of those shots will go to Rickea.
 
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#267
#267
@pasadenavol Said:
Something's going on with Jill...she just doesn't look happy or like she enjoys being on the court...
Butch s said:
She just lacks competent coaching
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Jill is a "guard stuck in a post's body"...She is much more comfortable playing the high-post (elbow) and if you watch her she is very comfortable bringing the ball down the court and shooting the mid-range. Her game is to attack the glass, not post up on it. She has virtually no back to the basket skills (self-learned or taught to). Yet, she is the designated post. One who's minutes will be cut with the reemergence and increased endurance of Kea...Plenty of reason to not be giddy.

Volfan2012 said:
I don't think we have a bad situation with Kaiya being the backup point guard if she can get out of a couple of bad decisions. She is not a good shooter, but handles the ball very well and much better defender than Wells. If they could run some isolation plays for her she can get to the line and has been a reliable free throw shooter thus far this season. I don't mind her being in there if the game is close and they are fouling us to the line. 74 percent on 27 attempts is a good stat. Tough to lose Wells as everytime we get a player back we lose someone else.
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Again, I look at improvement of skill...Here we have an elite athletic guard who is virtually exactly what she came into this team, being. Same tendencies, same deficits in progress of skills.

The Lady Vols definitely have a need of an individual skills coach.
 
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#272
#272
Coach Jumper said:
@pasadenavol Said:
Something's going on with Jill...she just doesn't look happy or like she enjoys being on the court...

Jill is a "guard stuck in a post's body"...She is much more comfortable playing the high-post (elbow) and if you watch her she is very comfortable bringing the ball down the court and shooting the mid-range. Her game is to attack the glass, not post up on it. She has virtually no back to the basket skills (self-learned or taught to). Yet, she is the designated post. One who's minutes will be cut with the reemergence and increased endurance of Kea...Plenty of reason to not be giddy.


Again, I look at improvement of skill...Here we have an elite athletic guard who is virtually exactly what she came into this team, being. Same tendencies, same deficits in progress of skills.

The Lady Vols definitely have a need of an individual skills coach.
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And here we go……😂😂😂😂😂
And totally disagree about KW not improving. At least get facts correct when promoting.
 
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