Game Thread Lady Vols vs. Lipscomb

Suarez has a pretty high BB IQ for a freshman and generally makes good decisions, although she sometimes falls short in the execution.

I think that will come with experience and playing a year of college ball and getting a summer of conditioning you can just tell she will look different and move different in a year and if she keeps being savvy she will be a nightmare.
 
Truthfully, I don't know how many people thought that Tess would be a significant rotation player. I figured she was a bench depth recruit that would be unlikely to get meaningful PT...similar to Kamera Harris' role on the team.

People who have no clue. She's a break glass in case of emergency player, that's it. She also didn't help her cause showing up terribly out of shape...
 
Where’d the initial offer come from?

Came from a need for depth and 3 point shooting IMO. Coach really didn’t have much time to put together a class last season. Tess was a good pickup and I think she can become an asset from beyond the arc. Also don’t think it was a bad look for Kellie’s first recruit to be a Tennessee girl. We need to re-establish ourselves in Tennessee recruiting. The best player in the state has ended up elsewhere for several years now. Shouldn’t be happening, that was always a lock for us in the past. There is great girls basketball played in Tennessee because of UT and Pat Summit. We need to benefit from the fruits of those roots.

Tess really needs to set fitness goals and work on moving without the basketball to get herself great looks. Would recommend she watch film of all the Samuelson sisters. I think she could be a somewhat similar player. The 3 of them were excellent at hunting spots for their shot. Bonnie and Karlie didn’t have as quick a release as Katie Lou, but all 3 were excellent at buying time for their shot.

Her leg issues kept her out of conditioning this fall, that’s well known at this point. She looked to be in better shape in her film. Hopefully she can heal up and get quicker. At this point she’s just not fast enough laterally to defend anyone. Got blown by several times in each game she’s played. Her defense is going to have to improve immensely for her to get any minutes on offense.
 
Her leg issues kept her out of conditioning this fall, that’s well known at this point. She looked to be in better shape in her film. Hopefully she can heal up and get quicker. At this point she’s just not fast enough laterally to defend anyone. Got blown by several times in each game she’s played. Her defense is going to have to improve immensely for her to get any minutes on offense.

COVID restrictions then shin splints which hurt like the dickens and take what seems like forever to go away. Tess is a shooter and it is not surprising that an injury like this could affect her shooting eye. Not worried about her at all. She will be fine when all this stuff is in the rear view mirror.
 
COVID restrictions then shin splints which hurt like the dickens and take what seems like forever to go away. Tess is a shooter and it is not surprising that an injury like this could affect her shooting eye. Not worried about her at all. She will be fine when all this stuff is in the rear view mirror.

I posted this before but the phrase shin splints really understates how problematic this injury is. The more accurate med term is medial tibial stress syndrome. Essentially, an athlete is having a stress reaction in the bone which with continued irritation can result in multiple stress fractures.

The big complication is that there really is no mild case - once it kicks in, you have to rest and rehab to get the condition under control.

When my daughter was diagnosed, the sport med doc said there is not point in doing an MRI to see how advanced her injury was because you treat it the same, whether it is just pain or an actual stress fracture. 6 weeks of rest and then 6 weeks of rehab with a gradual return to play.

So, Tess likely has been away from conditioning for a while.
 
Last edited:
Great team effort made possible by not turning the ball over. I am so happy to see improvement in ball security. The constant pressure we were able to apply on their defense caused them to break down in the second half. Twenty turnovers kills everything from offensive efficiency to chemistry. Deflates effort and create discord if unchecked. I thought I saw a little of that on a couple of turnovers by Suarez. We are hard to beat when we control our turnovers.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: LadyVols_WBK
Came from a need for depth and 3 point shooting IMO. Coach really didn’t have much time to put together a class last season. Tess was a good pickup and I think she can become an asset from beyond the arc. Also don’t think it was a bad look for Kellie’s first recruit to be a Tennessee girl. We need to re-establish ourselves in Tennessee recruiting. The best player in the state has ended up elsewhere for several years now. Shouldn’t be happening, that was always a lock for us in the past. There is great girls basketball played in Tennessee because of UT and Pat Summit. We need to benefit from the fruits of those roots.

Tess really needs to set fitness goals and work on moving without the basketball to get herself great looks. Would recommend she watch film of all the Samuelson sisters. I think she could be a somewhat similar player. The 3 of them were excellent at hunting spots for their shot. Bonnie and Karlie didn’t have as quick a release as Katie Lou, but all 3 were excellent at buying time for their shot.

Her leg issues kept her out of conditioning this fall, that’s well known at this point. She looked to be in better shape in her film. Hopefully she can heal up and get quicker. At this point she’s just not fast enough laterally to defend anyone. Got blown by several times in each game she’s played. Her defense is going to have to improve immensely for her to get any minutes on offense.

May need to redshirt
 
ok that why she’s playing

Probably she will have 4 years after this year regardless ... get her minutes whenever they can and still have all of her eligibility.

I’ve been wondering do her and Jess stay at UT 4 years or does one of both transfer? i know TN is in on some good kids that might push them further down the bench. Also, Justine is coming in being able to play the 2/3 so that is another perimeter player who is taller than Jesse and seems to be a bit more athletic than Tess now. But to her credit i haven’t seen much of her... so i hope it works out
 

VN Store



Back
Top