Game Thread: Lady Vols Vs Texas A&M, Thurs Jan 2nd ; Away game; 8 PM Eastern; SEC+ stream win 91-78

[Majors]

Coach found fault, esp in the second half, without a struggle. Discussing areas for improvement is perfectly legit. I said this was a game previous teams would have, and did, take a loss.

Interesting the same folks who eviscerated others for celebrating a win over mediocre teams in the past are now donning the orange tinted shades.

She’s paid to find fault. Free throws, fouls, moments of lack on intensity, starters not producing etc. Believe some of those celebrations that were “eviscerated” in the past were do to the standard being lowered. Majority here wear orange tinted glasses, some like cheap plastic others like Ray-Ban.

 

[Majors]

There’s a few casual fans still waiting on that ultimate collapse that is long gone. It won’t appear during SEC play. Give it a rest.
These are their moments and even these moments are a double digit win scoring 90+ points.
GBO!

Co-sponsor this sentiment after a SEC road win.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Have no replay ability when watching streaming. Really like to validate my assumptions on calls. Lots of calls that did not seem to pass the equal application of rules test in real time. As they stacked up I personally wondered if they were more run of the mill homerism or blowout mitigation driven. Got to be hard to play when normal flow is prevented by these conditions. Heck it appeared they were trying to supply in game rest for TAM when we went on runs.

Another reality based comment. The truth is as this game was in progress it was obvious that the officiating was unacceptable.
It completely influenced the outcome of the game in a way that deserves attention and changes have to be made to improve this aspect of the game. In no way should one team ever benefit this lopsided from officiating. You can never be sure the intentions behind this kind of situation but it certainly calls into question the integrity of the game. I know why the coach is routinely putting it on the players in postgame interviews which is typical coach speak although hopefully behind the scenes some action is being taken to really get to the bottom of the issue.
I watched teams last night play defense with way more contact and their opponent didn’t get nearly every single 50/50 call plus 100% favorable calls.
It was clear as day to the point the game announcers were questioning calls and the final proof was a Texas A&M player on the live feed screaming profanity directly at the officials a few steps away!
The results were them simply patting the player’s side to cool them down.
Any LV fan trying to downplay that is never getting taken serious.
You’re 100% it was Texas A&M and the officials on the road that could not stop the LVs!
GBO!

 

[VolBall09]

Have no replay ability when watching streaming. Really like to validate my assumptions on calls. Lots of calls that did not seem to pass the equal application of rules test in real time. As they stacked up I personally wondered if they were more run of the mill homerism or blowout mitigation driven. Got to be hard to play when normal flow is prevented by these conditions. Heck it appeared they were trying to supply in game rest for TAM when we went on runs.

Yes, as soon as we would go on a little run in the second half they would call us for some weird turnover (like the bogus Cooper walk call) or a touch foul.

We were absolutely not allowed to guard in the half court. A&M was literally throwing themselves on the ground and the officials bought every single time.

The most egregious was when Coullibally tripped over her own feet without even contacting one of our players and the official just saw her on the floor and called a foul. Even Kim just tossed her hands up at that one. Truly deplorable.

The league will never do anything, but they should. At the end of the day it’s a product and that was absolutely abysmal to watch due in part to the officiating.

The OU/Texas game was almost as bad. Texas was trying to slow the pace and the officials obliged. At one point they allowed a Texas player to sit on the court, take her shoe off and try relacing her ankle brace after she rolled it. OU was trying to go on a run. Crowed started booing like crazy and they finally made her sub but they were going to stand there and let her do it.

Not to mention the 7-8 minute disruption to call a 4 way foul that ended in no penalty off a jump ball. Could have just called it a jump, given everyone a warning and played on. Truly ridiculous.

For teams that play with rhythm and pace like us and OU officials slowing the game is extremely detrimental.

 

[stllvf]

excellent learning first road game, poor inconsistent officiating, good first half, poor third quarter, lots of foul trouble. And guess what the next game will have a new set of officials who may call a different game. I would agree detrimental for the game, but a positive learning lesson going forward

 

[brittannica]

I was surprised Tess played so little in the fourth. Has to be her defense, right? she wasn't shooting lights out like Jewel but was seemingly still shooting well.

 

[glv98]

I was surprised Tess played so little in the fourth. Has to be her defense, right? she wasn't shooting lights out like Jewel but was seemingly still shooting well.

Got blown by badly a couple of times early. You could see the player's eyes she was guarding light up and she took her to the rim. I think that was it. However, that also happened routinely to Sara and several times to others. We still get blown by some.

Truthfully, as long as Jewel is shooting like she was last night both Tess and Sara become interchangable role players.

 

[Rickster]

That is why I said earlier it’s definitely something we must not know about from practice.
First, I can’t comprehend why Talaysia Cooper and Ruby Whitehorn have been in and out of the starting lineup.
Their on court play has been stellar.
Some of the best guard play I’ve seen in WBB. Yes, they make mistakes. Give them a chance to play through it.
Sara Puckett play has been inconsistent. Alyssa Latham seems like per minutes she is producing at a much better rate on both ends of the court.
Same with Jillian Hollingshead. She has been pretty solid.

I expect it is because Kim's offense needs scoring in all lineups. The way she substitutes, there really isn't a starting lineup and to have "subs" going in at the 1:30 mark tells you she is going to play at least 10 barring fouls or injuries. Every lineup she puts out there needs scorers.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

excellent learning first road game, poor inconsistent officiating, good first half, poor third quarter, lots of foul trouble. And guess what the next game will have a new set of officials who may call a different game. I would agree detrimental for the game, but a positive learning lesson going forward

Really good post. I also think it was a lesson learned from this game on night 1 of SEC play.
Tennessee checked the boxes that they needed to. I will take the determination and emotions showed by Spearman in the 2nd half to question the poor and unacceptable officiating display by SEC officials.
At this point it’s Me vs Me (translation Tennessee vs Tennessee).
There will be no ultimate collapse as those naysayers have waited for in SEC play.
Once the staff fully demonstrates their competence which I know is there to contend with the best coaches in this league and settles on the official starting lineup then sit back and enjoy the show!
It’s about to be a track meet in Food City Center!
GBO!

 

[MAD]

 

[Volfan2012]

I think the hard task ahead for the coaches is defense. None of the players are capable of defending the straight line drive to the basket and we don't have a big body to defend down there. Just let one of the worst offensive teams in the league score 50 and shoot 56 percent. Offensively we again put up enough points that it was a win. Again it was because of about 20 extra possessions as we shot 47 percent to their 56. More work to be done have to stop fouling even though these Refs were terrible. We have to play under their rules and letting them get to the line 30 times just can't happen and expect to win that often.

First half superior play second half have to give Taylor credit for telling their players to drive the basket smart move we couldn't defend.

 

[MAD]

Now that we have started SEC play, looking back, how accurate would you say this was?

2024-25 SEC Preseason Coaches Poll
1. South Carolina
2. Texas
3. LSU
4. Oklahoma
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss
7. Tennessee
8. Kentucky
9. Auburn
10. Mississippi State
11. Texas A&M
12. Vanderbilt
13. Georgia
14. Florida
15. Missouri
16. Arkansas

 

[Rickster]

conference road games can be slugfests even for lower ranked teams. Even with subpar 2nd, the LVs ground a double digit win, let’s not lose the plot here.

Interesting that as aggressive as the officiating was, it only reduced the offense about 8 points below their average.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

I think the hard task ahead for the coaches is defense. None of the players are capable of defending the straight line drive to the basket and we don't have a big body to defend down there. Just let one of the worst offensive teams in the league score 50 and shoot 56 percent. Offensively we again put up enough points that it was a win. Again it was because of about 20 extra possessions as we shot 47 percent to their 56. More work to be done have to stop fouling even though these Refs were terrible. We have to play under their rules and letting them get to the line 30 times just can't happen and expect to win that often.

First half superior play second half have to give Taylor credit for telling their players to drive the basket smart move we couldn't defend.

Not true. Latham can. Cooper can. Ruby can. Kaniya can. Spearman can. Hollingshead can.
It’s the mentality to go for steals. Go watch the 2nd qtr. They can play defense better than any team in the SEC. They need to be more consistent.
But ultimately, the officiating last night was unacceptable. I don’t care what team you play against the best half-court teams in history would not have been able to play their style last night. Texas A&M players started in the 1st half falling down to the ground with limited to no forceful contact and from that moment forward the officials completely dictated the game.
That was an officiating flaw not a defensive flaw.
And until you deal with it personally it’s not something that as a person when you’re looking for areas to be critical will understand how it impacted the LV team.
I’ve seen this kind officiating from the sidelines as both a coach and spectator.

 

[Volfan2012]

Now that we have started SEC play, looking back, how accurate would you say this was?

2024-25 SEC Preseason Coaches Poll
1. South Carolina
2. Texas
3. LSU
4. Oklahoma
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss
7. Tennessee
8. Kentucky
9. Auburn
10. Mississippi State
11. Texas A&M
12. Vanderbilt
13. Georgia
14. Florida
15. Missouri
16. Arkansas

Top three look good after that Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Alabama could finish in any order or one of them could get in the top three. Scheduling will probably decide it who has the weaker draw versus who has the stronger draw.

Vanderbilt is going to be a factor Pierre and Blakes are a very strong combo and overall Vandy is better than last season. Certainly need more information on them as beating Georgia is not something that gives you much to go on.

All the others Mississippi St and Florida are the two best left.

I still think Texas A&M, along with Arkansas, Missouri, Auburn, and Georgia are teams everyone has to beat and the teams that lose to any of them hurt themselves in the league race.

 

[volfan102455]

Good win but need to fix / clean up whatever is happening in the second half, in particular the third quarter.

 

[glv98]

I expect it is because Kim's offense needs scoring in all lineups. The way she substitutes, there really isn't a starting lineup and to have "subs" going in at the 1:30 mark tells you she is going to play at least 10 barring fouls or injuries. Every lineup she puts out there needs scorers.

Yeah pretty sure who starts doesn't mean much in Kim's world. Except she does use it to "reward" recent good play like last night with Boyd. Good point about needing to distribute the scoring throughout the line changes.

Bigger issue may be who closes. In tight SEC games, we need to see the core five, Spear, Spencer, Ruby, Coop and Zee on the floor together and unsubbed for in the last half of the fourth qtr. Barring foul trouble, I believe we will see that.

Don't think it will happen,but it would be interesting to see that core 5 start and play the first five mins as well as the last five. Establish a good tone, then start fruit basket turnover.

I said last night I think Coop needs more consecutive mins. She goes on these runs then gets lost for awhile then is called on to do it again when things get dicey. I suspect things might get less dicey if she was consistently scoring throughout the game. Of course longer play for her might affect her ability to be so effective in the press. Give and take I guess.

 

[Volfan2012]

Not true. Latham can. Cooper can. Ruby can. Kaniya can. Spearman can. Hollingshead can.
It’s the mentality to go for steals. Go watch the 2nd qtr. They can play defense better than any team in the SEC. They need to be more consistent.
But ultimately, the officiating last night was unacceptable. I don’t care what team you play against the best half-court teams in history would not have been able to play their style last night. Texas A&M players started in the 1st half falling down to the ground with limited to no forceful contact and from that moment forward the officials completely dictated the game.
That was an officiating flaw not a defensive flaw.
And until you deal with it personally it’s not something that as a person when you’re looking for areas to be critical will understand how it impacted the LV team.
I’ve seen this kind officiating from the sidelines as both a coach and spectator.

Whether the officiating was bad or not and I agree it was bad you can't give up 50 points and 56 percent from the field. I saw no one doing a very good job guarding the drive. Coach Caldwell called our second half defense terrible and I totally agree with her.

 

[volfan102455]

And the officiating was bad for both teams - quite a few walks that were not walks that took away points from both teams.

 

[docholiday]

230-31. Nothing to see here.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Here’s my updated SEC Week 1 standings
Note: I’ll post a full breakdown of the Top 5 later today in another thread.
1. South Carolina
2. Tennessee
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma
5. LSU
6. Ole Miss
7. Alabama
8. Kentucky
9. Missouri
10. Vanderbilt
11. Texas A&M
12. Florida
13. Mississippi State
14. Auburn
15. Arkansas
16. Georgia

 

[Volfan2012]

And the officiating was bad for both teams - quite a few walks that were not walks that took away points from both teams.

Yes we won by enough they could never get closer than nine in the game and that didn't last long. We need some work defensively, but some of it is the way Coach Kim wants the players to play. When you are all out trying to press a turnover your going to give up some easy baskets, but not the easy drives they were getting on us last night. Refs helped them with some calls when we looked to be defending well part of the game. Happy with the win we haven't won there in a while. Curse broken.

 

[MAD]

Here’s my updated SEC Week 1 standings
Note: I’ll post a full breakdown of the Top 5 later today in another thread.
1. South Carolina
2. Tennessee
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma
5. LSU
6. Ole Miss
7. Alabama
8. Kentucky
9. Missouri
10. Vanderbilt
11. Texas A&M
12. Florida
13. Mississippi State
14. Auburn
15. Arkansas
16. Georgia

Whoa, number 2. Love this.

 

[Volfan2012]

Here is the short little press conference for anyone who has not seen it.

 

[volfan102455]

Good to survive and get the win for sure. Welcome to the SEC, even the lower level SEC. Much, much more difficult up here. Things that worked on the cupcake tour don't work anymore. Disheartening to see us get discombulated and stay that way the whole second half. Couldn't get it reeled back in. But hung on and won a game previous teams would have let get away.

Jewel, man, very timely big game. Not sure we would have pulled it off it not for her. Now just keep it up at least somewhat consistently. In the first half, the half court offense overall looked really, really sharp. Some great passes and ball sharing.

Coop did have herself a Jordy type night w the t.o.s, but she scores in personal runs that keeps us in games. I think she actually needs more consecutive mins against better teams, even if she's coughing it up.

Ruby continues to impress with her steadiness and workmanship. She's such an important cog in the wheel.

Ya'll can cry ref to the moon and back, and have, but we foul alot. Ahella lot. Mostly when our press is beat and we're stuck one on one, out of position, with no help and scrambling. Other times it;s just bad decision making. But obvs, we gotta cut down on that.

Converseley, poor free throw shooting is quickly becoming a big problem for us. I think Spencer is an excellent pg, 8 assists tonight, but her ft shooting is getting worse and I'm afraid she's yipping again. Would not want her at the line in a pressure situation. Not sure how changeable that is this late in her career. Too bad bc she's a gem otherwise.

Not sure Sara can keep getting significant mins. I say bring Latham along instead. Was surprised Tess got so few tonight and none late in the game, but she was getting killed on D early. No worse than Sara though. Not sure how many meaningful SEC mins they can get, esp if Jewel stays hot fm 3.

Zee needs to chill. She's too good and too valuable to take herself out with her mouth. Good to see the vets, Jewel and Spencer, telling her what for after she got the tech. Which she earned with a full quarter of beefing. Focus Zee.

No one could guard Colibaly. Can't believe ya'll are dissing her. She's a hell of a player. Overall, I've never seen TAM fight this hard. Thought they'd get dogwalked after the first half. Lots of piss n vinegar in them the second half. Seemed like they screamed alot. Just screamed. Not sure what that was about. But they def didn't roll over like previous Joni teams. I think this game helps them.

Onward and upward, only gets harder from here.

Very accurate representation of the game and play. The TAM comeback effort reminded me of what happened against FSU.

And we do foul a lot, some of that will happen due to the aggressive defense - but we do need to cut those down. We play so many players, it probably doesn't hurt us in terms of having players on the floor, but in close games free throws will be the difference.