Game Thread: Samford v Lady Vols, Tues Nov 5th; Home-FCC; 6:30PM; SEC+ network:,,, Win 101-53

[Coach Jumper]

Samford
v
Lady Vols

At FCC, Knoxville, TN
Nov 5 (Tue)
6:30 P.M. ET

Opponent: Samford​

• Date: Tues., Nov. 5
• Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. ET
• Venue: Food City Center
• Watch: SECN+
• Radio: Lady Vol Network
• Online: Live Audio, Live Stats
• History

Score Predictions: (closes at 30 min before the game)
@Coach Jumper LV's 110 Samford 55
@chuckiepoo 118-57
@VolBalls33 97-51(-4+-2=-6)
@gule Lady Vols will win,,,"too many to not enough"
@Orange Maniac 101-47(0+-6=-6)
@Mafiaboss 96-40
@Volfan1000 96-57
@newladyvolfan 94-54
@dillyo51 97-49
@Rooster1 126-51

From Hoops Central:

KNOXVILLE -- RV/RV Tennessee officially tips off its 2024-25 campaign and the Kim Caldwell era on Tuesday night at Food City Center, welcoming Samford to Knoxville. The teams will meet at 6:30 p.m. ET in a contest streamed live on SECN+. The matchup also will be available via audio broadcast on Lady Vol Radio Network stations and UTSports.com, as well as on SiriusXM satellite radio channel 374.

This will mark the first-ever meeting between the Lady Vols and the Bulldogs. UT carries a 72-20-1 all-time mark vs. current members of the Southern Conference into the contest.

KIM CALDWELL ERA BEGINS

• SHE'S A WINNER: The Kim Caldwell era begins at Tennessee with a coach who has won an astounding 87.5 percent of her games. Caldwell is 217-31 in eight seasons as a head coach, including 149-13 (.920) in conference play.
• HER TEAMS HOIST TROPHIES: Kim Caldwell's teams have won seven regular-season conference championships and five tournament titles in her eight seasons as a head coach, including a sweep of Sun Belt Conference trophies last season while at Marshall. Her 2021-22 team at Glenville State claimed the top prize, winning an NCAA Division II national championship.
• FAST & FURIOUS: In her eight seasons as a head coach, Kim Caldwell's squads have played full-throttle basketball, pushing tempo and playing downhill on offense and employing aggressive, full-court defense. The result has been a fun style of play to watch, with her high-scoring teams forcing many turnovers, scoring in transition, shooting and making lots of threes, and crashing the glass and excelling in offensive rebounding while keeping players fresh with frequent substitutions.

WHO'S BACK

• SPEAR, PUCKETT RETURN: Guard Jewel Spear (13.1 ppg., 69 3FGs) and forward Sara Puckett (9.9 ppg., 4.9 rpg., 38 3FGs) return as the only Lady Vols to start all 33 games a year ago.
• ARC ACE DARBY BACK: Returning for her fifth season is guard/forward Tess Darby (5.2 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 44 3FGs), whose 170 career treys rank No. 5 in program history. She has started 73 games and played in 113 for UT entering 2024-25.
• EXPERIENCED DEPTH: Four other experienced players return, led by 6-5 forward Jillian Hollingshead (4.6 ppg., 4.5 rpg.), who earned eight starts in 2023-24. She is joined by guard Destinee Wells (6.8 ppg., 3.5 apg.), who is returning from a season-ending injury, and guards Edie Darby (1.1 ppg.) and Avery Strickland (0.9 ppg.), who seem to fit Caldwell's style of play.
• WYNN OUT FOR THE YEAR: Kim Caldwell announced on Oct. 22 that senior guard Kaiya Wynn was lost for the season due to a torn Achilles in her right leg. Wynn, who averaged 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in 33 games as a reserve last season, has expressed her desire to return next season.

WHO'S NEW

• IMPACT TRANSFERS: Caldwell added five transfers via the portal, filling needs in the areas of scoring, rebounding, defense, size, athleticism, experience and depth.
• ADDING STARTING EXPERIENCE: Guard Samara Spencer (13.9 ppg., 3.5 apg., 40 3FGs), guard Ruby Whitehorn (12.3 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 25 3FGs) and forward Alyssa Latham (8.6 ppg., 7.0 rpg., ACC All-Freshman) were productive starters at Arkansas, Clemson and Syracuse, respectively.
• TWO MORE VETERANS: Zee Spearman (6.3 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) and Favor Ayodele (4.7 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) were part-time starters at Miami and Pitt, respectively. Ayodele grabbed 10 boards nine times and previously was a two-time JUCO All-American.
• A PAIR OF HIDDEN GEMS: While not new to the team, lightning-quick guards Talaysia Cooper and Kaniya Boyd will make their debuts on the court after redshirting in 2023-24. Cooper, a transfer from South Carolina, was the No. 18 recruit in the 2022 class. Boyd, meanwhile, was rated No. 35 in the 2024 class and enrolled early at UT in January 2024 after suffering an injury prior to her senior year of high school.

LADY VOLS IN OPENERS

• During the modern era (1974-present), the Lady Vols are 45-5 all-time in season openers over the past 50 years, including 29-3 at home, 8-2 on the road and 8-0 at neutral sites.
• Tennessee possesses a 47-3 all-time record in its first home contest of the year through 2023-24.
• The Lady Vols have won 24 straight times in their first appearance at Thompson-Boling Arena and have been victorious in that case in 41 of their past 42 campaigns.
• The Big Orange women are 40-10 in their first road game of the season after falling at Florida State, 92-91, on Nov. 9, 2023.
• The Lady Vols are 11-5 in those games when facing a ranked team after last year's FSU contest.

KIM CALDWELL IN OPENERS

• Kim Caldwell is 7-1 in season-opening games, including 0-0 at home, 2-1 on the road and 5-0 at neutral sites.
• This will mark the first time one of her teams has ever opened a regular season on its home court.
• Caldwell was 0-1 in season openers at Marshall and 7-0 at Glenville State.
• She is 7-1 in the first home game of a season all-time, including 1-0 at Marshall and 6-1 at Glenville State.
• Caldwell is 6-2 in her squads' first road contest, including 0-1 at Marshall and 6-1 at Glenville State.

LOOKING BACK TO OUR EXHIBITION

• The Lady Vols forced 43 turnovers on 30 steals, hit 19 three-pointers and eclipsed 30 points in every quarter en route to a 135-49 exhibition win over Carson-Newman in Kim Caldwell's debut as Tennessee's head coach.
• With an announced crowd of 9,613 looking on at Food City Center, the Big Orange tied for the second-highest exhibition game point total in program history. Standing first on the list is a 144-52 win over Dynamo Kiev on Nov. 5, 2000, and tonight's output matched a 135-55 UT triumph over Carson-Newman on Nov 6, 2008. The only better production from Tennessee women's basketball all-time came via a 136-26 regular-season blowout of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on Nov. 29, 2002.
• Junior guard Ruby Whitehorn was sensational in leading six Big Orange players in double figures, firing in 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting.
• Fifth-year guard Jewel Spear and junior forward Zee Spearman contributed 17 each, while redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper, junior forward Sara Puckett and redshirt freshman Kaniya Boyd chipped in 16, 14 and 13, respectively. Spear finished five of 11 beyond the arc, while Whitehorn was four of six from deep.
• Cooper also led Tennessee with eight steals, while Boyd was tops in rebounds with seven, and senior guard Samara Spencer dished out eight assists with no turnovers in her debut. UT finished with 26 assists on 49 buckets, committing only nine turnovers on the night.
• Carson-Newman, picked to win NCAA Division II's South Atlantic Conference, was led by Jennifer Sullivan with 15 points.

NOTABLES FROM THE LAST GAME

• Exhibition History: UT is now 53-5 all-time in preseason exhibition games, with the only losses coming to the Soviet National Team (1979), Athletes in Action (1992) and the USA National Team (1995, 2007, 2023). In the post-Pat Summitt era, UT is 13-1 in preseason exhibition games, defeating Carson-Newman 11 times (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024) and both Georgia College (2021) and Coker (2012) on one occasion each. The only loss was to the USA Women's National Team in 2023.
• First-Time In Orange & White: Transfers Ruby Whitehorn, Samara Spencer, Talaysia Cooper, Favor Ayodele and Alyssa Latham, and redshirt freshman Kaniya Boyd made their Lady Vol debuts during the exhibition contest. The six new faces combined for 84 points, 30 rebounds, 17 assists and 22 steals during Tennessee's triumph.
• Ruby On A Roll: Junior Ruby Whitehorn impressed during her opening performance as a Lady Vol, totaling 29 points. The 6-foot guard fired in 13 points in the first quarter, nine in the second frame, two in the third and five in the fourth. The Detroit, Michigan, native showed great touch from the arc, knocking down four out of six three-point attempts.
• Dropping Thirties: Throughout the game with C-N, the red-hot Lady Vols posted 30 points or more in every quarter of play. The Big Orange tallied a total of 31 points in the first quarter, 33 in the second quarter, 41 in the third quarter and 30 in the fourth to finish the game. The Lady Vols also surpassed 100 points for the 15th time in 19 exhibition games vs. the Lady Eagles.

UT/SU SERIES NOTES

• Tuesday's contest will mark the first-ever meeting between Tennessee and Samford in women's basketball.
• The Lady Volunteers have forged a 72-20-1 all-time mark vs. current members of the Southern Conference.
• The Bulldogs join Western Carolina among SoCon programs UT is set to meet during the 2024-24 campaign.
• Samford is one of three teams the Lady Vols face from the state of Alabama this season. The others are Auburn (Feb. 13) and Alabama (Feb. 20), which Tennessee is scheduled to play at home this season.

A LOOK AT THE BULLDOGS

• The Samford women's basketball team has been picked to tie for third in the 2024-25 Southern Conference preseason poll. The Bulldogs finished 14-16 overall, including 6-8 in league play to finish in sixth place.
• Sophomore guard Kennedy Langham was named to the 11-member 2024-25 Preseason All-SoCon Team.
• Langham produced an outstanding freshman season in 2023-24, earning a spot on the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team after playing in all 30 games and starting 13.
• She averaged 8.2 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, scoring in double figures 10 times and tallying 20 or more points on two occasions.
• Langham is among three starters and six total returning letterwinners for Samford.
• Guard Sadie Stetson started 30 games in 2023-24, averaging 8.7 ppg. to rank as the team's second-leading scorer.
• Emily Bowman, a 6-foot-5 center earned 28 starts a year ago and put up 7.9 ppg. and 8.5 rpg. while blocking 74 shots.

ABOUT SAMFORD'S HEAD COACH

• Carley Kuhns is in her sixth season at Samford, forging a 72-75 record there.
• She is 138-104 in nine years as a head coach, beginning her career at Valdosta State, where she was 64-29 in three seasons at the helm.
• Kuhns is a three-time conference coach of the Year, earning distinction at Valdosta State in 2017 and picking up accolades in 2020 (co-coach of the year honors from the media) and in 2021 (unanimous).
• In her first season as Samford's head coach in 2019-20, Kuhns engineered a dramatic turnaround. After winning just 10 games the season before, the Bulldogs went 18-14 in Kuhns' debut campaign.
• Despite being picked seventh in the Southern Conference's preseason poll in 2019-20, the Bulldogs won a share of the SoCon regular-season title, the first in the history of the program.
• Samford then won the SoCon Tournament in 2020 for just the third time in program history. With that triumph, the Bulldogs earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the tourney was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

[chuckiepoo]

118 LV 57 Bulldogs

 

[knoxvol52]

Massacre enough said..

 

[gule]

84-82 unohoo

 

[VolBalls33]

UT 97 Samford 51

 

[BruisedOrange]

[image reposted]

 

[Mafiaboss]

84-82 unohoo

 

[Mafiaboss]

LV 96 Samford 40

 

[lvocd]

@Coach Jumper

If you like this and want to use it, I can also send you one for each opponent this season.
View attachment 694051
Just let me know, and we can figure out how and where to send 'em.
Or just do it like this, copy & paste, and then I'll delete my post.

(I'd been testing an open source photo editing program with a new Perspective add on, so it's just a bit o' fun for me.)

Perspective is everything. I happen to be a Photoshop expert, and the perspective tool is invaluable.

 

[BruisedOrange]

Perspective is everything. I happen to be a Photoshop expert, and the perspective tool is invaluable.

I used it daily for over a dozen years, but after I left that career, my Photoshop license eventually expired. So this paint.net 5.0.13 has been a more primitive but workable chance to get those skills back.

"There can be no democracy without memes." ---Thomas Paine

I kinda miss the old software days, when features were fewer but you could trick it into doing what you needed.

 

[lvocd]

Like I said the other day, ideally Samford comes into Knoxville tomorrow and exposes at least one weakness in the Lady Vols at some point in the game. Obviously Tennessee should, and I think will, win by a good margin, but my hope is our staff and players come away with a victory AND at least a few minutes of film that will help them in some small or big way going forward. A buzzer-to-buzzer lightning-paced shellacking would help as far as building on game conditioning is concerned, but I hope for a little more than that.

 

[Orange Maniac]

LV 101 to PUPS 47

 

[lvocd]

What are people thinking might happen tomorrow night as far as attendance is concerned? I'm guessing the game being on Election Day could affect attendance, which is why I am going to make the drive up to Knoxville come Hell or high water. I want to be in the crowd for the first official game of the Kim Caldwell era, and I hope there are a lot more people with that same goal. I would love so much if, even against Samford, the opener could draw 10,000 or more in the arena.

Anyone hearing any numbers/estimations?

 

[BruisedOrange]

What are people thinking might happen tomorrow night as far as attendance is concerned? I'm guessing the game being on Election Day could affect attendance, which is why I am going to make the drive up to Knoxville come Hell or high water. I want to be in the crowd for the first official game of the Kim Caldwell era, and I hope there are a lot more people with that same goal. I would love so much if, even against Samford, the opener could draw 10,000 or more in the arena.

Anyone hearing any numbers/estimations?

Screensaved at 2:45pm Monday from Ticketmaster site. Don't know the actual numbers, but if anyone wants to count 'em... Pink are verified resale tickets, blue are standard admission.

Everyone should feel safe attending the game Election Night. No riots should start for a couple of days, and Tuesday night results won't mean anything until the overnight, "suddenly discovered," and mail-in ballots show up in the counts Wednesday morning.
(*See Moldova, where yesterday they voted for peace, but when overseas ballots were counted last night, the NATO war party won. I'm not making a partisan comment--it's happening all over the world, and Left or Right, we're all equally screwed by it. )

 

[lvocd]

Thanks, BruisedOrange. Unfortunately, looks like there are way more great seats available than I'd hoped for. Once again entities are scarfing up rows of tickets to try to make money offof them, and then way too many of those seats are empty at gametime. As I've said before, I know quite a few people who would go to games if those seats weren't already sold for re-sale. It stinks for the average fan.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Tennessee had more fans at the exhibition game than I’m seeing at some of these televised games today.
I’m not worrying about the crowd at all for tomorrow’s game.
Ticket sales have already set a record for the first time since the 2017-2018 season!
GBO!

 

[lvocd]

Tennessee had more fans at the exhibition game than I’m seeing at some of these televised games today.
I’m not worrying about the crowd at all for tomorrow’s game.
Ticket sales have already set a record for the first time since the 2017-2018 season!
GBO!

The worry I have, KnoxLikeUs, is whether most of those extra tickets sold this year are going to be those that were bought by people/entities who won't actually end up filling the seats on game day. Some billionaire could buy 21,000 tickets, but if there aren't fans sitting in those seats at game time then that's a meaningless "sell-out."

 

[Mafiaboss]

What are people thinking might happen tomorrow night as far as attendance is concerned? I'm guessing the game being on Election Day could affect attendance, which is why I am going to make the drive up to Knoxville come Hell or high water. I want to be in the crowd for the first official game of the Kim Caldwell era, and I hope there are a lot more people with that same goal. I would love so much if, even against Samford, the opener could draw 10,000 or more in the arena.

Anyone hearing any numbers/estimations?

I’ll be there. That’s 2 of us confirmed.

 

[Coach Jumper]

@Coach Jumper

If you like this and want to use it, I can also send you ones for the rest of the season.
(The Vandy and Kentucky look especially nice, and Texas' burnt orange looks weak and pathetic next to the LV Lambo.)
View attachment 694051
Just let me know, and we can figure out how and where to send 'em.

(I'd been testing an open source photo editing program with a new Perspective add on, so it's just a bit o' fun for me.)

Love it,,,added it and will use it going forward,,DM me at the other soc media and I will give you my email for future use

 

[glv98]

What are people thinking might happen tomorrow night as far as attendance is concerned? I'm guessing the game being on Election Day could affect attendance, which is why I am going to make the drive up to Knoxville come Hell or high water. I want to be in the crowd for the first official game of the Kim Caldwell era, and I hope there are a lot more people with that same goal. I would love so much if, even against Samford, the opener could draw 10,000 or more in the arena.

Anyone hearing any numbers/estimations?

Weeknights are a problem, esp if it isn’t a quality opponent. Election won’t have an effect. Prob about 6000, depending on how many tix they give away.

Lack of Sunday afternoon games this year is puzzling and disappointing

 

[brittannica]

Weeknights are really hard! Next semester two nights a week I teach until 7, and I can't justify ending class early for a game. I also have to imagine that the enthusiasm about a new season is tempered by it being Samford. I think the day, time, and opponent have way more influence than the election. We will be there this week though!

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

The worry I have, KnoxLikeUs, is whether most of those extra tickets sold this year are going to be those that were bought by people/entities who won't actually end up filling the seats on game day. Some billionaire could buy 21,000 tickets, but if there aren't fans sitting in those seats at game time then that's a meaningless "sell-out."

I see what you’re saying.
The vibes are just different now.
Even the game commentator kept talking about the good turnout for the exhibition.
I’ve seen more fans at that the LV exhibition game than all the national televised games today. These ACC and SEC games on today also haven’t had bigger crowds than the LV exhibition crowd.
Not saying this is you, but some folks are going to complain about the crowd no matter how many fans show up tomorrow night.
This is the Kim Caldwell era.
Fans are ecstatic for the start of LV basketball.
GBO!

 

[RespectAPA]

Samford's roster and coaching has some experience with Grinnell System basketball already — their 2022 and 2023 seasons featured early games against Troy, a team that runs a variant of the same system that Kim runs.

That said, they do run it a bit differently, and those differences might make any comparison Samford wants to make between Troy and Tennessee moot. Obvious thing: we'll run the press with way more athleticism than Troy does. Collect loose balls with way more athleticism. Shoot the ball way better. Etc.

The other thing is, although their system is inspired by the Grinnell System tree, they don't do the hockey shifts that Kim has done at Glenville State and Marshall, and now with Tennessee. Against Samford, 5 Troy players had at least 25 minutes, 4 of those 30 minutes+. I suppose Troy's coach doesn't feel that they have the depth to implement that part of the system, but we do: and that means that Tennessee's press will be significantly more lethal on Samford than Troy's press was [Samford only had 18 turnovers against Troy in 2023, 12 being Troy steals] thanks to SEC athleticism + 110% effort for 2 minutes of play, not having to conserve.

Either way, though, it's notable that Samford held Troy to well below their season average in scoring. Both their 2023 and their 2022 meeting with Troy had Troy scoring almost 20 points fewer than their ~82 point average. That might have been early season sloppiness on Troy's part, perhaps.

With all that said, I expect Samford won't find much value out of comparing Troy's system to Tennessee, but it is possible that they learned something from their two games against Troy that will have them give us a little bit more trouble than C-N was able to give us.

We still score a bunch of points, though. We aren't Troy, our shooters put the ball in the hoop. And we have the depth to dominate this game for a full 40 minutes.

UT - 120
Samford - 75

Fans may recall that we saw that Troy last year. 100-73 win for Tennessee, and notable because they actually scored more against us than they did against Samford, those games being back-to-back at the start of the season. 73 vs Tennessee, 61 vs. Samford. Still less than Troy's season average in points, but Samford arguably did better defensively than we did. How much they can replicate that against an arguably similar system will decide how close the margin ends up being.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Not sure who needs to hear this but Tennessee is a completely different team than last season.

 

[glv98]

Attendance listed for the CN exhibition as 9600 which would be phenomenial for a weeknight scrimmage.

Didn't look anywhere near that on TV; tickets sold and attendance reported no longer have alot of relation to butts in the seats.