Tennessee Lady Vols vs. Alabama Crimson Tide: 7 PM EST
by David Hooper on Jan 6, 2011 6:00 PM EST
in Lady Vols Basketball
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January 6, 2011
Thompson Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN 7:00 PM EST TV: CSS Internet Audio: Lady Vols Network Live Stats:GameTracker |
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13-2 |
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11-3 |
2011 started off well for the Ladies with a victory in Baton Rouge against their traditional SEC rival LSU, and Tennessee now looks to follow up the win with a second against Alabama in the friendly confines of Thompson Boling Arena. Meanwhile, Alabama is coming off a stinging loss to Auburn and looks to get back on track in the conference. This game highlights the difference between Tennessee and all but a handful of schools in the nation, as the following overview of the rosters will show.
| Position | Name | Experience | Height | PPG | RPG | APG | |
|
G | Angie Bjorklund | Sr | 6-0 | 11.3 | 3.3 | 2.7 |
| C | Kelley Cain | Jr | 6-6 | 8.6 | 5.4 | 0.7 | |
| G | Meighan Simmons | Fr | 5-9 | 16.2 | 2.9 | 2.1 | |
| G-F | Shekinna Stricklen | Jr | 6-2 | 10.1 | 6.5 | 2.1 | |
| F | Taber Spani | So | 6-1 | 8.5 | 4.5 | 1.1 | |
|
G | LaToya King | Sr | 5-4 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 3.0 |
| F | Tierney Jenkins | Sr | 6-0 | 18.9 | 11.4 | 1.6 | |
| G | Ericka Russell | Jr | 5-7 | 10.7 | 2.5 | 1.4 | |
| F | Katie Hancock | Sr | 5-11 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 1.4 | |
| F | Kaneisha Horn | Fr | 6-1 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 0.7 |
Let's start with the positive for Alabama: they start three seniors who have all had good careers for the elephant. They have a remarkably low turnover rate on the year and shouldn't be expected to be sloppy with the ball. However, they will have a very difficult time matching Tennessee's size, particularly with UT's recently-voracious perimeter rotation. The Tide does have a 6'-4" junior in Carmen McCoy, but she averages only 9 minutes a game in relief and can't be expected to take on whichever of Cain, Johnson, Brewer, or Baugh are on the floor without some help.
Alabama's offense is, in two words, Tierney Jenkins. The gal averages a double-double and is far and away their most productive player. Most assists are on baskets that she scores, and her rebounding is the only reason the Tide have outrebounded their opponents on the year (610 to 600). Stop Jenkins and you stop Alabama. It's really that simple.
Fortunately for Alabama, they're a defense-first team. Their opponents have averaged 63 points a game off 39% shooting, along with 26 turnovers per game. Tennessee has so many offensive weapons that Alabama will have a very difficult time defending them all, but Alabama can disrupt passing and cut down the number of effective possessions that Tennessee has if the Lady Vols don't make smart decisions and show that they value each possession. I don't think Alabama can keep up with Tennessee's interior at all, so their only hope is to keep the ball from ever getting inside, then contesting the shots from the perimeter shooters. If it turns into a fast-break game, Alabama won't stand a chance. In the halfcourt, Alabama will have much better odds. Whether those odds are enough will be the story of the night.
There's not much to say of this game that you can't already guess. Alabama has a 11-3 record, but it has come against far weaker competition than the Lady Vols (hence the difference in rankings). This is Tennessee's game to win or lose, as the talent differential is just too large for Alabama to win without significant miscues by the Lady Vols.
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Wait, is Glory injured?
Just caught Spani in at the 5. I’d be surprised about that unless Glory’s out.
I put that because the media package listed Spani as the probable starter.
I think they like having Glory and Cain on opposite shifts.
Thanks!
I was just going off of the dulcet tones of Mickey Dearstone.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:11 PM EST up reply actions
I don't
anticipate the Lady Vols having any problems in this game
Final score predicions?
Not saying we can count chickens before they hatch, but the eggs are cracking.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:17 PM EST up reply actions
You just can't
get way behind the Lady Vols and hope to come back.
It's such a talent advantage against most teams.
The Ladies are good, but they tend to look fantastic against overmatched teams. But yes, this game is basically over.
With 13:45 left in the first half.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:19 PM EST up reply actions
Dang
This is starting to look like the men’s game vs. Memphis last night!
She's stepped up her play a bit lately.
With that being said, she’s good enough to start on 98% of teams, so this isn’t surprising.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:30 PM EST up reply actions
These announcers
are wording things strangely, making their statements ambiguous
except for when
Griner totally dominates her
Well, yes.
But Griner also generally plays a foul-free game (if only because refs have no clue how to deal with her).
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:39 PM EST up reply actions
But she's
6-8!!!!!!11one! It’s hard to see that high.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:42 PM EST up reply actions
I'd be surprised if it wasn't.
110 may not be out of the question.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:39 PM EST up reply actions
I wonder what it was back when it was 24-6.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:43 PM EST up reply actions
At 24-3, there was 12:16 left in the first
which is pace for 124 – 16. (Rounding the half-point up for Bama)
Not sure a recap is worth the effort.
I could Babelfish the word ‘toast’ into half a dozen languages.
Maybe a picture of a steamroller.
A shot of an elephant with the cartoony-huge eyes. Then a picture of roadkill.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:48 PM EST up reply actions
If Glory's figured out how to score....
Yikes. Sky’s the limit.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:52 PM EST up reply actions
58-22 at the half.
I do believe that’s another Alabama National Champsionship.
by David Hooper on Jan 6, 2011 7:53 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Yikes
I don’t recall many 1st half performances like that against SEC opponents
This is absurd.
And I say this having seen this team.
Where was this performance against Baylor?
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 7:55 PM EST up reply actions
Cool.
I’ll bet somebody a hundred that she can score 40 in a game. Then I’ll bet her fifty that she can’t. ;-)
Go figure that Alabama has more offensive rebounds than defensive (11/8).
Tennessee’s shooting 60%, for starters.
Other eye-poppers:
14-17 from the line. Alabama hasn’t shot a freebie yet.
6 fouls on UT (2 on Kamiko), and 13 on Bama (3 on Tierney).
Alabama 5:8 A/TO ratio. Tennessee 14:3. Still needs work.
UT 6/12 from three; UA 4/12. (So UA has 10 non-trey points.)
With some strong rebounding in the second, there are 5 players with a realistic shot at a double-double.
Stricklen, Simmons, Spani, Cain, and Johnson.
Or, y'know, Simmons can pick up an assist.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 8:03 PM EST up reply actions
I had actually thought about going to this game.
Decided to stay home, mostly because one car has a bad transmission (workable but still…) and the other is trapped by a downed power line (not touching, but just a few inches off the back bumper). Glad I stayed home.
it looks like there is almost
Nobody at the South Carolina/ LSU game. I mean, like 1500 people maybe
Oh, good GRIEF.
I just now found the Assists/Game calculated in the stats. That was the one stat I’ve had to calculate by hand for the preview table. A whole year and a half with that. Yeesh.
haha
there were only 183 people at the game vs. Providence College. Are players/coaches/media counted?
It's an offshoot of their tipoff play.
Caught the replay, missed Glory’s block. Was off booking something.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 8:27 PM EST up reply actions
To tell the truth
this is starting to get boring
There's only so much beatdown you can take, I understand.
This has ceased to be a game and has turned into a scrimmage.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 8:30 PM EST up reply actions
They are going to have
to start calling those flagrant
Right now, the margin suggests a 33-minute cushion of safety for the Ladies, according do Bill James.
So I’m guessing it was near halftime.
And Tennessee's used more timeouts (2) than Alabama (1).
That tells me that this isn’t the best they can do.
/low whistle
which would mean they gave up before the first media timeout
or they would have used at least one by then.
Heh. She was refusing to sit down and let the students have their fun.
Stood behind the water cooler all the way to the media timeout.
I don't think they expected to be competitive in Knoxville.
Also, I have no clue when they’d call the TO. 12-3? 24-3? The game was basically over before it started.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 8:45 PM EST up reply actions
Which, to me, is the Holy Grail of basketball lineups.
I’d love to see five guys who all earn the Trill mark.
Alabama's record
shows just how much difference there is between the upper echelon of women’s bb and the mid-level teams
Yup.
It’s getting better with time, but it’s still not particularly close.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 8:57 PM EST up reply actions
LSU has the ball
with 13 seconds to go, still tied
south carolina
stole a pass and were fouled with 2 seconds to go
Alabama respected her scoring too much.
I didn’t know she had it in her to make defenses pay for that, but that was big news and a very welcome sight.
As was Glory actually showing a few offensive moves.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 9:10 PM EST up reply actions
Kamiko, despite Summitt's stinkeye, is much improved this year.
Give her one more off-season, and she and Simmons will make an awesome guard combo.
Yeah, she'll fill in nicely.
Huge improvement from season 1 to season 2.
by Chris Pendley on Jan 6, 2011 9:09 PM EST up reply actions
That will be the fastest backcourt in Tennessee's history.
And if Glory continues to improve, it’ll be like watching Sonic on the court.
Rucker noted that nobody got 20.
He failed to note that the starters were pulled shortly after the opening tipoff.
For the Glory Johnson block of the night, go to ESPN3's replay
here (new window). Then fast forward to the 1:18:00 mark, which is right around the 16:00 mark of the second half. She screws up the inbound pass but makes a block that sounds more like a volleyball spike.
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