Lady Vols vs. Auburn, 2 PM

TV/Stream: ESPNU / WatchESPN

Radio:  He gonna be grumpy today.

Stats:  "Stats"

First, let's get the overview of Auburn out of the way.  They're currently #64 in RPI with a notable conference-opening win over Kentucky and mentionable wins over Minnesota and Boise State.  Of their 4 losses, MSU is understandable, but Florida Gulf Coast is a head-scratcher.  They had a lot of starters graduate last year, leaving Tra'Cee Tanner as the only name you likely recognize on first reading.

The starting five will almost certainly be Brandy Montgomery, Tra'Cee Tanner, Katie Ferking, Janiah McKay, and Jessica Jones.  Tanner's the main rebounder (8/game), Montgomery the lead scorer (17.7/game), and Ferking sorta leads the assist department with 3 per game.  Nobody's a real three-point thread: Montgomery gets 34% (which, to be fair, qualifies as an outright sniper in Knoxville), but only four players have even attempted to shoot from downtown.  This will simplify things tremendously for Tennessee: once Auburn's in the halfcourt, they're not prone to play Morgan-Eye-heroball.

Pace-wise, they're very average.  The same applies for points per possession and points allowed per possession.  They don't get to the line a lot, meaning they're a team that can be stifled into a lack of production if the defense can key in on them properly.

All that said, the elephant in the room is the Lady Vols offense.  This game is simple: if UT can have something resembling offensive production for more than one quarter, they have a really good shot to win.  If they do whatever the heck they did against Florida, it'll let Auburn stay in the game.  They've shown the offense, just not with any sort of consistency - between games or within games.  At this point, it's anybody's guess if Tennessee will play well with the ball.

Prediction: 64-55 Tennessee. Oh, come on.  Like you saw that Florida loss coming.