After the dust settled from Sunday night’s women’s selection show, it was revealed that the Tennessee Lady Vols postseason streak had moved to 44 consecutive appearances, dating back to 1982.
After the dust settled from Sunday night’s women’s selection show, it was revealed that the Tennessee Lady Vols postseason streak had moved to 44 consecutive appearances, dating back to 1982.
While the seeding position may not be ideal for head coach Kim Caldwell and her team, it’s still a fair position after the rough end to the season. They will gear up to face the No. 7 seed N.C. State.
The Lady Vols finished the season with a 16-13 record, but more notably, the team had lost 10 of its last 12 games, including a second-round loss in the SEC Tournament to Alabama.
The conference record wasn’t any better. UT finished with a .500 record of 8-8 and was marked as the conference's sixth seed.
That’s all in the past now, though, and the Lady Vols are in dire need of a win to stop this bleeding that has lasted for over a month now. With the losing streak at seven games, the team’s next opponent is a familiar face.
The Wolfpack entered the season with similarly high expectations, just like the Lady Vols. The two schools were ranked at eight and nine, respectively, in the preseason AP poll, with the Lady Vols being the higher-ranked of the two.
The two teams have already met once this season, in the first game of the season, for that matter, as they duked it out for the RO Greensboro Invitational.
While it was the first game of the season, and both teams have taken drastic turns since then, there are still things to look out for. The Wolfpack defeated the Lady Vols in a tight 80-77 finish.
Since that game, the Wolfpack (20-10, 13-5 ACC) has also been on an up and down trend, but finished the season winning five of their last seven games, before losing to Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament.
It wasn’t necessarily a pretty game on the offensive end for either team during the first contest. Both of the two schools shot just around 39% from the field, while the Lady Vols made just 9 of their 33 3-pointer attempts on the night.
The Wolfpack most notably has the same five starters from game one, healthy and ready to go against the Lady Vols.
Vanderbilt transfer Khamil Pierre has led the team in scoring this season with an impressive 16.2 points per game while shooting 52.6% from the field. While she isn’t a three-shooter, her presence is felt in the paint with her 12 rebounds a game.
Junior guard Zoe Brooks joins Pierre as the second-highest scorer on the team. She finished the season averaging 16.3 points a game, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists to go with.
During the first meeting of the two schools, Pierre led the way with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Tilda Trygger and Zamareya Jones followed her with 19 and 18 points each.
The two teams officially meet again on Friday, March 20th at 8 p.m. ET.