It’s safe to say that there have been prettier days for the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball program, and head coach Kim Caldwell’s patience has begun to wear thin.
It’s safe to say that there have been prettier days for the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball program, and head coach Kim Caldwell’s patience has begun to wear thin.
The Lady Vols, since Jan. 29, have played four contests, three of which were against conference opponents, while the other game was played against the top team in the nation, UConn.
During the four games, the Lady Vols have found themselves on the losing side in three of them, all of which the team lost by at least 15 points or more.
Digging deeper, against UConn and South Carolina, the team lost by a combined score of 73 points. The loss to the Gamecocks on Sunday was marked as the worst loss in program history.
"Win your next game,” Caldwell said after the loss to South Carolina. “Win your next game. It's embarrassing. We're embarrassed. Win your next game."
There is a standard that the team has been trying to keep since the arrival of Caldwell last season, which was that Tennessee women’s basketball was still a force to be reckoned with.
While things started strong in the 2026 season, the Lady Vols were riding a seven-game win streak into Jan. 29, before the losing skid began. This was an SEC schedule top-heavy with bottom-feeders in the league. The ultimate reality of the slate is that the back half will be brutal.
After the 93-50 loss to No. 3 South Carolina, Caldwell was not the most open book, but at the same time, he revealed all that was needed to locate what was going wrong.
"They have to fix it,” Caldwell said. “They have to decide they want to fix it."
The team has lacked a true form of leadership this season, as upperclassmen such as Talaysia Cooper, Janiah Barker and Zee Spearman were all expected to take big roles, with Cooper contributing defensively and Spearman often energizing the team during slumps. However, no player has consistently set the standard or provided the vocal direction the team needs.
While the three on their own accord have had some success, it’s been more often than not been at different occasions. After the record loss, Caldwell essentially made the point that the ball was in her players' court, and that it’s on them if they want to turn things around.
"I don't necessarily know that they're sitting there defeated,” Caldwell said. “I don't know that. I do know we don't have the leadership we need player-wise. We've talked about it for a couple of weeks. It can come from anyone, anywhere, but we do need somebody who is respected and does things the right way to step up and lead this team from a player standpoint."
If anything, the team’s underclassmen have brought more effort to the court in the last few contests, including Mia Pauldo and Jaida Civil. Even after Pauldo struggled against South Carolina, scoring no points through 24 minutes, Caldwell still saw effort from her freshman.
"I don't think she made bad plays," the coach said. "I think she still played hard. I just think her shot didn't fall tonight. And we are better when she's better."
It was a rough road trip to say the least, but now the Lady Vols return home for a meeting against a familiar face, former Lady Vols head coch Kellie Harper and her Missouri Tigers come into town on Thursday night.
The Lady Vols have seven more games on the schedule before postseason play, including the Tigers matchup. Five of the seven will come against ranked teams, so the team can’t bank on the toughest matchups being behind them.
If there’s a time for the top of the team to step up, it’s now.
“It will be nice to get back home,” Caldwell said. “We have been on the road. It doesn't get any easier. That needs to be a reset game for us. We need to go. We need to play hard and continue to move forward. We have a lot of SEC play left. We can't linger on this one."