The Lady Vols put as much preparation as possible on a day at home to prepare to play Gamecocks on Thursday, which will also be the game “Live Pink, Bleed Orange” in Knoxville to raise awareness of breast cancer with players wearing special clothes pink t-shirts.
No. 21/21 Tennessee (12-5, 6-3) is happy to be home after an extended stay in the state of Texas because of the snow and ice storms that interrupted air travel on Sunday. The team coped without heating or hot showers at times, the bus as a classroom for heating and power supplies, and finally a flight home on Tuesday arriving in Knoxville that night.
This left Lady Vols one day to prepare for No. 2/3 in South Carolina (17-2,12-0) with the denunciation scheduled for 7:02 pm Eastern (TV: SEC Network) at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Home Sweet Home ??!
Very grateful to be back in Knox, but also for the Lady Vol family! It was a total team effort during this trip! I thank all of our coaches, staff and managers going further! And our players were amazing – the BEST attitudes!
Thank you ?? pic.twitter.com/q6fVwgNSGj
– Catherine Greene (@ cgreene12685) February 17, 2021
Catherine Greene, the basketball operations director for Lady Vols, earned her wings, so to speak, on the trip as she struggled to find a hotel in Houston’s snowy snow – the team had to take the bus over there on Sunday after playing at College A&M at College Station – and put the chartered team in Texas shortly after the reopening of Hobby Airport on Tuesday.
The notes of the game Lady Vols summarized the situation well: An ice storm in Lone Star State made the roads treacherous, but UT arrived safely in Houston only to find that conditions were going from bad to worse. Airports were closed due to bad weather.
Tennessee located a hotel near the airport to spend the night on Sunday and hopefully fly back on Monday. Severe ice covered all surfaces, however, paralyzed Houston and caused a major power outage overnight from Sunday to Monday, including the team’s hotel.
The hotel ran out of power on Sunday night until Monday night, leaving guests without light, heating, hot water, Wi-Fi and charging capacity during a period when temperatures dropped below zero and dropped to 12 degrees.
The team buses were used as study and heating areas, as well as for charging and using electronic devices. Monday breakfast and lunch were prepared by the hotel, and a very kind vendor braved Houston’s icy roads to deliver a hot meal when most restaurants in the area were closed.
On Tuesday, Tennessee was able to travel to a gym, practice and begin preparations to face South Carolina on Thursday night. Houston airports reopened on Tuesday night, and the Lady Vols were finally able to fly home, departing at 6 pm downtown and arriving in Knoxville around 8:40 pm East, about 77 hours and 10 minutes after the start of their journey. to Texas.
.@LadyVol_Hoops he has finally returned from the land of snow and ice and is ready to take on Gamecocks classified as No. 2.
You don’t want to lose this battle at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tickets are still available at https://t.co/v8zE6HROOh.https://t.co/D4CfyfDyvB
– Tennessee Athletics (@Vol_Sports) February 17, 2021
Both Tennessee and South Carolina are behind schedule.
Tennessee just played consecutive road games in Kentucky and Texas A&M. It would have been consecutive if snow and ice had not blocked Magnolia State, as Lady Vols had been scheduled to play at Mississippi State on Tuesday. Tennessee is home to a game and then plays in Georgia and Missouri before ending the regular season against Auburn in Knoxville on February 28.
South Carolina plays in Tennessee before hosting Kentucky and Ole Miss and ending the season at Texas A&M, which is second in the SEC. Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia are fighting for third and fourth places – and the most important double farewells in the SEC tournament – with LSU and Alabama still hovering.
“The intensity for me increases, because any loss has an impact on the SEC, it has an impact on the NCAA tournament,” said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. in an article in The State newspaper. “And for us, we just have to make sure that we’re tightening up on the things we need to do along the way.
“A loss is not devastating. But it’s certainly something we don’t want to feel at this point in the season because it has direct ramifications of where we’re trying to get and what we’re trying to do. “
The Atlanta Tipoff Club released Werner Ladder Naismith’s list of female coach of the year on Wednesday, and trainer Kellie Harper of Tennessee was added to the list, which also includes Texas A&M coach Gary Blair and Staley at the SEC.
An honor for the coach!
Trainer @KellieHarper was added to the 2021 season finale list Werner Ladder Naismith as Coach of the Year.
– Lady Vol Basketball (@LadyVol_Hoops) February 17, 2021
South Carolina is led by the trio of Zia Cooke, a second-year guard from 5 to 9 with an average of 15.7 points; Aliyah Boston, a 6-5 second-year striker averaging 13.6 points and 11.6 rebounds; and Destanni Henderson, a junior from 5 to 7 with an average of 12 points and 5.5 assists. Completing the initial line-up are Victaria Saxon, a 6-2 junior striker (9.9 points) and Brea Beal, a 6-1 second-year guard (8.5 points).
South Carolina remains undefeated in the SEC game, but LSU pushed the Gamecocks to the buzzer in two fights before dropping 69-65 on January 24 and 66-59 last Sunday. LSU is also the only team to score Texas A&M with a SEC loss.
Tennessee’s top scorers are junior Rae Burrell (17.2 points), veteran Rennia Davis (15.1 points) and student Tamari Key (9.5 points).
Second-year student Lady Vol, Jordan Horston, who has struggled with back and foot problems and remains on a day-to-day basis, has had 14 assists and only three turns in the last three games and leads the team with 24 steals. ball. Jordan Walker is second in the team with 18 steals and will be needed on Thursday to help defend South Carolina’s defense, along with freshman Destiny Salary, who often brings a lot of energy to the court.
South Carolina vs. Tennessee and Alabama in Florida are the only SEC games on Thursday night. Missouri was supposed to play Texas A&M, Mississippi in Arkansas and Auburn in Mississippi, but those three games were marked as postponed due to bad weather. LSU will play a late day in Kentucky on Friday afternoon because of weather and travel problems. (UPDATE: The LSU vs. Kentucky game was canceled due to the weather.) Georgia was scheduled to play Vanderbilt on Thursday, but the Commodores opted out of the season in mid-January due to injuries and concerns about COVID-19.
The state article noted that the South Carolina SEC’s final slate means “more immediately, dealing with a Lady Vols squad that hasn’t been ranked as high in February since 2018”. The article also pointed out that “Tennessee is one of the few teams in the SEC and across the country that can match or even exceed the length and size of South Carolina. The average height of Gamecocks is just over six feet, while Lady Vols are over six feet tall. “
A big reason, no pun intended, for this is Key, which is listed at 6-5, but at least 6-6. KeyThe SEC’s score in games increased to 12.3 points per game.
Recording the triple-double room in the program’s history and taking second place in single game blocks, Tamari Key left her mark on the Lady Vols program as just a sophomore.
[ As originally seen on the Kellie Harper Show ] pic.twitter.com/gwwhwFJdqm
– Lady Vol Basketball (@LadyVol_Hoops) February 18, 2021
“My goals for the rest of the season and honestly for the rest of my time here at UT is to keep growing and improving, even if it’s a small thing like getting more boards or getting more boxouts and doing all my free throws,” the second center said. “I just want to be able to improve something, even if small, in every game.”
Harper cited Key’s off-season work in the summer and pre-season in the fall for his elevated play in his sophomore year.
“If Tamari continues to work hard, if we can continue this progression, I really think she could be one of the best players in the country,” said Harper.