Game Thread: Lady Vols v MTSU, Away, Thurs. Nov 20th, 7:30PM, ESPN+

Never a bad night when the Vols put a tick in the W column. A solid early season performance with a team that has had some minor setbacks (team member dismissed, team member taking time out, etc) that can definitely disrupt rhythm and chemistry. I saw some flashes of brilliance and it was exciting to watch. The shot chart shows no real mid-range shots, mostly in the paint and around the arc. Not a criticism, just an interesting observation. Go Lady Vols!

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Almost perfect shot selection chart. Mid-range is the worst shot in basketball these days.

We had zero from 10-15 foot range which is fantastic IMO.
 
Coach took it well I thought....



They’re really young this season. He knew they didn’t have much chance last night but I don’t think he expected to get his butt beat quite like that at home. He looked perplexed and slack jawed all night.

Daddy’s special boy was freaking out the entire game.

At one point they put in the big girl #13 for just a minute. When she came out Matt had her stand there to say something to her but he never once looked at her and had the NASTIEST look on his face. I just happened to notice the interaction and it looked incredibly immature and unprofessional. She went back to her seat with her head down. Not how you build confidence in a freshman who literally played 2 minutes.
 
Almost perfect shot selection chart. Mid-range is the worst shot in basketball these days.

We had zero from 10-15 foot range which is fantastic IMO.

Yep. I was so annoyed with Janiah against Belmont taking that stupid fade away jumper from the elbow. She did a much better job getting all the way to the rim last night. Had a better game because of it.
 
Almost perfect shot selection chart. Mid-range is the worst shot in basketball these days.

We had zero from 10-15 foot range which is fantastic IMO.
I would rather see the ladies go 5/10 from mid range than 1/13 from 3 .... People get so caught up into the 3 point shot... Michigan State (Men) made it to the Elite 8 last season and were a mid range ,drive to basket team.. if people love this new age jack up the three's era. More power to you...
 
Anyone else think the refs call some of these strange fouls because they are winded by the tempo? No t sure if it affects their judgment or they think calling something will stop their lungs from burning.

With this offense the refs can definitely intervene and disrupt the tempo.

I do think they struggle to keep up with the pace and make calls anticipating what’s going to happen rather than allowing the play to occur.
 
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I would rather see the ladies go 5/10 from mid range than 1/13 from 3 .... People get so caught up into the 3 point shot... Michigan State (Men) made it to the Elite 8 last season and were a mid range ,drive to basket team.. if people love this new age jack up the three's era. More power to you...

Oof. I would not lol. You’re way more likely to get the rebound and putback off a missed three than a missed middy and our spacing is awful when a player is trying to work the midrange. Doesn’t work at all with our 5 out offense.
 
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Oof. I would not lol. You’re way more likely to get the rebound and putback off a missed three than a missed middy and our spacing is awful when a player is trying to work the midrange. Doesn’t work at all with our 5 out offense.
We don't have to prefer the same things...
 
Don’t get your hopes up for seeing mid-range play from us though. It’s not at all what Kim wants.

Agreed. Kim's shot quality hierarchy appears to be Layup > 3to10 Foot Bunny > Uncontested 3 > Contested Mid-Range Jumper > End of Shotclock Prayer. (which I also agree with)
 
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I'm not the Analytics type of person... Team should play to what their strengths are, driving to basketball and mid range game... The occasional dagger from 3 is just icing on the cake for me...

One thing that another person just posted. The team needs to practice Free Throws all day long but as usual Freshman are horrible Free Throw shooters..
Teams certainly giving us the three. MTSU had the paint clogged up was really hard to get through that traffic. We had so many good looks from the three just terrible shooters so I figure just keep jamming up the paint if you are an opponent until they prove they can hit enough threes to make you come out and guard more. Spearman has to find her game she is shooting 29.2 percent and three percent is pathetic. Overall 47 percent cause we made 69 percent of two point shots. Really all the threes we took were not bad shots for a player that can shoot. We don't seem to have that or at least the right players shooting the majority of them. Hard to turn down a wide open three, but we may need some players to start doing it.
 
Agreed. Kim's shot quality hierarchy appears to be Layup > 3to10 Foot Bunny > Uncontested 3 > Contested Mid-Range Jumper > End of Shotclock Prayer. (which I also agree with)

Spot on.

UCONN is one of the few teams that utilizes the mid-range game really well but they have consistently had superior shooting talent. Geno reels in the girls with good shooting touch like nobody else.
 
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At no point did I say we did. :)

Don’t get your hopes up for seeing mid-range play from us though. It’s not at all what Kim wants.
No and she is not going to reel anybody in that can't shoot them well and that is the bigger problem. I'm not against any three shot we took last night just some of the shooters taking them. I know that don't matter to her and she is going to let them keep shooting if they are open. Still it is a huge offensive problem.

I guess the way to get around it is to play defense like we played last night in the half court. If the other team can't score you don't need to score as much.
 
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No and she is not going to reel anybody in that can't shoot them well and that is the bigger problem. I'm not against any three shot we took last night just some of the shooters taking them. I know that don't matter to her and she is going to let them keep shooting if they are open. Still it is a huge offensive problem.

I guess the way to get around it is to play defense like we played last night in the half court. If the other team can't score you don't need to score as much.

She truly believes they’re going to start falling and I truly hope she’s right. She must be seeing it in practice because she keeps saying it.

So far this team has rebounded their missed threes better than last year. Lord knows they had more practice with all the misses lol
 
I'm sure he didn't inside, but you have to put on a good face when you get beatdown like that game was over before the half ended.

Was really over the first 4 minutes when we started on a 16-0 run and turned them over about 6 times.

The style really does remind me of Pat’s teams. You didn’t always know when it was going to happen but you KNEW they were going to go on a big run at some point. They would often bury teams like this in the first few minutes and then basically run practice the rest of the game.
 
She truly believe they’re going to start falling and I truly hope she’s right. She must be seeing it in practice because she keeps saying it.

So far this team has rebounded their missed threes better than last year. Lord knows they had more practice with all the misses lol
I'm fine with taking thirty four and just making two or three more as that probably is going to be the difference in beating some of the better teams. Some of the people she thinks they are going to start falling for have been better than this season let's hope they find it again. Spearman was around 30 last year 20 this season. Robertson career average of 33 percent shooting 19 for us. Just those two who are averaging like 6 a game making one more each would put us in a better position. Prawl made one last night is just 1 for 11 on the season she was around 34 percent in high school. I do think she is going to break out sure last night upped her confidence.
 
I'm fine with taking thirty four and just making two or three more as that probably is going to be the difference in beating some of the better teams. Some of the people she thinks they are going to start falling for have been better than this season let's hope they find it again. Spearman was around 30 last year 20 this season. Robertson career average of 33 percent shooting 19 for us. Just those two who are averaging like 6 a game making one more each would put us in a better position. Prawl made one last night is just 1 for 11 on the season she was around 34 percent in high school. I do think she is going to break out sure last night upped her confidence.

Nailed it. If those three can each shoot their normal percentage things look a lot different.

Nya and Deniya are still getting used to the pace and the system.

Zee truly just seems to be in her own head since the Ruby deal. Kim has been riding her HARD too. I know they got close last season and Kim expects more of her. I swear every time there was a time out Kim was storming toward Zee and giving her the business. That also reminds me of Pat, if she believed in you and you weren’t living up to expectations she was all over your butt.
 
I suppose I'm in the wrong place, I'm not into the analytics era in sports... I guess you guys really get into the hockey stat +/- also... How about WAR? I care about WINS.....

Have a good day.. basketball holiday tournaments start today.
 
I suppose I'm in the wrong place, I'm not into the analytics era in sports... I guess you guys really get into the hockey stat +/- also... How about WAR? I care about WINS.....

Have a good day.. basketball holiday tournaments start today.

Can I interest you in WIN SHARES? Win Shares (WS) is a basketball statistic that estimates how many wins a player contributes to their team over a season by combining their offensive and defensive contributions. The sum of a player's offensive and defensive win shares gives their total win shares, which, when added together for all players on a team, should roughly equal the team's total wins.

Screenshot 2025-11-21 114446.jpg
 
I can't tell y'all how pleased I am with what I've seen out of the Pauldos and Civil - straight up ballers, those 3. Prawl looks like she's about to click as well.

Agreed. I’d like to see Civil shoot it more. Kim said she really dialed in her three over the summer and the small sample has looked great.

She’s crazy athletic as well. Love her game.
 

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