For the first time since 2007, The Lady Vols’ long decade losing streak to the Huskies has finally come to an end as the state of Tennessee glory of dominates is back again.
The rivalry between UConn and Tennessee dates back to 1995 when the two programs led by Coach Summitt and Auriemma meet in Connecticut that would eventually lead to multiple matchups in non-conference and NCAA Tournament Championship games. The battles were intense and physical for the players and coaches.
National Championship is the most important part of standard for both teams that is about competitiveness, winning and being unstoppable in college basketball. Tennessee has eight championships, and the Huskies have 11 national titles.
Both programs are also known for establishing players to becoming professional athletes and winning championships. Huskies and Vols are the top two colleges to have many players drafted in the WNBA and Basketball Hall of Famers.
For many years the rivalry between two best programs would hold off until 2020 when the Lady Vols made their way back to Connecticut to renew the rivalry. The renew brought back old fans and welcomed new fans to embark the high tempo game between two outstanding teams go to work.
UConn Huskies leads the overall series 17-9 along with winning the last four matchups of the renewed rivalry giving them bragging rights in the series.
Last night’s 80-76 win for Tennessee brings new hope for a program experiencing a new identity and playing style that is different than the Summitt way. The Vols in the last couple of years have fell apart from their standard since Pat Summitt retired and passed away with alumni coaches like Holly Warlick and Kellie Harper who have continued to utilize their system and trying to incorporate the standard.
Now, Kim Caldwell enters her first season as the head coach introducing her playing style that can resonate to the program but is a change for the future. She leads the Vols with an overall record of 16-6 (SEC 4-5) which is the best start by a first-year head coach in program history.
The hockey rotation lineup that Caldwell uses is very new to many basketball fans but has a method of resting players and utilizing the minutes that a player performs. She uses up to ten players a game and every person that sees the court does not play more than 30 minutes of the game.
The depth of the Vols allows them to spread the scoring between the players that will get more field goals attempts and a lot of points on the board. Caldwell believes that if her team has more field goals made or attempted and rebounds than their opponent, they will possibly win the game.
The Lady Volunteers are playing well against ranked teams this season that has made the committee question how Tennessee is able to keep up against amazing teams. Most of the matchups have come down to the wire where the team has either lost or won the game by being competitive.
Tennessee’s thoughts of going into the game against the Huskies was they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make the game interesting rather than getting blown out. They needed to start of the game pretty well and not giving UConn easy chances to play with efficiency.
The Vols eventually fell out of sorts with the turnovers and missed free throws that let the Huskies take the lead building an advantage throughout half the game. Tennessee still kept in close distant with UConn and began to come out in the third with attacks to the rim in back-to-back possessions. Lady Vols was feeling like they were going to win with a lead ending the third quarter after a 7-2 run from their great guard performance.
Tennessee had a mission to finish the next ten minutes while the Huskies who were prone with foul trouble from some of their best players knew that they were going to make a comeback. The Huskies came out clutch to begin the fourth and Tennessee played critical for every possession.
Once UConn tied up the score, the Lady Vols needed to regroup to put an end to this game and avoid being forced to go into overtime to finish the job. Tennessee remained clutch for every last second of the game and played aggressive that limited the Huskies time from scoring.
The buzzer sound goes off to ignite the crowd and Lady Vols to celebrate in happiness that defined the odds of showing how talented this group played against a tough team. Tennessee now gets the last word of the series this year until the next time these teams run into each for a rematch.
This win is not just important to the program but the state of Tennessee that is known for playing great basketball and honoring the culture that has been down for a decade. The glory has emerged for the team and is going to help them for the rest of the season as they get back into conference play.
Tennessee looks to win more games this season and prepare for the conference tournament next month where they have the chances of winning the title. Lady Vols also hopes that this big win against the Huskies could put them in the hosting bid than being a road team in the NCAA Tournament.
