Lady Vols beat Tennessee State despite turnovers, poor offensive effort

Call it a hangover from a big win over No. 15 Notre Dame or call it sloppy play.

It certainly wasn’t the offense that propelled the Tennessee women’s basketball team to a 73-43 victory over Tennessee State (1-1) on Thursday night.

The Lady Vols (4-0) made a paltry 27 of their 65 shot attempts and shot just 26.3% from three-point range.

Even still, it’s Tennessee’s largest margin of victory this season.

"I thought we were a little slow out of the gate," Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. "Our energy and effort was a little bit lower than it needed to be to start the game. I know a lot of technical things that I feel like we can do better, and we will.

"This may be a learning experience after a win, instead of a loss."

Turnovers remain an issue

At the end of the first quarter, the Lady Vols had more turnovers (six) than made shots (four).

The same problem stuck around in the second half, as the Lady Vols finished with 19 turnovers, 10 of which were unforced errors.

Turnovers have been plaguing this young Tennessee team all season. Against Notre Dame, the Lady Vols had 28 turnovers to 25 shots made and still managed to win the game.

"At times, we play so ahead of ourselves," UT forward Rennia Davis said. "We try to make the home run play a lot of the times. ... I think a lot of our turnovers are unforced, so that's all on us."

With 76 total turnovers now this season, Tennessee has turned the ball over more than 15 times in three of its four games.

Tennessee gives up offensive boards

For the fourth game in a row, the box score indicates that Tennessee won the rebounding battle against its opponent, 60 boards to 38. 

But closer inspection shows that Tennessee State was able to pull down a concerning amount of offensive boards, with 18. Those 18 offensive rebounds led to 14 second-chance points for the Lady Tigers. 

Tennessee State's tallest player was 5-foot-11, while the Lady Vols have only one player under 6-foot. They were able to pull down 21 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 second-chance points.

"I think tonight wasn't one of our better games," Tennessee forward Lou Brown said. "I think we were a little bit unfocused and that kind of showed at the start."

Davis earns SEC honors

Davis was named the SEC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Tuesday. She matched a career high in points with 33 to lead the Lady Vols to victory against the Irish.

Davis averaged 16.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game during Tennessee’s first three games. She had 12 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday.

"We're just trying to stay consistent," Davis said. "That's something we're still working on."

Next up

Tennessee continues a six-game homestand Tuesday, welcoming Stetson to Thompson-Boling Arena at 7 p.m.

The Lady Vols beat Stetson 65-55 last season in Knoxville.