No. 18/15 Tennessee (22-7/11-5 SEC), which earned a No. 3 seed by virtue of its outright third-place regular-season finish, will open play in the quarterfinals on Friday night at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
The Lady Vols, who are a No. 3 seed for the second year in a row and have earned at least a share of third place in the standings all three seasons under Kellie Harper, will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of game nine at Bridgestone Arena (approximately 8:30 p.m. CT/9:30 p.m. ET). UT will face No. 11 Alabama (17-12/6-10 SEC). In head-to-head match-ups this season against the Crimson Tide, Tennessee won on Dec. 30 in Knoxville, 62-44, and fell, 74-64, in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 17.
Tennessee enters the tourney after a ferocious, fourth-quarter comeback that nearly enabled it to take down #8/8 LSU before falling 57-54 in Knoxville on Sunday. UT used a 13-0 final-frame run that put it in position to earn its sixth win over a ranked team in 2021-22, but it came up just short.
Despite losing three players to injury who were starters a year ago (Marta Suárez, Keyen Green and Jordan Horston) and playing with another (Rae Burrell) who suffered a knee injury in game one that has hampered her explosiveness, Kellie Harper‘s squad has continued to display a grittiness and ability to compete against elite level teams.
After opening 18-1, UT is 4-6 over its last 10 as it has learned to adapt to personnel/on-court leadership absences, rotation changes and loss of size and depth. Efforts against Missouri, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Mississippi State and LSU have demonstrated, however, a resolve and competitiveness that make Tennessee a team that is still a challenge to play.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
- Courtney Lyle (play-by-play), Carolyn Peck (analyst) and Steffi Sorensen (reporter) will have the call for the SEC Network telecast.All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
- The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network radio stations and by audio stream, with Mickey Dearstone behind the microphone for his final regular-season home game. He will be joined by studio host Bobby Rader.
- A link to the live audio stream can be found on each game’s Hoops Central page or the Lady Vol schedule on UTSports.com.
- For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click on the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on Vol Network Affiliates.
- Air time for games on the Lady Vol Radio Network generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
TENNESSEE IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT
- Tennessee is seeking to capture its league-leading 18th SEC Tournament championship trophy. UT was victorious in 1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
- The Lady Vols were runners-up on six occasions, including 1982, 1990, 1991, 1995, 2003 and 2015.
- UT last advanced to the title game in 2014 and 2015, winning in 2014 as a #2 seed, 71-70, over #4 Kentucky and falling as a #2 seed to #1 South Carolina, 62-46, in 2015.
- Tennessee enters Friday night’s game with an 81-25 (.764) all-time record in the 43rd year of the SEC Tournament.
- The Lady Vols are 37-5 all-time in their opening game of the SEC Tournament and are 26-11 in their second contest of the tourney.
- UT is 23-11 all-time in SEC Semifinal games and 17-6 in SEC Championship games.
- The Big Orange women are 26-9 in SEC Tournament play since 2007-08.
- Tennessee has had 15 SEC Tournament MVPs through the years.
- Isabelle Harrison (2014), Glory Johnson (2012), Shekinna Stricklen (2011) and Alyssia Brewer (2010) were the past four MVPs from Tennessee.
- The Lady Vols won the very first SEC Tournament title in 1980, defeating Ole Miss, 85-71, at Stokely Athletics Center in Knoxville.
SEC TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
- This marks the SEC Tournament debut for five Lady Vols, including Alexus Dye, Brooklynn Miles, Sara Puckett, Karoline Striplin and Kaiya Wynn.
- Wynn attended Ensworth High School in Nashville until her family moved to Texas prior to her senior year, and sophomore Tess Darby hails from Greenfield, Tenn., which is 144 miles to the west of Music City.
- This is the third SEC Tournament for Kellie Harper and her coaching staff while at Tennessee. UT was 1-1 in both 2019-20 and 2020-21 for a 2-2 mark.
- Kellie Harper had an 11-1 record at the SEC Tournament during her time as a student-athlete at UT with postseason tournament titles in 1996, 1998 and 1999. The only loss was in the 1997 semifinals.
- Rae Burrell has played in six SEC Tournament games, averaging 17.0 ppg. in her opening games the past two seasons.
BACK IN NASHVILLE
- This marks the seventh time the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament has occurred in Nashville, including 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2018 and 2022.
- Tennessee claimed championships in three of those seasons (2008, 2011, 2012).
- Candace Parker, Shekinna Stricklen and Glory Johnson were the SEC Tournament MVPs for each of those Lady Vol title teams.
- UT has a 12-3 record in SEC Tournament games played in Music City entering the 2022 event.
- This will mark Kellie Harper‘s first game leading UT as a head coach at Bridgestone Arena and her first appearance ever representing the Big Orange at an SEC tourney in Nashville, as the women’s tourney didn’t make its first visit to the city until 2002.
- The last time the Lady Vols played at Bridgestone Arena in 2018, they were a No. 7 seed and defeated No. 10 seed Auburn, 64-61, in the second round before falling to No. 2 seed South Carolina, 73-62, in the quarterfinals.
RECAPPING THE LAST GAME
- No. 16/14 Tennessee closed out the game with a 13-1 run to pull within two in the closing seconds but came up just short, falling to No. 8/8 LSU in Thompson-Boling Arena, 57-54, on Senior Day.
- Tennessee (22-7, 11-5 SEC) was led by junior Tamari Key, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Senior Rae Burrell and graduate Alexus Dye were also in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively.
- Jailin Cherry was the top scorer for LSU (25-4, 13-3 SEC), posting a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Khayla Pointer and Autumn Newby were close behind with 12 points each.
- Prior to the game, Burrell, Dye and Keyen Green were recognized on The Summitt. Mickey Dearstone, the longtime radio voice of the Lady Vols, who was calling his final regular-season game at Tennessee, also was honored before tip-off.
NOTABLES FROM OUR LAST CONTEST
- ROWDY ON ROCKY TOP: A season-high 11,613 fans attended Sunday’s contest against No. 8 LSU. It was the largest crowd at a Lady Vol game since Feb. 16, 2020, when 12,738 fans attended the match-up with Texas A&M. It was UT’s third home game this season with 10,000 or more fans in attendance.
- TRACKING TK: With three blocked shots against LSU, Tamari Key moved into sixth on the SEC all-time single-season list with a total of 108. She pulls within five of Kelley Cain, UT’s single-season leader, who stands at 113.
UT-UA SERIES NOTES (POTENTIAL OPPONENT)
- The Lady Vols hold a 52-8 all-time record vs. Alabama, dating back to Jan. 22, 1977.
- After the Tide halted a 42-game UT winning streak by claiming five straight from 2016 to 2019, Tennessee has struck back by winning three out of four meetings under Kellie Harper.
- Against the Crimson Tide, the Lady Vols are 24-1 in games played in Knoxville, 19-4 in Tuscaloosa and 9-3 at neutral sites.
- UT is 16-3 vs. Alabama in Coleman Coliseum, losing for the first time there on Feb. 16, 2017, 65-57.
- From 2011-16, the Crimson Tide women played in Foster Auditorium, where UT was 2-1, including a 54-46 loss on Feb. 25, 2016.
- Prior to the 2016 UA victory, the last Alabama win was on March 3, 1984, at the SEC Tournament in Athens, Ga., by a score of 85-66.
- The other came at the 1981 SEC Tournament, as the Tide knocked off #10-ranked Tennessee, 77-71, on Jan. 30.
- Kellie Harper is 4-3 vs. Alabama as a head coach, forging a 1-1 mark vs. the Tide while at NC State, a 0-1 record as Missouri State’s coach and a 3-1 edge at Tennessee.
- Harper (then Kellie Jolly) was 7-0 vs. Alabama as a player at Tennessee.
- Alabama director of operations Brian Johnson is a 2016 Tennessee graduate who served as a manager on the Lady Vol staff for four seasons.
RECAPPING UA’S PREVIOUS GAME
- The Crimson Tide women’s basketball team advanced to the 2022 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, after No. 11 Alabama upset No. 6 Georgia, 74-62, in the second round at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Thursday. The Crimson Tide improved to 17-12 (6-10), while the Bulldogs dropped to 20-9 (9-7) in 2021-22.
- Alabama has won five of its last six games, including the last three straight games.
- Seniors Brittany Davis and Megan Abrams combined for 50 points in the second round, the second game the season the pair have come together for at least 50 points.
- Davis paced the Crimson Tide with 26 points on 9-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-6 from the arc. She added five rebounds and five steals in 39 minutes of action. Abrams tacked on 24 points – her second straight game of logging at least 20 points – on 7-of-16 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. She added seven rebounds.
LAST TIME UT & UA MET
- No. 12/8 Tennessee ran into a hot-handed Alabama team on Feb. 17, falling 74-64 to a Crimson Tide squad that hit 10 threes and shot 45.5 percent on the night.
- Junior Tamari Key led UT (21-5, 10-3 SEC) with a season-high 20 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Rae Burrell and junior Jordan Horston were also in double digits with 13 and 12, respectively.
- Megan Abrams was the high scorer for UA (12-12, 4-9 SEC) with 27, and Brittany Davis turned in 23.
- UT lost Jordan Horston to a serious injury late in the fourth quarter.
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