Lady Vols stumble in SEC tournament again
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s dominance in the Southeastern Conference regular season has not translated into tournament success.
The top-ranked Lady Vols (26-3) were bounced from the SEC tournament Saturday after losing in the semifinals for the third time in four years. In the last four seasons, the Lady Vols have gone 55-1 in the regular season, but 5-4 in the tournament.
Poor bench play, turnovers and the lack of a true point guard hurt the Lady Vols’ latest bid to win the tournament for the first time since 2000 and probably cost them their No. 1 ranking.
Coach Pat Summitt said the team had a meeting before its 68-66 overtime loss to No. 20 Georgia to try to fix some problems.
“I thought we had the longest team meeting to date that I’ve had at any time in tournament play because I saw it coming,” Summitt said. “And if we hadn’t have had that meeting, we might not have been as close as we were.”
Tennessee has been shoring up the point guard position by committee since Loree Moore was lost for the season in January after tearing a ligament in her left knee.
That plan has not gone as well as Summitt would have liked.
“We don’t have a true point guard, and I will tell you this team has done a great job of covering that up,” she said Saturday.
Senior Tasha Butts has taken on most of the load with others helping handle the ball. One of those helpers is Brittany Jackson, who missed three games at the end of the regular season with a sprained right knee ligament. She played sparingly in Tennessee’s regular season finale, but was back to near normal for the SEC tournament.
Georgia coach Andy Landers said Tennessee might look and play the same as they did with Moore, but he thinks the team is very different.
“What happens when you lose Loree or Jackson, it’s not about moving someone into the lineup. You have to reinvent your team,” he said. “I did not think that they would be able to get (through) the regular season the way they did.”
“There have been three different Tennessee teams this year.”
The Lady Vols won their seventh straight SEC regular-season title after going 14-0 in league play. Despite their ability to win, Tennessee did not play like the dominant Lady Vols of years past.
They pulled out a 67-57 win over Mississippi State in the quarterfinals despite 23 turnovers, compared to a season-low seven for the Lady Bulldogs.
Tennessee had 23 again against Georgia, and starting center Ashley Robinson totaled six points for both games.
“I don’t think this basketball team is going to go very far if the guards don’t take care of the ball and we don’t have a low block player,” Summitt said.
The Lady Vols’ four reserves combined for 15 points in both tournament games. Freshman Sidney Spencer, Jackson, Tye’sha Fluker had been key in several games this season.
“Our players coming in are not as productive as they have been,” Summitt said. “Those three players factor in when you are having to play back-to-back games.”
The Lady Vols have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA tournament.
“We need to get better as a team,” leading scorer Shyra Ely said. “These next two weeks are crucial.”
Tennessee will find out March 14 if their early exit from the SEC tournament will cost them a No. 1 seed. Summitt believes her team’s strength of schedule — once again ranked first in the nation — should be enough.
“No one in America plays this schedule,” Summitt said. “If this costs us, then I’ll have to rethink our regular season (schedule). I’ll play a patsy schedule like some of these other teams.”