Tennessee
Under coach Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt women’s basketball is narrowing gap with Lady Vols
Vanderbilt women’s basketball has won in Knoxville only once in the long history of its rivalry with Tennessee. Even in the days when the Commodores made regular NCAA Tournament appearances and even a Final Four, Thompson-Boling Arena was a house of horrors.
In the 12 years since Pat Summitt retired, the Lady Vols have no longer been the dynasty they once were. But Vanderbilt fell even harder, going from 15 straight seasons in the tournament to a full decade on the outside.
It couldn’t pull out the win Sunday against the Lady Vols, losing 73-64. But Vanderbilt (17-3, 4-2 SEC), which tied the game with four minutes left before Tennessee (12-6, 5-1) pulled away, looks like a team that’s closer to closing the gap than it has been in a while.
“I think there were some missed opportunities, missed open shots, missed layups,” coach Shea Ralph said in the postgame news conference. “We didn’t shoot a free throw in the second half. I’ll leave that there. . . . We didn’t do some things today that we should have and could have done to win the game, and that’s what we have to look at.
“But when I leave here today, I’m going to tell my team, like I did in the locker room, and we fought hard. We competed and we had a chance all the way up until about four minutes left into the game, and then it just kind of fell apart on us. I’m proud of them for that, and I think it’s certainly something that we will take away and build on.”
Ralph has hit big on several transfer additions. Both Jordyn Oliver and Justine Pissott, who joined Vanderbilt from the Lady Vols, have been solid role players who raise the team’s floor. A year ago, Marnelle Garraud and Ciaja Harbison were the team’s two best players in an injury-riddled season. And the recruiting is starting to come through as well.
Of the three-player 2022 freshman class, Ralph’s first full recruiting class, one was dismissed after just one semester, and the other two average less than 10 minutes per game. But the five-player 2023 class already has produced two rotational players in Khamil Pierre and Aga Makurat, and Madison Greene was in that group, too, before her season ended with a torn ACL.
The team still has some holes, and the Lady Vols exposed them. The Commodores’ two main post players, Pierre and Sacha Washington, are 6-foot-2. That’s tough in a league where most teams have a dominant big who is at least 6-4. Vanderbilt was out-rebounded 35-25 and attempted just six free throws, while Tennessee had 18.
“We knew that they were big,” Ralph said. “I felt like there’s some advantages for us as well. But obviously, when you’re not locked into making sure that you’re the first person that’s hitting them . . . that kind of takes a toll. We have to do all the little things right. Especially in the paint, when we’re playing players that are bigger than us, and I thought today we were late getting to spots. We didn’t do a great job boxing out and when we did some of the guards came in and took the rebounds. So there’s certainly some things we can clean up there.”
With 10 games to go in conference play, a 4-6 record likely would get the Commodores an NCAA Tournament berth. They still have a chance to get revenge on Tennessee in the home half of the series, and they have two games against last-place Georgia. Sitting in fourth place in the league, even a double-bye in the SEC Tournament is in play.
The Commodores might not be there quite yet, but Sunday was evidence that they’re getting there. If they continue on their trajectory, this rivalry has a chance for an exceptional second act.
JUSTINE PISSOTT What Shea Ralph said about Justine Pissott’s first game against Tennessee after transfer
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
The Tennessee Titans continue their December woes with a 38-30 loss to the Indianapolis Colts that was considerably worse than the final score line despite a fourth-quarter comeback attempt.
Indianapolis led 38-7 at one point in the third quarter after the Colts scored 38 straight, but 23 unanswered points by the Titans forced Indianapolis to run a four-minute offense to close the game out.
Tennessee (3-12) was done in by the Colts’ 24-point second quarter. Jonathan Taylor finished with 218 rushing yards and three touchdowns as Tennessee’s defense allowed 335 rushing yards overall.
Here are three key moments from the Titans’ Week 16 game:
Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts key moments
Scenario: Titans give Colts good field position after missed 53-yard field goal
Brayden Narveson’s first field goal attempt for the Titans, stepping in for the injured Nick Folk, was from 53 yards in the first quarter with the Titans leading 7-0 with 14:16 left in the second quarter.
Tennessee could have taken a 10-point lead. But Narveson’s kick was short and wide right, giving the Colts the ball near midfield.
The Colts drove down the field after the missed field goal, tying the game on an Anthony Richardson 5-yard touchdown run.
Scenario: Jonathan Taylor’s first touchdown run of the game gives Colts the lead
In a 7-7 game, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor took off for the first of several big runs on Sunday.
Taylor sprinted on zone left run, then cut back and sprinted for a 65-yard touchdown run with 7:25 left in the second quarter. Indianapolis took the lead and never looked back.
Scenario: Kenny Moore’s interception leads to a Josh Downs TD catch, Colts’ 24-7 halftime lead
Mason Rudolph’s telegraphed pass was picked off by Kenny Moore with 1:25 left in the first half, and the Colts quickly took advantage.
Josh Downs took a quick pass on a bubble route and raced past two Titans defenders for a 27-yard touchdown catch just before halftime. Indianapolis led 24-7 at the break, and the Titans’ woes continued.
What Nico Iamaleava said after Tennessee football’s loss at Ohio State
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tennessee’s path to the College Football Playoff had been paved with cold-from-behind wins.
On Saturday night at Ohio Stadium, the Vols didn’t have another comeback effort in them.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
Hindered by an uncharacteristic performance from its typically reliable defense and injuries, No. 9 Tennessee fell behind three scores in the first half against No. 8 Ohio State and didn’t have the offense to make up for it, leading to a 42-17 defeat that ended its season.
The Vols (10-3) had been plagued by slow starts through the first half of the season, more often than not able to find enough life to win.
They did it against Florida, Alabama and Vanderbilt in the triumph that clinched their first-ever playoff berth.
But that kind of start proved costly vs. the Buckeyes (11-2), who posted more than 430 yards of total offense and never came close to giving up their lead.
If there was any positive that could have been gleaned from Tennessee’s performance, it was quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava, at times during those stagnant starts looked very much like a freshman quarterback trying to find his footing as a now full-time starter.
In the second half of the season, though Iamaleava was more poised and the Vols’ began flourish on that side of the ball.
Tennessee didn’t flourish in many areas on Saturday. What small doses of momentum they found almost always involved Iamaleava.
He ran the ball 20 times for 47 yards, extending drive and rushing for both of the Vols’ only touchdowns.
Here is everything Iamaleava said about the performance.
On if he expected to run the ball 20 times
“I mean, 20 (carries). No, I did not expect to run that many times. Some shots that were there, and overall as a team we didn’t just execute the whole game plan, so got to be better.”
On what disappointed him most about the performance
“Just started off slow. We were supposed to come in, had a great game plan to come in and fire first, and they hit us in the mouth first. We were just trying to recover that whole game. First half I thought we did a great job of that, and second half coming in I thought we could have played at a way higher level than we did.”
On what team can take away from loss
“I think just use it as motivation. We’ve been putting in work since January to get to this point, and it sucks to go out that way because that’s not who we are. love this team. I love the team we have. Just the way tonight went was not the way we wanted it to go, and we’ll use that as fuel and motivation during this off-season to really hit it.”
On what Tennessee needs to do to beat better teams on the road
“I think that all just comes to executing on the road. Like I said, our coaches gave us a great game plan, and us as players, as the team, we’re the ones out there on the field playing, and we’ve just got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and execute at a higher level.”
On Dylan Sampson and Dont’e Thornton Jr. dealing with injuries, how it effected the game
“Shoot, at the end of the day, man, whoever is out there, whether it’s a freshman or not, we’ve got to be able to execute the same way with those guys or not, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight.“
On the difference between running an offense at home and on the road
“I would just say there’s a crowd noise that plays a factor in how we play. We can’t play as fast as we want to without tempo, and that’s really the biggest factor was crowd noise.”
On what personnel Tennessee can add to open up the offense
“Obviously in the off-season, me, Coach Joey, and Coach Heup are always have conversations about how we can excel this offense, and it’ll be that in the off-season, too.”
On large contingent of Tennessee fans that were at Ohio Stadium
“I love it. Man, I was so happy to see all the orange in the stands. It sucks the performance we gave out for them, but I hope they get home safe, man. I really appreciate their support.”
The Ohio State Buckeyes’ loss to the Michigan Wolverines now feels like ages ago.
Ohio State went into its first-round College Football Playoff matchup against the Tennessee Volunteers with major question marks.
Will Howard was under fire. The play calling was in the crosshairs. Ryan Day’s job security had become a regular topic of discussion.
But then, the Buckeyes hammered Tennessee by a score of 42-17 to advance to the Rose Bowl for a chance for revenge against the Oregon Ducks.
Ohio State put together arguably its best performance of the season against a very tough Tennessee opponent. The Buckeyes scored 21 points in the first quarter, immediately sending a message to the Volunteers—and the country—that they meant business.
Howard, who looked like a deer in headlights in the regular-season finale against Michigan, stepped up with a significant performance. Yes, there was the red zone interception, but in the end, it was no harm, no foul (he probably shouldn’t do that against Oregon, though).
Jeremiah Smith looked every bit of the phenom we all thought he was heading into 2024. The defense was tremendous. Day? He coached a terrific game.
But the most impressive part of this showing by Ohio State was the resolve that it demonstrated, picking itself up off the mat after a soul-crushing defeat to the Wolverines earlier in the month.
I have to admit: I wasn’t sure if the Buckeyes had this in them. Not after they mustered just 10 points against a far inferior Michigan opponent, a game in which they were physically beaten up.
And considering that Tennessee’s defense was even stingier than Michigan’s this year, I certainly didn’t anticipate that Ohio State would drop 42 points.
Nevertheless, here we are.
A couple of weeks ago, it was beginning to look like the Buckeyes wouldn’t even have a chance against Oregon. Heck, there were some who felt that the Volunteers would beat them.
It wasn’t due to a lack of talent, either. It was more due to the thought that Ohio State lacked an identity and didn’t seem to have the mental fortitude required to win a national championship.
Remember: the Buckeyes also lost to the Ducks earlier in the season as a result of some mental erros and not being able to seal the deal.
So the concerns surrounding Ohio State heading into the College Football Playoff were legitimate.
But the Buckeyes appear to have flipped a switch, and it appears that their tenacity has finally matched their excessive talent.
Now, we’ll see if Ohio State can exact revenge on Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
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