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Nichols: Toughness and togetherness drive Lady Vols in difficult week and South Carolina win

No. 21 Tennessee has experienced quite a roller-coaster in the past few days. But, with how they handled travel changes and bounced back on Thursday night, these Lady Vols have shown resilience that would make Pat Summitt smile.

Jake Nichols

In the past six days, Kellie Harper’s 21st-ranked Lady Vols have experienced quite a journey, with two major turning points for this season.

One point was the result of a three-day hotel/charter bus camp-out, while the other came during a “fiery” intermission in Tennessee’s Thursday night win over No. 2 South Carolina.

But, we’ll get to that speech, as well as the ensuing victory. For this week-long basketball odyssey, we need to start at the beginning.

The initial season-changing crux happened during the 2021 team’s three-day Texas trip, which featured more transportation limits than when Pat Summitt had to drive the team’s bus to away games.

Before a Valentine’s Day tip-off against Texas A&M last Sunday, Tennessee watched film in the concourse at Reed Arena in College Station.

Why? To make use of their time, as they waited for an Aggie campus shuttle after their Sunday morning shoot-around. The team’s charter bus had gotten stuck during one of several ice storms bearing down on the state.

The weather effects wouldn’t stop there, though. After the game, which the Lady Vols lost 80-70, they managed to get back to a hotel in Houston. There, they waited two more days for a flight, since the airport had been shut down due to the freezing conditions.

The Lady Vols’ hotel lost its power on Monday, and, according to a report from Maria Cornelius, the team used its unstuck bus for heat and plug-ins so players could do their schoolwork.

Cornelius’s report also revealed that the Lady Vols had planned to use their new homework station to travel from Houston to Starkville, Mississippi, on Tuesday, in attempt to make up a previously postponed game against Mississippi State.

But the same storm that kept the team in Texas also made travel to Starkville virtually impossible. So, Tennessee improvised.

When they weren’t writing papers, the Lady Vols still managed to create chemistry. They used fashion shows and card games to bond as a team, and players were also able to talk more since “our phones were dead half the time,” per Rennia Davis on Thursday.

Added Harper: “It’s not just that their phones were dead. It’s a long time together. It wasn’t just people having more conversations — we were going through adversity, and we were handling it as beautifully as we could’ve handled it. Together.”

That togetherness “translated to the court,” according to Davis. But to get back to that court, the Lady Vols first had to get out of Texas and back to Knoxville.

They did on Tuesday night.

“Relief,” Harper said, when asked what she felt as the wheels touched down at McGhee-Tyson Airport.

Rae Burrell put her feelings a different way: “I’ve never been so happy to see a dorm room.”

After landing, 21st-ranked Tennessee had just one full day to regroup and get ready for a Thursday showdown with No. 2 South Carolina.

“This was probably the least preparation we've been able to do this year and the team we needed to prepare the most for,” Harper said.

Along with effects from Tennessee’s whirlwind week, that lack of preparation was on full display during Thursday night’s second quarter.

The teams were tied at 16 to end the first period, but the Gamecocks outscored the Lady Vols 21-9 in the second frame. At one point, Carolina increased its lead to 16. That same stretch featured a 31% clip from the field for Tennessee. At the break, Rae Burrell led the team with 12 points, two of which came off a steal-and-score 30 seconds into the game. Davis had no points in the first half.

Before the game, Davis had told her teammates that Thursday night would be their “turning point this season.” And it was, as far as the second 20 minutes. But that switch didn’t flip until the locker room at halftime.

With her team trailing 37-25, Harper didn’t talk schemes. She didn’t go into X’s and O’s, or draw plays on the whiteboard.

Instead, in a moment that sparked the Lady Vols’ second important juncture this week, Harper called her team out.

"I called them soft and told them to put their big girl pants on,” she said.

“We didn't do anything different schematically,” Harper added. “It was all from within. It was fiery in the locker room at the half and they responded.”

That presence of mind, to know what kind of motivation her team needed, is a big part of why the Tennessee coach was recently named to the 2021 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year watch list.

Harper’s message clicked, too — especially for Davis.

“She said we were playing soft, and I took it personal.” Davis said. “My first half — I just wasn't doing enough for the team. I took it personal and my teammates did too. We came out there and I thought we grew up in the second half."

Tennessee outscored South Carolina 28-17 in the third period, pulling within one at 54-53. Davis had 13 points in that stretch, and she continued the barrage in the final quarter.

The senior finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, all in the second half. She tied the score at 62 early in the fourth period, and a 6-0 UT run finally created some separation. Tennessee pushed its lead to 70-65 off a Jordan Horston layup, and two free-throws from Davis put the Lady Vols at a seven-point advantage with 51 seconds left.

Burrell nabbed another big steal with 48 seconds to go, forcing a game-clinching turnover. She finished with 19 points, but it was Davis who connected twice more at the charity stripe before Horston netted the final point. Horston was the third Lady Vol in double figures, as she pitched in a 12-point effort with no turnovers.

Meanwhile, Aliyah Boston led South Carolina with a double-double of her own, 17 points and 16 rebounds.

Between the travel delays through Tuesday and the tale of two halves on Thursday, Tennessee endured an interesting week. And, in special uniforms for “Live Pink, Bleed Orange” night, the Lady Vols rewarded themselves with a win and celebration like no other.

Jordan Horston carried the wet floor sign that has now become as normal as the masks worn on the sideline. 

Lady Vols huddled together, with Davis in the middle.

And, in the same locker room where she had questioned her team’s fortitude at halftime, Harper ended the night in those same players’ arms.

Courtesy of Tennessee Athletics
Courtesy of Tennessee Athletics

The full, dizzying sequence can be seen below in a clip on Harper’s Twitter account:

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According to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme, Tennessee’s win bumped the team to a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament standings after initially being slotted as a four-seed. UT’s victory also snapped the Gamecocks’ 31-game conference win streak, and it avenged the Lady Vols’ 21-point loss in Columbia last season. Moreover, Thursday’s win notched Tennessee’s fourth win over a ranked opponent this season, and it gave the Lady Vols their first win over a Top-5 opponent since beating No. 2/4 Texas 82-75 in Knoxville on Dec. 10, 2017.

The win also gave Harper the biggest comeback win of her Tennessee career, and it netted a sweep against USC for the Tennessee hoops programs. The men’s team took down the Gamecocks Wednesday night, while the Lady Vols did the same thing 24 hours later.

Fittingly, Tennessee men’s coach Rick Barnes and Director of Athletics Danny White were waiting to congratulate Harper as she walked off the floor. According to Ben McKee of Rocky Top Insider, the two had watched the entire game from the tunnel.

New football coach Josh Heupel also offered his congratulations, emphasizing the message of a united, supportive front in Tennessee Athletics.

Numerically, the win also gave Rennia Davis the 36th double-double of her career.

But, like Harper’s halftime speech was about more than schemes, the Lady Vols’ win was about more than numbers.

It also showed the growth this team has experienced, from last year in South Carolina, to the past week in Texas and Tennessee.

“Our team has not made excuses,” Harper said. “We’ve stepped up and handled anything in our path. I’m as proud of that as anything else. All that matters. How you carry yourself matters.”

Even Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley noticed, as she was asked the biggest difference between last year’s Lady Vols and this year’s team.

"The biggest difference is that they're disciplined,” Staley said. “And they kept fighting."

"They flat out beat us,” she added. “No if, ands, or buts about it. They put us on our heels."

Davis offered similar remarks: “We just kept fighting. I think that will take us further than anything this year.”

That competitive nature could carry the Lady Vols well, as Davis mentioned. But it also gives Harper a nice cushion, knowing the type of effort she’ll get from her team every night.

“We haven’t won every game, but we have fought,” Harper said. “We’re competitive, and we play hard. I know I’m going to get those two things. I don’t know where our execution or defense will be. But those two things I can count on with this basketball team.”

To say that dependability is valuable would be an understatement. It’s an embodiment of the Lady Vols’ way, of the way Pat Summitt coached.

Barnes mentioned after his team’s loss to LSU that he’s at the point where he truly doesn’t know which Tennessee team he’ll see each night. That’s terrifying, even after the Vols bounced back against the Gamecocks.

So for Harper to have that kind of confidence in her team’s effort, night in and night out? It’s huge.

Up next, the 21st-ranked Lady Vols will travel to No. 22 Georgia on Sunday. To avoid a letdown after the win on Thursday, Harper said her team will have to refocus quickly.

"You enjoy this,” she said. “You let it spark you a little bit, and then you get focused again. One of the things we've talked about all season – and a lot of it was dealing with COVID-19 and not knowing what was going to happen – was how resilient we were going to have to be. Whatever was in our path, we were going to have to handle. You go on the road, and you've got to handle it. I think it's really important that we are locked in. We've needed to get a little bit of practice in and hopefully, that will help us be prepared to go play a really good basketball team. They're playing great. Georgia's playing really well right now."

But Tennessee is, too — well enough that we could see a Lady Vols SEC Tournament run.

If you’re interested in traveling to Greenville, South Carolina, for the tournament, ticket options can be found here.

After that, though, is the NCAA Tournament, and both the men’s and women’s tournaments are doing a bubble format. The men’s tourney will be in Indianapolis, while the women’s clash will be at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

To get to their most important tournament, the Lady Vols will board a plane at the same airport that welcomed them home on Tuesday, and they’ll look to extend their stay in a state they were so happy to leave earlier this week.

Airplane travel marks quite a contrast from the days when Summitt would bus her team to games.

Still, through the obstacles they faced on Tuesday and Thursday, these Lady Vols have shown toughness and togetherness that would make Pat Summitt smile.

Their coach certainly has.

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Jake Nichols
JAKE NICHOLS