Since the turn of the year, Tennessee had lost five games by a combined 15 points. Four of those losses came against top-10 teams as the Lady Vols sought their first marquee victory in the Kim Caldwell era.
They fell by one against Oklahoma, two to LSU, four at Texas and seven vs. reigning national champion South Carolina. Tennessee was clearly good enough to take down a premier program, but for one reason or another, the win never quite materialized.
But rivalries can bring the best out of a team, and that’s exactly what happened Thursday in Knoxville.
UConn and Tennessee are the winningest schools in the sport, combining for 19 national championships. But the Huskies had the upper hand in the series, winning four straight meetings since the rivalry was renewed in 2020.
That changed with Thursday’s 80-76 Tennessee win, its first against UConn since 2007. The Volunteers finally broke through while also ending UConn’s slim hopes of running the table and possibly snagging a No. 1 seed.
Three reasons why Tennessee got its first win over UConn since 2007
Isabel Gonzalez
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