The Lady Vols will have to wait a little longer for their next ranked showdown. Tennessee’s road matchup at Ole Miss, originally set for January 26, has been postponed due to severe winter weather impacting the region.
What was shaping up to be a marquee SEC battle between No. 17 Tennessee (14-3, 6-0 SEC) and No.
18 Ole Miss (17-4, 4-2) will now have to be rescheduled. The game was initially slated for a 7 p.m.
ET tip at SJB Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi, then bumped up to 4 p.m. in an attempt to beat the weather. Ultimately, the conditions proved too disruptive, and the game was officially postponed on January 25.
A new date and time will be announced later.
For Tennessee, the delay comes in the middle of a critical stretch. The Lady Vols are undefeated in SEC play and had been building momentum with back-to-back wins over Alabama and Kentucky - their first two ranked wins of the season. The matchup with Ole Miss was set to be their third straight against a ranked opponent, a rare opportunity to stack quality wins and boost their NCAA tournament profile.
Here’s where it gets tricky: Tennessee doesn’t have any open dates left in its SEC schedule. Each team gets two during the conference slate.
The Lady Vols already used one on January 15 and filled the other with a high-profile road trip to UConn on February 1. That means rescheduling this game will require some creative calendar maneuvering - or risk losing a key résumé builder altogether.
Still, there’s a potential silver lining. The unexpected break gives Tennessee a few extra days to get healthy, particularly when it comes to senior forward Janiah Barker.
Barker, a crucial piece of the Lady Vols’ frontcourt, missed the Kentucky game on January 22 after taking a shot to the face late in the fourth quarter against Alabama. She didn’t return to that game and was officially listed on the SEC injury report, though she was present on the bench during the Kentucky win.
With the next game now set for January 29 at home against Mississippi State (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+), Tennessee has a little more breathing room. Whether that’s enough time for Barker to return remains to be seen, but the Lady Vols will welcome any extra recovery time as they prepare for the back half of their SEC schedule - one that only gets tougher from here.
For now, the focus shifts to what’s next. The Lady Vols are rolling in conference play, and while the postponement is a setback in terms of schedule rhythm and tournament implications, it may also offer a brief, much-needed pause in a grueling stretch.