The Tennessee Lady Vols hit a wall Thursday night, and it wasn’t just Mississippi State standing in their way-it was themselves. What started as a promising 6-0 run through SEC play came to a screeching halt with a 77-62 loss at home, their first conference defeat of the season. And according to head coach Kim Caldwell, the signs of trouble were there long before the opening tip.
This wasn’t just a case of a team getting outplayed-it was a breakdown in preparation, focus, and accountability. Caldwell didn’t mince words postgame, pointing to a lack of urgency in the buildup to the matchup.
Players were late to warmups. Communication lagged.
The energy just wasn’t there. And when the lights came on, the Lady Vols looked like a team that assumed a previous win over Mississippi State meant this one would come easy.
“I think the prep leading up [to the game]… people not wanting to play, not listening, having to go back to repeating ourselves, and being late to warmups,” Caldwell said. “This was a game I knew we really needed to win.
We talked about that. It’s SEC night-you have to show up every single night and play.”
That message didn’t land, and Mississippi State made sure Tennessee paid for it. The Bulldogs came in hungry and walked out with a statement win, out-rebounding the Lady Vols by a staggering 50-31 margin.
That’s not just a stat-it’s a symptom. Rebounding is effort.
It’s positioning, hustle, and will. And on Thursday night, Tennessee didn’t bring enough of any of it.
Caldwell took ownership for the lack of readiness, acknowledging that as head coach, it’s her job to spot those warning signs and course-correct before tip-off. But by the time she addressed the issues, she said it was already too late.
Now, things don’t get any easier. Next up?
A road trip to face the No. 1 team in the country-UConn. A powerhouse program with revenge on its mind after last year’s loss to Tennessee.
The Lady Vols will need a full reset, and they’ll need it fast.
Caldwell knows it. She’s not sugarcoating what’s ahead.
“You gotta fix us first,” she said. “And if it looks like it did today, we’re gonna get ran out of the gym in the first quarter.”
That starts with rebounding, but it doesn’t end there. Friday is all about self-reflection and recalibration-fixing the internal issues that led to Thursday’s letdown.
Saturday, they’ll shift focus to UConn and begin game-planning for the Huskies. But if the Lady Vols don’t clean up their own house first, it won’t matter what UConn runs-because Tennessee won’t be in position to stop it.
Tip-off is set for noon ET, airing on FOX. It’s a chance for Tennessee to show they can respond to adversity, to prove that the loss to Mississippi State was a wake-up call and not the start of a slide.
But that response has to come from within. The Lady Vols have the talent.
Now it’s about bringing the toughness and focus to match.