KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 17/17 Tennessee (15-4, 3-4 SEC) and No. 2/2 South Carolina (19-1, 6-1 SEC) face off on Monday night at Food City Center.
The Lady Vols and Gamecocks will meet in a contest televised by ESPN2 and carried on Lady Vol Network radio stations as well as audio-streamed on UTSports.com and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Ch. 106 & 190). Listen to the game from the Vol Network, 95.5FM WSMG with coverage beginning at 6:30.
UT will be facing its second straight top-10 opponent and is in the midst of a run in which it faces four top-10 foes in a five-game stretch. The Big Orange fell at No. 7/7 Texas on Jan. 23, 80-76, and will face No. 2/2 South Carolina on Monday and travel to Missouri on Feb. 2 before hosting No. 6/6 UConn on Feb. 6 and playing at No. 5/4 LSU on Feb. 9. Tennessee is coming off its fourth late-game, heartbreaking defeat of the season, falling by four at No. 7/7 Texas on Thursday in a contest that featured 15 ties and 15 lead changes.
The Lady Vols feature five players averaging double figures in scoring, led by redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper, who puts up 17.8 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 3.4 apg. and 3.3 spg. while shooting 49 percent from the field. Cooper has recorded nine 20+ scoring efforts this season. Also averaging double figures are junior guard Ruby Whitehorn (13.5 ppg.), fifth-year guard Jewel Spear (12.8 ppg.), senior point guard Samara Spencer (11.3 ppg., 5.5 apg.) and junior forward Zee Spearman (11.1 ppg., 5.9 rpg.).
South Carolina is coming off a big victory Friday, defeating No. 5/4 LSU, 66-56, in Columbia to run its winning streak to 14 games after suffering its only loss of the year on Nov. 24 at current No. 1/1 UCLA, 77-62. The Gamecocks, whose roster includes eight McDonald’s All-Americans, are paced by Joyce Edwards (12.2 ppg., 4.9 rpg.), MiLaysia Fulwiley (11.1 ppg.) and Te-Hina Paopao (10.9 ppg., 2.8 apg.) and feature seven other players averaging between 4.4 and 9.4 ppg.
Kim Caldwell‘s first Lady Vol team enters the match-up ranked No. 1 nationally in three statistical categories, as of Jan. 25, and is top 10 in five others. UT leads the NCAA in scoring offense (93.4), three pointers per game (11.5) and three point attempts per game (33.9), and is second in offensive rebounds per game (19.4), fourth in turnover margin (10.42), seventh in turnovers forced per game (24.58), eighth in bench points per game (31.8) and ninth in steals per game (13.1).
