#15 Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball Hits the Road to Face Florida in SEC Showdown

UT Lady VolsKnoxville, TN – No. 15/13 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball (20-6, 7-6 SEC) plays the first of two straight road games when it travels to Gainesville to meet Florida (14-13, 5-8 SEC) on Sunday at 12:00pm CT (1:00pm ET) at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The Lady Vols and Gators will meet in a contest televised on SEC Network and carried on Lady Vol Network radio stations as well as audio-streamed on UTSports.com and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Ch. 81).

UT has won its last three games and five of its past six, defeating No. 5/5 UConn and No. 18/19 Alabama during that stretch and dropping a narrow road decision to No. 6/4 LSU. Kim Caldwell‘s squad finds itself in eighth place in the SEC standings with an opportunity to climb as high as fourth or fifth if it wins out and gets some help.

Tennessee went 3-0 in a just-completed three-game home stand vs. Auburn, RV/RV Ole Miss and No. 18/19 Alabama, taking down the Crimson Tide, 88-80, on Thursday night to strengthen its NCAA NET rating and bolster its case for a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Vols are led by redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper, a member of the John R. Wooden, Naismith and Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year Watch Lists and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. She puts up 16.9 ppg., 5.9 rpg., 3.4 apg. and 3.2 spg. while shooting 45 percent from the field. Cooper has 10 20+ scoring efforts this season.

Also averaging double figures are fifth-year guard and SEC Co-Player of the Week Jewel Spear (13.6 ppg., 65 3FGs), junior guard Ruby Whitehorn (12.6 ppg.), junior forward Zee Spearman (11.6 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) and senior point guard Samara Spencer (10.5 ppg., 5.1 apg.).

Florida has won its past two games and three of its past five, knocking off Mississippi State, 69-66, last Sunday and crushing Texas A&M in College Station, 74-52, on Thursday night to get back over .500.

Leading the Gators are four players averaging double figures in points, including freshman guard Liv McGill (16.5 ppg.), senior center Ra Shaya Kyle (14.9 ppg., 9.0 rpg.), senior guard Jeriah Warren (12.1 ppg.) and sophomore guard Laila Reynolds (10.6 ppg.).

Broadcast Details

Courtney Lyle (play-by-play) and Carolyn Peck (analyst) will have the call for SEC Network.

All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.

The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play and Jay Lifford serving as studio host.

A link to the live audio stream can be found on the Hoops Central page or the schedule on UTSports.com.

For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.

Air-time generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.

The Lady Vol Network broadcast also will be available via SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel 81.

Individually Speaking

COOP IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Guard Talaysia Cooper, who is on three POTY watch lists and the Naismith Defensive POTY watch list, leads UT in scoring (16.9 ppg.) and steals (3.2 spg.), hitting double figures in points 23 times, carding 10 efforts of 20+ points and notching 11 quarters where she scored 10 or more during that frame.

SPEAR FOR THREE: Jewel Spear is enjoying her best stretch of the year, averaging 15.8 ppg. in SEC play, hitting 41 of 79 three-point tries in league action (52 pct.) to run her overall total to 65 treys and average 2.71 treys per game to rank No. 2 in the league.

SMOOTH SAMARA: Samara Spencer (10.5 ppg.) ranks No. 19 nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.56), is No. 30 in total assists (133), and is No. 36 in apg. (5.1) while ranking No. 54 in 3FG pct. (39.7) and No. 2 for Tennessee in 3FGs made (52).

GET A BUCKET, RUBY: Ruby Whitehorn is UT’s third-leading scorer at 12.6 ppg., tallying 10+ points in 19 contests and 15+ in 11 of them.

ZEE COMING ON STRONG: Zee Spearman has scored in double digits 17 times, including the past six contests, and is averaging 14.1 ppg. and 6.2 over that six-game span.

From A Team Perspective

PILING UP POINTS: The Lady Vols rank No. 2 nationally in scoring offense at 89.9 ppg., ahead of SEC-record pace (89.2). The lowest a Kim Caldwell team has ranked in ppg. is No. 4 while at Marshall in 2023-24 (85.3).

UT RECORD FOR 3s: UT ranks No. 1 nationally for 3FGs made per game at 10.5 (273 total) and broke the old Lady Vol single-season record of 242 (37 games in 2010-11) in only 23 contests this season.

CRASHING O-BOARDS: UT is No. 3 in the nation in offensive rebounds per game at 17.8. It has twice reached 30+ this season.

TURNING OVER THE OPPOSITION: UT is No. 11 in turnovers forced per game (22.46) and No. 11 in T.O. margin (7.62). Auburn had 21 miscues on Feb. 13 for the 15th 20+ T.O. game (7 were 30+) by a foe in 2024-25.

RACKING UP STEALS: UT is No. 15 nationally in steals per game (11.9). It now has 14 games of 10+ steals and 309 total in 26 games. It had 159 in 33 contests last year.

TENN-ACIOUS PRESS: Tennessee has prevented its foes from getting the ball over halfcourt in 10 seconds a total of 24 times in 26 games. UT forced only five violations the previous five years combined.

Inside The Numbers

UT 11TH IN NET: UT is 11th in the NET and has wins over No. 1 UConn, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 16 Alabama, No. 26 Fla. St., No. 29 Iowa, No. 34 Richmond, No. 35 Miss. St., No. 51 Middle Tenn., No 57 Auburn and No. 65 Missouri along with close losses to No. 2 South Carolina, No. 3 Texas, No. 10 LSU (twice), No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 23 Vanderbilt.

SPEAR NEARS SEASON LIST: With 65 treys in 2024-25, Jewel Spear stands four away from cracking the UT single-season top 10 for the second time. She had 69 last season for the No. 10 total on that list.

COOP WILL TAKE THAT: SEC leader Talaysia Cooper ranks No. 7 nationally in steals (83) and No. 9 in steals per game (3.19).

UT Nearing First Ever 50 Trey Trio

Tennessee has never had three players on the same team knock down 50 or more treys in a season, but Tess Darby is now just two away from making that happen.

Jewel Spear (65) and Samara Spencer (52) are there, and Darby is close with 48 entering the Florida game.