Tennessee coach Pat Summitt watched one half of basketball Sunday evening and began planning a trip.

It wasn't your typical Lady Vols trip. It wasn't to Europe or Hawaii or even the Final Four.

It was to Georgia.

"I went into the locker room and told my coaching staff 'if we lose this one and play the kind of defense that we did in the first half, we're busing to Georgia (for Thursday night's game),' " Summitt said.

The exasperated coach also had some changes in mind on the home front, just in case the Lady Vols didn't bounce back from a five-point halftime deficit against Vanderbilt. She would have kicked the players out of their plush locker room and made them furnish their own practice gear.

The players never had to hear that speech. They picked up their defense in the second half and defeated the Commodores 70-67 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

They won the game, but they didn't win over their coach.

"I don't understand it," Summitt said. "I can't relate to it. There's not a bone in my body as laid-back as I watch them play sometimes. It's just hard to watch.

"It's great to watch them when they're really inspired. In the second half they were really inspired. But this is a 40-minute game and a game of possessions. And there were a lot of possessions in the first half that we wasted (defensively)."

Summitt keeps demanding 40 minutes of defense, and the players keep giving her 20. It's akin to a minister preaching "thou shall not steal," then watching his congregation rip off the hymnals and bibles from the pews.

Guard Alexis Hornbuckle laughed when told what Summitt was thinking at halftime.

"Last year, when we played a terrible game - against Texas I think - we had to wear our stuff inside out (at practice)," she said. "We couldn't wear Tennessee across our chest.

"What she is trying to say is that Tennessee is not something you're just given. You have to earn it. Once we get that for 40 minutes, she'll be happy."

But when?

The season has grown to 25 games. Only four games remain in the regular season. Why would you expect this team to suddenly become a terror on defense for 40 minutes?

"Because you've seen spurts of it," Hornbuckle said. "And you know we're capable of it. We know we can do it."

It's a nice thought if you're making Final Four plans, but don't get carried away. If a team is playing sporadic defense after 25 games, it likely will be playing the same way at the final buzzer of the last game.

"I told them, 'If this is who we are, then we finish out the season playing this hard and take that into the SEC, we're not going to play very long,' " Summitt said. " 'And if we take that into the postseason, we're not going to play very long in the postseason.' "

But there's another track record to consider. Despite their defensive lapses, the Lady Vols have managed to win 22 of 25 games against the toughest schedule in the country.

If this team is clicking offensively - as it was in victories against Connecticut and Georgia last month - it still can overcome most opponents. But it can't succeed in postseason with an offense as inconsistent as its defense.

UT needs both Sidney Spencer and Shanna Zolman shooting effectively from the perimeter to complement Candace Parker's inside scoring. Spencer, who was ineffective in Thursday's loss to LSU and again in the first half against Vanderbilt, finished strong against the Commodores.

She scored nine of her 11 points in the last eight minutes and played her best after her team fell behind 61-54. She had a clutch blocked shot and drew the fifth foul on Vanderbilt center Carla Thomas in the last two minutes.

"I told her when she went back in (the second half), she had to step up and be aggressive," Summitt said. "I thought she responded."

So did the defense - in spurts.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.