The winning coach lamented her team's lack of defense. The losing coach marveled at the winner's offense.

It was a new twist on an old rivalry, but the result was familiar. Tennessee won another close game against Georgia, 94-85 Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Lady Vols didn't win the old-fashioned way. They didn't win the Pat Summitt way.

They won with more offense than defense. They won by outshooting a good-shooting team.

They beat Georgia the same way they beat Connecticut last Saturday. They beat them with an offense that's more versatile than any of UT's national championship teams.

That alone won't make Coach Summitt happy. But it won't making opposing coaches happy, either.

Take Georgia coach Andy Landers, for example. While Summitt bemoaned her team's unacceptable defense, he realized the daunting task of beating a team that can beat you so many ways offensively.

"The difficult thing about Tennessee is they have so many weapons," Landers said. "They shoot the 3 so well from two positions, (Sidney) Spencer and (Shanna) Zolman. They spread you out, then they have the excellent inside game."

The inside game is like none UT has ever had. That's because it has never had a post player with all of Candace Parker's attributes.

She has a center's size, and a point guard's court awareness. But don't take my word for it. Just check her stat line against Georgia: 26 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and no turnovers.

Opponents are repeatedly forced to double-team Parker inside. She responds by finding an open teammate on the perimeter.

The open teammate no longer has to be Zolman, a two-time, second-team All-SEC pick. Spencer, a former offensive wallflower, has become a viable option as well.

Spencer scored 21 points in UT's 89-80 victory over Connecticut. She followed that up with 17 points against Georgia.

One 21-point game, even against a team as good as Connecticut, might be written off as an aberration. But 38 points in back-to-back games against nationally ranked teams reflects an offensive makeover for a 6-foot-3 junior forward who averaged 5.3 points per game in her first two seasons at UT.

She tries not to make too much of her increased statistical presence. After all, she's only following orders. When starting point guard Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood quit the team last month, Summitt placed the point guard's burden on Alexis Hornbuckle, then inserted Spencer into the starting lineup with basically a one-word assignment: "Shoot."

"I'm proud of Sidney," Summitt said. "It only took her two and a half years. Some people, it takes four years.

"She understands her role. She has become more aggressive offensively."

The offense isn't all Spencer's creation. She is capitalizing on opportunities provided by her teammates — Parker, who is a magnet for defenders inside; Zolman, who draws a crowd on the perimeter; and Hornbuckle, who has embraced her new role as a floor leader.

"This is by far the most-balanced (offensive) team I've played on," said senior Zolman. "You can take one player away, and there's four more coming at you. It's a blast playing on a team like this one."

Never mind the offensive balance, or UT's 16-0 record and No. 1 ranking. Watching her team give up 80 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time in nine years was no blast for Summitt.

The coach has half a season to do something about that. But opposing coaches have a greater challenge: How do you contend with an offense as versatile as this one?

Connecticut didn't have the answer. Neither did Georgia.