STANFORD, Calif. — Pick a number, any number.
Pat Summitt had a stat sheet full of statistics to bemoan in the wake of Tennessee’s 67-52 thrashing at the hands of Stanford Saturday. Amid the damage, the Lady Vols women’s basketball coach spotted a possible precedent-setting achievement.
“We only had four assists in this game,’’ she said. “That may be an all-time record at the University of Tennessee with Lady Vols basketball.”
They were enough to divert Summitt’s attention from a 44-34 deficit in rebounds and 21.9 percent field goal shooting (7 for 32) in the first half and UT’s lowest point total in its 27-game series with Stanford.
In any way quantifiable or imaginable, No. 3 Tennessee (9-1) didn’t measure up in this December showdown with the second-ranked Cardinal (9-0). Summitt referred to the outcome as a “butt kicking.”
“I want this to be loud and clear, Stanford was by far the best team on the floor today,’’ she said. “They looked like a Final Four team.”
Kayla Pedersen led four double-figure Stanford scorers with 16 points. Jayne Appel (14 rebounds) and Nnemkadi Ogwumike (10) did the heavy lifting on the boards.
Playing before a crowd of 6,809 at Maples Pavilion, the Cardinal overcame foul trouble and relatively chilly 39.3 percent field goal shooting with a determined defensive-oriented effort that reflected a new and improved attitude toward one of its most troublesome rivals.
“I wasn’t that nervous like I have been to play Tennessee in the past,’’ Appel said. “I have a lot of confidence in our team.”
Angie Bjorklund scored a team-high 15 points for Tennessee but needed 16 shots for her output. Glory Johnson scored 13 and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. After that, no other Lady Vol scored more than eight points.
Despite bolting to an 11-6 lead at the outset, Tennessee couldn’t stay the course. The Lady Vols scored just seven points during the final 12 minutes of the first half, falling behind 30-18 at the break and never drawing closer than eight points thereafter.
“We can’t let our offense effect our defense; it needs to be the other way around,’’ Bjorklund said. “As a leader, I take that upon myself. We have to get our defense going and turn that into offense.”
Stanford’s defense, on the other hand, had a great impact on Tennessee’s offense.
The Cardinal had the better of the physical play around the basket. Appel, who was sporting a scratch near her left eye afterward, drew her personal battle line with UT center Kelley Cain, in a predetermined spot.
“I felt like a lineman kind of,’’ Appel said. “I was told to meet her at the free throw line every time. I was doing my best job to do that. It was very physical. (Today) will be a recovery day for both of us.”
Appel scored 10 points while Cain had six.
The Cardinal’s perimeter defenders, meanwhile, helped make a shambles of UT’s guard play, which Summitt referred to as “way below average.” Point guard Shekinna Stricklen had one assist and four turnovers.
“We played by ourselves a big part of the (game),’’ Summitt said. “Give Stanford credit. They did a great job of taking away passing lanes.”
Summitt figured the Lady Vols’ quality shot attempts ranked right down there with the assists.
“I can probably count them on one hand and have some fingers left over,’’ she said.
To make matters worse, Tennessee also strayed from its intentions to set a fast tempo. The edge went to Stanford with Appel looking more like a wide receiver than a lineman in beating the Lady Vols up the floor at least three times for either baskets or free throws.
“I don’t think we stuck to our game plan and our scouting report,’’ Johnson said. “We should’ve run on them and we didn’t.”
While Stanford looked San Antonio-worthy to Summitt, the loss has her wondering whether her team might be veering off the road to the Final Four.
“This team has to make a decision real soon,’’ Summitt said. “Are we totally committed to getting to San Antonio? Because right now … we’re miles and could be years away.’’
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Comments » 65
VolinLexington writes:
A neutral site will provide a different outcome!
Doubt they'll beat UCan't.
rogatl2002#222395 writes:
POOR COACHING. CPS needs to hire a coach that can teach offense. stanford executes an offense that generates open looks for it's players. for years now LV halfcourt offense has been terrible. i know CPS will talk about lack of effort and loss of composure but it;s no wonder they lose their composure because the offensive sets never generate open looks against a good team. the players end up having to try and score one-on-one. kelly cain...don;t stand there laughing when you TOTALLY let your team down by getting a stupid foul after Appel had just gone out and the team had a chance to get momentum.
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
Poor effort by the Lady Vols today. They were playing scared. Since when do the Lady Vols play "me" ball? This is evident in the assists stat. Cain looked as if she was playing in pain, much like last year. Transition defense was non-existent. Rebounding just flat out sucked. If it weren't for Glory and her effort, this would have been a total blow-out. Very disappointing effort.
donj3742 writes:
I thought several calls were in question but I don't
think we played as a team the way they normally do. Its
a long season. we will be ready in march..go lady vols
utfan00 writes:
I tried to tell all the Vols fans that Stanford was going to win. They were waiting on Tenn. after losing 2 straight years against them. LV's were ranked too high in the first place. I didn't understand why she keep Angie in the game and she cannot hit unless she's wide open. Poor Cain took this game as a joke. She is slow as molasses...
dwa7#337691 writes:
sad preperation or sad execution - either way.............sad results. Men look sad also at half - down by double didgits....could be a sad weekend. Let it snow....
V_O_L_S_GO_VOLS_GO writes:
i feel like our guys have been overrated all season. i'm not expecting a win here
ellunitiko writes:
Mens game is about to end worse... I mean can we not drive the ball??? We are not a 3pt team, we need to DRIVE THE BALL, DRIVE THE BALL, DRIVE THE BALL..AHHHH this game is such a pathetic showing, why do we always SCREW up any west coast series, fball and bball, men and women. COME ON BOYS! GBO!
MikeInTN writes:
Is the Pearl luster starting to wain?!!!
xvolx writes:
Worse coaching job this year by Summitt. Press against an experienced team and zone against a 3pt shooting team, not good coaching. Cain, out of shape and slow running the floor, but she has bad knees. Brewer, slow and nonaggressive. Manning nonexistant today. Johnson played hard, but noone helped her. Bjorkland, bad shot selection and just can't play defense. Spani, exposed as a Frosh.. Strickland, played out of control whole game. Williams, this is a real puzzle. So athletic, but plays totally lost. Tenn. not a good shooting team. Maybe this loss was good for them. Disappointing effort by Coach and players.
riverosa writes:
If the men lose as bad as the women (and It looks like they will) we will be the laughing stock of the west coast. Both teams should be totally ashamed to go back to classes Monday.
murrayvol writes:
Bad day for Tennessee basketball.
murrayvol writes:
And nobody outside the state of Connecticut will care. Happy Holidays!
pammyvol1000 writes:
LV need to work on one on one. All this dribbling and setting screens but no roll to the basket or back door cuts. We don't have a solid 3 point shooter yet and we really need Cain to hit more of those chippy shots underneath.
The_Truth_and_nothing_but_the_Truth writes:
When your team only has two assists in the first 15 minutes it is going to be tough to stay with anyone. Only 4 assists for the game.
Tennesee can play better than they did today.
UTVOLSRROCKN writes:
Keep it real folks. Stanford is better than TN this year. They should be. They are older with more experience. We all knew that the Lady Vols were NOT going to win all their games this year. Let Stanford enjoy their win this year because they will not beat us the next two years. We are young and inexperienced. Give them time. They will improve. Pat well knows what their deficiences are and will work hard to make them a better team. We will lose more games, but will be much improved by March! LV...TCB...Keep on keeping on....GBO!!!
Vols6908 writes:
xvolx- why dont you pull for another team. You are a ???
BeRealistic writes:
Some one should call NYT & tell them UT men & women teams slept together Friday night. They love headlines on our VOLS. Both teams will get better.
Pullingguard writes:
So right... This UT team needs a point guard who can take the ball into the hole, and they dont have it... Too much outside passing, little cutting and overall this is just an average BB team... Hard time coming for them in SEC..
HtownVol writes:
WOW, the worst day for UT basketball man and girls in a long time. Men got spanked by USC 77-55. Not a proud day to be a VOL.
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
We must have been watching 2 different games. We lost this game with our lack of effort. Transition defense is all about effort. Assists are all about the effort in getting yourself open and the effort in finding the open player. Rebounding is about effort. It takes absolutely no skill to box out, just effort. The Lady Vols lost this game due to lack of all around effort.
HtownVol writes:
Who are you??? What did this story have to do with UCONN?
arkyvol writes:
relax everyone. i'd rather lose one in december than in march. good name for pat: madam march.
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
Mikey from Ucan't lives in his own little Ucan't world where Guido Aurienema is king and somebody actually cares about Ucan't women's basketball. Unfortunately, blogger's on this site keep feeding the little rodent so he keeps coming back. Like we give a shat what he thinks. He's OK when he's being constructive and using constructive criticism, but that is very rare if not even existent anymore. He is basically a jealous little wuss that has nothing better to do because Stores can't put together a decent website for him to blog on.
ladivolfan writes:
Stanford out played us. They are the better team right now. I will not be surprised if they beat Uconn on Wednesday. Uconn's schedule is chok full of no name schools so far. Easy to be undefeated playing no name teams. Lady Vols will learn from this loss. It is not necessarily a bad thing to lose to Stanford right now. It will toughen us up for the SEC.
xvolx writes:
Make 7 upyours.
Ringside writes:
This day was a train wreck
steamboatticket#484773 writes:
Cali is like Mexico. You take your own water or lose your fudge.
Vols6908 writes:
I cannot wait to read your next words of wisdom. You certainly are a up lift to this board and team. Go back to the computer and try to find a way to convey your vast knowledge of the game or I guess the lack of it. In other words, go back into your dream world.
LdyVolFaninKS writes:
Another big part of the game is who wants it more, which boils down to effort. We didn't show that today, except for maybe Glory and Strick.
kazoo writes:
Summitt says derisively of the Lady Vols: "THEY exposed their game to the world today..." THEY? Isn't this HER team? Summitt is getting old and sadly showing a tendency to blame the players for losses rather than take responsibility herself. It's not the players fault PS doesn't know how to recruit good guards, or coach offense. Her teams have NEVER passed the ball well. It's unfortunate that she would refer to her team in the third person---not good.
jr2miles writes:
Lady Vols struggle today. I really think this team will get better when tournament time come around. Glory played well today, she never gave up. I think Strick could of played a lot better, she threw the towel in with about 12 minutes to go in the game. The bench could of help the starters out. Its just 1 game this team will be in the final four if they continue to get better.
CTOWNICON writes:
Only Glory Johnson showed up to play today! Everybody else seemed intimidated. I give Tara and Stanford all the credit, they did what they had to do and defended their homecourt. Our post did ok, but our guards were outplayed. Stricklen just could not find her game and made mistake after mistake. Our offense is to predictable and they need to play inside out. All of that passing around the perimeter overlooking the inside. I seen at least three times when Glory had a wide open lane to the basket but they did not even look that way. I understand them trying to run the offense but sometimes they can be to clinical with it and overlook things like the backdoor cut, and the open post players. I did not like all the jump shooting I seen tonight. Stricklen penetrated so many times and wasn't sure what to do when she should have been shooting being that close to the basket. Instead she would travel, or pass it back out,and she is better than that. I hate when they try to find Angie so much. If she is not open somebody else needs to step up and take the shot. Nobody wanted to tonight and Stanford knew exactly what they were trying to do, find Angie. Only thing I enjoyed about this game was the battle between Ogwumike and Glory. They battled! I hope this loss will show them the error of their ways and they fix it soon. This type of effort will not work against top teams!
CTOWNICON writes:
Geno the don juan, the godfather is got to be the most overrated coach I have ever seen. This far in the season and he still hasn't played but one ranked team, Mike, don't be delusional. In your eyes no team is good but those androids Geno is coaching. You better hope Moore and Charles don't get into foul trouble or else Stanford will trample that team. Your team has nothing other than Moore and Charles and after your starting five anything off the bench is weak, just like Uconn's guard play this year. Don't sign that check yet, Stanford and Uconn still have to play.
VolOak writes:
I don't understand the "get Pat Summitt" mentality. Doesn't anyone understand what this coach has accomplished? Gad zooks ! ! One loss does not a season make when you have a herd of 1st and 2nd year kids going against a seasoned and well-coached team. She has turned errant teams around into winners before some of her critics were a gleam in Poppa's eye! PLEASE...spare me your downing the coach after one poor showing. They didn't get to their No. 3 ranking being the type of team some seem to think they are...and by coach Summitt being a dunce. How many schools with give the family jewels to have her as a coach? Hmmmmmm?
utfan00 writes:
I strongly agree with you, I get so sick and tired of them setting screens for Angie B. She is a great shooter if you are not standing in her way. She is not the skilled shooter that can take you off the bounce. You would think CPS would set screens for others players on the floor like Spani and Stricklen sometime. I hope the girls win the SEC tournament if nothing else. They are nowhere near being a FINAL FOUR CONTENDER for this year.
CTOWNICON writes:
We played Baylor and Virginia and Stanford which are all top 25 teams. Middle Tennessee state was a top 25 team but fell out of the polls and we played them and Texas, which is the only one Uconn has played. Out of top 25 the other teams we have played are reputable programs. You cannot and will not say the same about the teams Uconn has faced thus far. North Carolina isn't even that good this year, Duke may give Uconn a run for the money, possibly Notre Dame if they keep improving. As it has been written, Tennessee is first in RPI and second in strength of schedule. Our sec schedule is tough and most of the sec teams have improved, even South Carolina. We have LSU, Georgia, Vandy to play and all are in the top 25. Miss. State was ranked but dropped out but they are still good. Uconn plays a few ranked programs, I give them that, but outside of those ranked programs, those other teams are afterthoughts. The difference is lady vols play ranked programs in the beginning and the end of the season when Uconn is just getting started, other than Texas.
johnlg00 writes:
Terrible day to be a fan of UT basketball, male or female variety. The difference between Stanford's offense and the LVs was night and day. Stanford ran PLAYS, with passes and cuts; UT ran...around. I still think the LVs are better than last year, but they are still too young and mentally fragile to handle top-flight competition in a difficult environment. It would be too depressing to analyze this game in detail. And don't even get me started on the "men", since I'm not sure off tonight's performance that we have any.
CTOWNICON writes:
Funny how you try to say him, but you know that you are the only transexual on this site, you "IT"! Uconn is not Stanford and Pat isn't afraid to play either! She is just not affiliated with Uconn anymore for too many reasons, mainly that coach! Now go and catch that same boxcar you jumped out of , HOBO!
UTVOLSRROCKN writes:
First of all, it is obvious that YOU don't KNOW Pat like I do. She takes sole responsibility of her team, always has and always will! As or the rest of you comment......I will just state...when you find a coach, women or men, that has won over 1000plus games and 8 National Championships....then you can make a statement like that. You should not be slamming the Greatest Coach of All TIme with "untruths". You must have been playing your kazoo, Kazoo, instead of watching her coach all of these amazing years! LV...TCB...Keep on keeping on....GBO!!!
ahouseho#651452 writes:
i agree that they were together,but they didn't get any sleep until the games started today.
VolFanInTheBoro (Inactive) writes:
25 years and counting. Hurts bad doesn't it
xvolx writes:
I've forgotten more than you know. Everything I posted was the truth. You can't take the truth. Put your cheerleading outfit on and do what you do best. I pull for the Lady Vols, but they got outcoached and outplayed.
ps11824 writes:
You know, I only had to read a few of these posts to realize you all are forgetting it is Christmas. It's just a couple of games we lost tonight. What's the big deal? It's December and it's Christmas. Get real. Appreciate the fact that you can sit back and watch the games, or not. Get the heck out in the world and spread some JOY! UConn fans get out of here and get a life! NOBODY wants to hear from you, even at Christmas.
The Lady Vols will be ready to win in March. Not to worry.
Madkels writes:
And I thought only Bama and Florida trolls came here to prove their arrogance and show their azzez. I guess they grow them in the northeast as well.
tonyvick#213307 writes:
You are so correct on this one. Effort just does not stop the will and execution of the other team.
richvol writes:
I agree about hiring an offensive coach because we sure can't run one and it's been that way for years. If we had not had Candace to rely on for offense we would never have won those two national championships.
Our offense consists of Angie dribbling the ball around for several seconds and trying to get a shot off. Everyone else looks scared to shoot and really doesn't contribute anything except putbacks off of misses.
The problem begins with recruiting. Every player on that floor for Stanford was more athletic and in better shape than our girls. Even Glory was shown up by Obumike and Stricklen was ineffective. Cain can play but she is still too heavy to get up and down the floor effectively and Brewer is the same way. We have got to recruit more athletes who are in shape.
I'm sure Pat sees the same problems but she really needs a coach that can teach offense.
Vols6908 writes:
Do you really want to bet. From where I come from we have a saying that just fits you. If you cannot dazzle them with brilliance than you try to baffle them with B. S.
YankeeVol writes:
All I want for Christmas is for Stanford to beat UCONN.
And for it to stop snowing.
And for it to warm up a little.
In that order.
jack_2222#231746 writes:
Problem on offense is that the best player and the best scorer is the point guard. That's a tough role for anyone to be a Magic Johnson kind of penetrator, distributor while still looking to score. If Stricklen can adapt, then the LV's will improve. Otherwise, they need to put her back on the wing so she can score.
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