John Adams: Lady Vols' offense does no wrong

Glory Johnson on the Lady Vols' next game against Stanford

LOS ANGELES — Basketball coaches have ranted about the dangers of offensive reliance since the invention of a chalkboard and a whistle.

So it's no wonder some Tennessee coaches were shaking their heads as they made their halftime exit Saturday afternoon at the John Wooden Center. But the scoreboard didn't reflect their body language.

Never mind that the smaller UCLA team matched the Lady Vols in rebounding. Or that UT's ball-handling was as suspect as its defense.

All that went wrong couldn't negate all the shots that went right.

Sixth-ranked Tennessee made 18 of its first 20 field-goal attempts, forged an 11-point lead by halftime and was never threatened in the second half of an 85-64 victory over UCLA.

Associate head coach Holly Warlick was shaking her head afterwards, too. But there was no accompanying rant.

"I've never seen us shoot this way," she said.

You might not routinely win a championship or win over a coaching staff with the flaws UT exhibited in the first half. But this was a rare basketball afternoon on which UT's shooting overrode everything else.

UCLA outrebounded UT by three and had four fewer turnovers. The Lady Vols' 69.2 percent shooting rendered that meaningless.

"The shots they were making It was like a college men's game," UCLA's

Rebekah Gardner said. "It was crazy."

Gardner didn't shoot badly herself. She made nine of 18 field-goal attempts and scored 24 points. But she didn't have enough support to keep up with the Lady Vols.

UCLA coach Cori Close was as dazzled as anyone by UT's shooting. Afterwards, she converted her amazement at the 18-of-20 shooting binge into a teaching point.

"You just don't show up, get lucky and make those kind of shots," Close said. "You practice against tough defenses. You work on your shot in the gym.

"I want our team to understand this doesn't just happen by rolling the dice. Tennessee has a whatever-it-takes-to-win mentality."

The victory also spoke to UT's depth of offensive talent.

The Lady Vols began the game without injured guards Ariel Massengale and Kamiko Williams. Leading scorer Skekinna Stricklen quickly joined them.

Stricklen stuck around long enough to wow the crowd, which included plenty of UT fans, with a 15-foot fade-away jumper in the face of a defender in the opening minutes. Moments later, she was on her way to the locker room with a towel over her head.

"Shekinna was a little sick to her stomach the first half," Warlick said. "I told her at halftime we needed her."

Stricklen returned to play most of the second half and finished with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Yet it's questionable how much UT needed her in light of the team's overall shooting.

Tennessee used nine players, and not one of them shot worse than 50 percent. No one was more impressive than guard Meighan Simmons, who played her best game of the season.

Simmons, who made only 23.2 percent of her shots in the previous five games, seemingly emerged from her slump in the last few minutes of Tuesday's victory against Rutgers when she hit two clutch 3s. She hit one shot after another against UCLA, going 8-for-14 from the field and scoring 18 points while demonstrating a deep offensive repertoire.

Twice, she drove the length of the court for baskets. Another score came on a baseline drive that ended with a turn-around jumper. She also made a couple of deep 3s when the UCLA defense backed off.

"I did a lot of jump-shooting against Rutgers," Simmons said. "I had to be smarter with the ball. When the shot came to me, I just took it."

And, like everyone else in orange, she usually made it.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.