#19 Tennessee (3-1) vs. #21 Indiana (3-1)
Thursday, November 23rd, 2023 | 5:02pm CT/ 6:02pm ET
Fort Myers, FL | Suncoast Credit Union Arena | TV: FOX
Fort Myers, FL – The No. 19/21 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team will take on a pair of ranked teams in the Island Division of the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off during Thanksgiving week.
On November 23rd and 25th at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, the Tennessee Lady Vols will face off vs. No. 21/19 Indiana (3-1) on Thursday and play No. 22/20 Oklahoma (5-0) on Saturday, respectively, in a predetermined bracket of games.
The UT/IU contest will be carried live by FOX on Thanksgiving at 5:00pm CT, while the UT/OU game will be broadcast live by Women’s Sports Network on Saturday at 12:30pm CT.
Tennessee’s sole setback this season came on November 9th in game two, as the UT Lady Vols fell to current No. 13/13 squad Florida State, 92-91, in a heartbreaker in Tallahassee.
Indiana suffered its only loss on November 12th, falling at No. 4/3 Stanford, 96-64.
Oklahoma, meanwhile, remains unbeaten, knocking off No. 24/23 Ole Miss, 80-70, on November 9th for its biggest victory.
The Sooners will meet Princeton on Thursday at 3:00pm before focusing on Saturday’s battle with Tennessee.
Additional Broadcast Information
Lisa Byington (play-by-play) and Sarah Kustok (analyst) will have the call for the FOX television broadcast of the Tennessee-Indiana game.
Both contests can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play.
A link to the live audio streams can be found on the Hoops Central page or the schedule on UTSports.com.
For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click on the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network, and then select the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
Air time generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
The Indiana game also will be available on SiriusXM channel 139 or 192 (SEC Channel).
Tennessee/Indiana Storylines
This will mark the third meeting between Tennessee and Indiana since 2020 and the fourth meeting overall. UT holds a 2-1 edge in the series.
Kellie Harper‘s Lady Vols went to Bloomington unranked on December 17th, 2020, and toppled a No. 15/15 Hoosiers squad, 66-58.
Rennia Davis’ double-double of 19 points, 15 rebounds was a key to the victory at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall where UT overcame the absence of forwards Keyen Green and Jaiden McCoy due to injury.
Last season in Knoxville, Teri Moren’s club evened the score, as No. 12/11 IU came out on top of No. 11/14 UT, 79-67 on November 14th, 2022.
Five Hoosiers were in double figures, as Mackenzie Holmes (16/10) and Grace Berger (13/10) had points/rebounds double-doubles.
Rickea Jackson paced UT with 17 points, but the UT Lady Vols played without injured star guard Jordan Horston.
The skippers each played Power 5 basketball, with Harper (Kellie Jolly) starting three seasons (1996-99)and winning three NCAA titles (1996, 1997, 1998) at Tennessee and Moren starting two seasons at Purdue and being part of three NCAA Tournament teams and the school’s first Big Ten title.
Greenfield Alums Reunite For UT-IU Tilt
Thursday night’s match-up will feature a reunion of three players from Greenfield (Tenn.) High School’s 2018 Class A State Championship Team.
Tennessee’s Tess and Edie Darby and Indiana’s Chloe Moore-McNeil played together for that historic Greenfield (Tenn.) Yellowjackets squad and also were on the 2020 juggernaut that had a 34-0 record and No. 1 ranking before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season prematurely.
This will mark the third meeting for Tess Darby and Moore-McNeil, while Edie Darby is joining them for the second straight season.
Greenfield, by the way, is where the late Lady Vol coaching legend and UT Martin graduate Pat Summitt did her student teaching.
Familiar Faces On The Hoosier Staff
Indiana director of player development Briana Schomaeker should look familiar to Lady Vol fans.
Playing under her maiden name of Briana Bass, the 5-2 dynamo from Indianapolis appeared in 118 games for Tennessee from 2008-12.
Bass started as a senior at point guard on Pat Summitt’s final team as head coach, helping direct the Lady Vols to a 27-9 record and SEC Tournament title before falling to eventual NCAA champ Baylor in the Elite 8 in Des Moines, Iowa.
IU assistant coach Amber Smith played at Kentucky from 2007-11 and was a graduate assistant at Tennessee during the 2013-14 campaign.
Former Minnesota Teammates Face-Off
Tennessee’s Jasmine Powell and Indiana’s Sara Scalia were teammates at Minnesota for three seasons before leaving the Gophers for other schools after 2021-22.
Scalia averaged 9.5 points and hit 53 three-pointers a year ago at IU, starting 14 games, while Powell put up 4.7 ppg. and had 116 assists in 37 games.
Powell and Scalia each scored 16 points for their teams last season when UT and IU met in Knoxville, but Powell made it a double-double with 10 rebounds and contributed four assists as well.
This season, Scalia is leading Indiana at 18.5 ppg., while Powell is contributing 10.3 ppg. for the Lady Vols.
Scalia (17.9) and Powell (12.4) were Minnesota’s top two scorers in 2021-22 and tied for top honors in 2020-21 at 14.5 ppg.
Top 10 Scoring Offense Nationally
As of the November 19th edition of the NCAA Statistics report, Tennessee ranked No. 10 in the nation in points per game at 92.0.
Twenty seasons have come and gone since the last time UT enjoyed that kind of early-season scoring output.
The most recent time the Lady Vols were previously scoring at that rate through four games was in 2002-03, when the late Pat Summitt’s squad had an identical 92.0 average as of November 29th, 2002.
At no point last season did the Big Orange average better than 79.5 points per contest.
This year’s squad is only the fifth team in school history to average 92.0 ppg. or above in its opening four games of a season.
The other seasons were 2002-03 (92.0), 2001-02 (95.2), 2000-01 (93.5) and 1989-90 (92.0).
Putting Up 20 In A Quarter
Tennessee now has scored 20 or more points in 12 of the 16 quarters it has played this season, including a best frame of 31 in the third stanza vs. Troy.
The Lady Vols topped their previous best of 29 in the third period vs. Florida A&M.
UT has tallied 110 points in the third quarter this season, which is 23 points better than any other frame.
The Big Orange total in that period includes 29 vs. Florida A&M, 28 vs. Florida State, 22 vs. Memphis and 31 vs. Troy.
Top Five In Rebounds Per Game
Tennessee ranks No. 5 nationally in rebounds per game at 53.3 through the November 19th NCAA rankings.
The Lady Vols are also No. 9 in offensive rebounds per game (19.8) and No. 10 in rebound margin (21.2) through four contests.
Rickea Jackson, who missed the last two games due to injury, paces the squad at 12.0 rpg., followed by Jillian Hollingshead (8.5).
Four other players average 5.5 or better, including forwards Karoline Striplin (6.5) and Sara Puckett (6.0), and guards Jewel Spear (6.0) and Kaiya Wynn (5.5).
During the Kellie Harper era, UT has three of the school’s top six rebound averages, including 48.1 (1st, 2021-22), 46.0 (5th, 2019-20), and 45.6 (6th, 2020-21).
Last year’s 42.9 per game avg. was 28th all-time at UT and 12th nationally for 2022-23.
Recapping The Troy Game
Tennessee forward Karoline Striplin recorded her first career double-double and led five players in double figures, as the No. 15/20 Lady Volunteers rolled to a 100-73 victory over Troy on Sunday afternoon at Food City Center.
The 6-foot-3 junior, who had already produced 15 points and 10 boards by halftime, finished with career-highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Big Orange. Jillian Hollingshead, a 6-5 junior forward, tied her career best with 18 points and added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and second of her career.
Senior guard Destinee Wells also enjoyed the finest performance of her four-game Tennessee career, as the Belmont transfer fired in 18 points and tallied eight assists and four boards with only one turnover in 30 minutes. Junior forward Sara Puckett, who missed practice on Saturday due to illness, turned in 19 gutsy minutes and contributed 14 points and eight boards, while Kaiya Wynn rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10.
The Trojans (0-3) had four players score 10-plus, with former Alabama standout Nia Daniel leading the way with 19. Forward Tai’Sheka Porchia had 18 points and a team-high eight boards, while forward Ja’Mia Hollings contributed 16 points and Shalauna Wagner chipped in 10.
Tennessee (3-1), playing without starters Rickea Jackson and Jasmine Powell and reserve Avery Strickland due to injury, controlled the game from the second quarter on, winning the final three frames by a 79-52 margin.
The UT Lady Vols’ dominance on the glass this season carried over into Sunday’s contest, as they out-rebounded Troy, 63-35, and added a season-best 30 second-chance points and another season high of 48 points in the paint.
The bench unit made the most of its minutes, scoring 38 points compared to Troy’s eight points from reserves.
A Look At Indiana
IU has double-figure scorers in Sara Scalia (18.5), Mackenzie Holmes (17.5) and Yarden Garzon (10.0).
The Hoosiers shoot 50.9% and average 87.3 ppg.
Indiana commits just 11.8 turnovers per contest.
About The Head Coach
Teri Moren is in her 10th year at IU and has five NCAA bids, including two Sweet 16s and an Elite 8.
Last year’s team won Indiana’s first Big Ten women’s hoops championship in 40 years.
Moren is IU WBB’s all-time winningest coach.
Their Most Recent Game
Sara Scalia (24) and Mackenzie Holmes (23) combined for 47 points as No. 18 Indiana rolled past Lipscomb, 77-44, at home on Sunday.
Last UT/IU Contest
Despite a double-double from Jasmine Powell and three 14-plus-point scorers, No. 11/4 Tennessee fell at home to No. 12/11 Indiana, 79-67, on November 14th, 2022.
Indiana was paced by Sara Scalia and Mackenzie Holmes, who each finished with 16. Holmes added 10 rebounds and was joined by Grace Berger (13/10) in the IU double-double club.
What’s Next?
After the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, Tennessee returns home for back-to-back games with No. 17 Notre Dame and No. 15 Ohio State on November 29th and December 3rd, respectively.
If you’re paying close attention, that means Tennessee is currently playing four ranked teams in succession and will be beginning its season with five ranked teams in the first eight games.
