Tennessee (5-5) vs. Wofford (7-4)
Tuesday, December 19th, 2023 | 5:32pm CT/6:32pm ET
Knoxville, TN | Food City Center
Knoxville, TN – The Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team (5-5) hosts Wofford (7-4) on Tuesday evening in the Big Orange’s final home game of the 2023 calendar year.
The Lady Vols and Terriers will clash inside Food City Center at 5:32pm CT. The game will be streamed on SECN+.
UT is coming off a 72-63 victory over EKU on December 10th, and it returns to action following a lengthy competition break during finals. Tennessee will try to keep the momentum going against Wofford on December 19th and Liberty on December 31st as Kellie Harper‘s squad prepares for the start of Southeastern Conference play on January 4th.
Karoline Striplin, who led her squad in scoring the past two games, tops the team over the last eight contests at 13.1 ppg., followed by Sara Puckett (12.1) and Jasmine Powell (11.7).
Wofford comes to Rocky Top following a buzzer-beating, 71-70 win over Virginia in Charlottesville on Saturday afternoon. The Terriers feature only nine players seeing action this season, including just seven playing in every game thus far.
Broadcast Details
Game Promotions
Download the Tennessee Athletics app to join the Coca-Cola GBO Zone Lightshow.
Purchase tickets at AllVols.com or call the Tennessee Athletics Ticket Office at 1.800.332.VOLS or 865.656.1200.
Parking, Traffic Flow, Entry Alerts
Fans coming to campus looking to purchase parking will do so on-site with a credit card for all events, including men’s and women’s hoops.
All tickets and Tennessee Fund parking passes are digital.
Just like last season, fans will see walk-through metal detectors outside of all Food City Center entrances.
Campus parking is limited for large Food City Center events, but there is a free shuttle service from the Ag Campus for all fans, dropping off and picking up immediately adjacent to Food City Center.
ADA shuttles and entry operate the same as previous years.
(New) Phillip Fulmer Way Closure Information
Due to construction and upgrades to Neyland Stadium, basketball fans and media members should be advised of immediate changes to normal traffic patterns on Phillip Fulmer Way and Peyton Manning Pass during the 2023-24 basketball season.
Phillip Fulmer Way from G-10 garage to Neyland Stadium Gate 21 vicinity is now closed.
The G-10 garage will not be accessible southbound on Phillip Fulmer Way.
Phillip Fulmer Way will be closed to southbound traffic at Middle Drive, and it will not be accessible via Peyton Manning Pass.
For events at Food City Center, G-10 and Staff 5 parking areas will be accessible via Lake Loudoun Boulevard, but vehicles are strongly recommended to enter G-10 via Neyland Drive.
Additionally, G5/30 will only be accessible from Lake Loudoun Boulevard.
Season Reset
The Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team looks to get back above .500 on Tuesday night by stringing together back-to-back wins for the second time this season.
They last recorded consecutive victories on Nov. 13 and 19 over Memphis and Troy, respectively.
Tennessee has taken on an extremely challenging schedule thus far while playing the past eight games without its best overall performer, Rickea Jackson.
It added Jillian Hollingshead (7.0 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) to the injury list (concussion protocol) vs. MTSU, meaning Tennessee was missing its top two rebounders and playing without a combined 19.0 rebounds per game from Hollingshead and Jackson. UT lost the board battle, 37-30, to the Lady Raiders.
After she recorded a 31-point, 17-rebound double-double in a 92-91 road loss at No. 18/22 Florida State on Nov. 9, 6-foot-2 fifth-year forward Rickea Jackson (22.0 ppg., 12.0 rpg.) has been out of action due to a lower leg injury.
The Lady Vols have gone 4-4 during Jackson’s absence, dropping contests to No. 21/19 Indiana (71-57) in the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, to No. 18/14 Notre Dame (74-69) and No. 16/13 Ohio State (78-58) at home, and to Middle Tennessee (73-62) at a neutral site in Huntsville, Ala.
During that stretch, UT won, 84-74, in overtime over Memphis and beat Troy, 100-73, at home, before knocking off No. 22/20 Oklahoma in Fort Myers, 76-73, and defeating EKU in Knoxville, 72-63, on December 10th.
Junior Sara Puckett (12.3 ppg., 5.9 rpg.), junior forward Karoline Striplin (12.3 ppg., 4.7 rpg.), senior guard Jewel Spear (10.7 ppg., 5.0 rpg.) and fifth-year guard Jasmine Powell (10.7 ppg., 4.3 rpg.) have stepped up to shoulder the offensive load during Jackson’s absence.
Striplin has paced UT in scoring the past two games, firing in a career-high 29 points vs. Middle Tennessee and dropping 17 vs. EKU the last time on the court.
Senior guard Destinee Wells (3.5 apg.) and junior forward Jillian Hollingshead (7.2) are tops in assists and rebounds, respectively, during Jackson’s absence.
Recapping The Last Game
Tennessee recorded its first wire-to-wire win of the season, seizing a 72-63 victory over Eastern Kentucky University in Food City Center on December 10th.
Junior Karoline Striplin was once again the high scorer for Tennessee (5-5), finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Senior Jewel Spear was also in double figures with 12, and junior Sara Puckett, senior Tess Darby and fifth-year senior Jasmine Powell all turned in nine on the day, with Powell adding season highs of eight rebounds and five assists to her stat line.
The Colonels (8-2) were led by Antwainette Walker, who managed a game-high 24 points. Alice Recanati and Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor were also in double digits with 12 and 10, respectively.
Tennessee Post Game Notes vs. Eastern Kentucky
Karo In Double Figures Again
Coming off a career-high 29 points vs. Middle Tennessee, Karoline Striplin posted 17 points against the Colonels. She recorded her sixth game in double figures and team-leading fifth contest as UT’s top point producer. Striplin now is averaging 12.3 ppg., which tied for second on the team with Sara Puckett.
First Quarter Defense
The UT Lady Vols held EKU to just nine points in the opening quarter, which ties for the lowest total allowed in a period this season. Tennessee also held Troy to nine points in the second quarter on 11/19/23.
Finishing Strong Too
Tennessee finished strong on the defensive end, limiting EKU to 12 points in the final stanza. That total was the lowest fourth-quarter point total all season by a Lady Vol opponent. The Colonels’ 32 second-half points also stand as a low-water mark by a foe during the 2023-24 campaign.
TK Swat Party
Redshirt senior Tamari Key blocked a season-high three shots vs. EKU. She moved into a tie for the team lead this season with eight and now has a UT record of 303 for her career, which ranks her ninth on the SEC’s all-time blocks list.
Back In The Win Column on The Boards
After a three-game slide, Tennessee was back in the winning column on the scoreboard and boards. The UT Lady Vols out-rebounded EKU, 47-36, to improve to 5-1 this season when they claim the battle on the glass. During the Kellie Harper era, UT is 87-21 when grabbing more caroms than opponents.
Facing Unranked Teams In ’23-24
Tennessee is 4-1 vs. unranked teams in 2023-24, with its lone setback coming in a neutral site game hosted by Middle Tennessee.
During the Kellie Harper era, the Big Orange women sport an 81-12 mark vs. teams outside the top 25 polls.
UT is averaging 82.2 points and 48.6 rebounds vs. unranked foes this season, while allowing 69.4 and 34.6 to opponents for margins of +12.8 and +14.0.
Six Lady Vols are averaging double figures in points vs. unranked teams this year.
karoline Striplin is putting up 17.4 ppg., followed by Rickea Jackson (13.0, 1 game), Sara Puckett (12.8), Jewel Spear (11.4), Jillian Hollingshead (10.8) and Jasmine Powell (10.5).
Jillian Hollingshead actually is averaging a double-double vs. unranked foes, with 10.0 rebounds per contest to go along with her 10.8 scoring average. She is hitting 60 percent from the field.
Destinee Wells is dishing out 4.0 assists per game, with a positive ledger of 20 assists to 10 turnovers.
Milestone Watch
Jewel Spear’s next game will be her 100th as a collegiate player.
Tess Darby needs two three-pointers to catch Taber Spani in ninth at 143 and six to equal Shannon Bobbitt (147) in eighth on UT’s career three-pointers list.
Rickea Jackson is seven rebounds away from reaching 600 for her career and 285 points shy of scoring 1,000 as a Lady Vol.
Kellie Harper is seven wins away from her 100th as head coach at Tennessee and 22 shy of 400 for her career.
With a blocked shot vs. MTSU on December 6th, Tamari Key reached 300 for her career and became the ninth player in SEC history to hit that mark.
Key needs 18 blocks to catch Sylvia Fowles (LSU, 321, 2004-08) in eighth on the SEC’s all-time career list.
She also is 94 points away from becoming the 49th player in Lady Vol history to score 1,000 points here.
Series Notes
This marks the second meeting between Tennessee and Wofford in women’s basketball in as many seasons.
The UT and WC men’s programs faced each other on November 14th, with the Vols prevailing, 82-61, in Knoxville.
Kellie Harper will be facing the Terriers for the 15th occasion in her career, taking a 13-1 record and nine-game winning streak vs. Wofford into Tuesday night’s match-up.
The first 13 of those meetings occurred while Harper was head coach at Western Carolina.
UT is 71-20-1 all-time vs. schools currently in the SoCon.
A Look At Wofford
The Terriers are paced by Rachael Rose and Maddie Heiss, who put up 20.2 and 14.6 points per game, respectively.
Rose is excellent at the free-throw line, connecting on 43 of her 47 attempts this season for 91.5 pct.
Evangelia Paulk is a workhorse on the boards, pulling down 8.4 per contest, and she is Wofford’s third-leading scorer at 8.5 ppg.
About Wofford Head Coach Jimmy Garrity
Jimmy Garrity is in his eighth year at Wofford and sports a record of 113-106 through the Virginia game.
In his seven seasons at the helm, he has seen players earn 16 All-Southern Conference honors, six All-Freshman Team honors, four All-Defensive Team selections, a SoCon Freshman of the Year and a SoCon Player of the Year.
Garrity was the 2022-23 SoCon Coach of the Year once, the first in program history.
He led the Terriers to their first-ever Division I postseason bid in 2021-22 with a berth in the WNIT.
He guided Wofford to its first-ever SoCon Regular Season Championship in 2022-23, the first title for any Wofford women’s team sport.
Most Recent Game
With under a second remaining and Wofford trailing by one, Rachael Rose scored a game-winning bucket to secure a historic 71-70 triumph for the Terriers over Virginia on Saturday in Charlottesville.
Rose barely missing out on a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists.
WC made 11 threes at a 42.3 percent clip while holding the Cavaliers to four treys at 17.4 percent.
Last UT-WC Contest
Tennessee closed out the non-conference portion of its schedule with a decisive 92-53 victory over Wofford in the first-ever meeting between the programs on Dec. 27, 2023, in Knoxville.
Three Lady Vols (8-6) were in double figures, with senior Rickea Jackson leading the team with 16 points, and senior Jordan Horston and junior Tess Darby finishing with 13 and 11, respectively.
Graduate Jasmine Franklin led the team in rebounding with 10 boards on the night while adding eight points.
UT tied its season-best of 12 treys against Wofford, shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc, while holding WC to a season-low 53 points on the night.
For the Terriers (9-4), Jackie Carman scored a game-high 17 points.
Next Up For UT Women’s Basketball
After facing Wofford, the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team will close out the 2023 calendar year with a December 31st clash at Liberty at 1:00pm CT (ESPN+).
The Lady Vols will open 2024 and SEC play on the road on January 4th, playing at Auburn at 7:00pm CT/8:00pm ET (SECN+).
