Tennessee shot the lights out on Thursday night in the Food City Center.
To the tune of 135 points, that is.
The Lady Vols were dominant to start the Kim Caldwell era on Thursday as Tennessee defeated Carson-Newman 135-49 in a preseason exhibition contest from Knoxville.
Make no mistake about it – preseason or not, Tennessee’s 135 points were astounding. But it certainly wasn’t the only impressive stat from Thursday.
When Caldwell was hired to Tennessee, the idea was that she was going to bring an up-tempo, high-powered offense to Rocky Top that would be aggressive in both stealing and rebounding on the defensive end.
Check.
Offense
Tennessee’s offense was firing on all cylinders as the fast-paced style of basketball led to a whopping 94 (!) shots on the evening. The Lady Vols hit 49-of-94 shots from the floor to go above 50 percent shooting on the night. It’s a new style of basketball in Knoxville as the Lady Vols also took 48 three-point attempts while knocking down 19 of them.
Caldwell rotated 13 players into the game on Thursday with six going for double-digit point totals led by transfer guard Ruby Whitehorn with 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 4-of-6 from the perimeter.
The Lady Vols also tallied 26 assists on their 49 makes which is more than double the assists that Carson-Newman had in the game (12).
Tennessee was relentless throughout all four quarters of the game. The Lady Vols recorded 30+ points in each quarter with 31 in the first, 33 in the second, 41 in the third, and 30 in the fourth.
Second-chance points also look to be a potential calling card of the Kim Caldwell offense. Tennessee had 26 offensive rebounds on Thursday which led to 26 second-chance points on the night.
Defense
Tennessee wants to push the ball on offense which is reliant on an aggressive, active defense on the other end of the court.
How about 30 steals during the game for the Lady Vols?
Those 30 steals led to 58 fast break points as Tennessee really found an advantage in pushing the ball up the court after aggressive play on the defensive end.
Tennessee also made sure to rebound. The Lady Vols pulled in 21 defensive rebounds on Thursday compared to Carson-Newman’s 12 offensive rebounds. In total, Tennessee out-rebounded Carson-Newman 47-32 in the contest.
Misc.
Tennessee’s roster had a lot of turnover in Kim Caldwell’s first offseason after she was hired as the Lady Vols’ head coach in early April.
Six Lady Vol players (five transfers, one RS-freshman) made their Tennessee debut on Saturday night as those six players combined for a massive 84 points, 30 rebounds, 17 assists, and 22 steals, according to UTSports: Ruby Whitehorn, Samara Spencer, Talaysia Cooper, Favor Ayodele, Alyssa Latham, and Kaniya Boyd.
Caldwell found players in the portal that would fit her system and they delivered in their first exhibition game from Thursday night.
Next Up
After a 135-49 exhibition win over Carson-Newman on Thursday night, Caldwell’s Lady Vols now turn to the season-opener on Tuesday night to officially open the Kim Caldwell era in Knoxville. Tennessee will host Samford at 6:30 p.m. ET from Knoxville with television coverage on SECNetwork+.
Check out Kim Caldwell, Talaysia Cooper, and Ruby Whitehorn in the postgame press conference below:
