Lady Vols season preview: A rebuilt roster Page 8
Volume 149, Issue 11
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Graphics by Maya WIlliams
Basketball Preview
2026 DeWayne Brown goes up for a shot during a game against Northern Kentucky at Food City Center on Sun. Luke Goins/ The Daily Beacon
Letter from the Sports Editor Page 2 @utkdailybeacon
A look at the Vols’ roster LYNDEN PROSSER Contributor The landscape of college basketball is looking a little different than it did years ago, and Tennessee basketball head coach Rick Barnes is maximizing the impact of the NCAA’s transfer portal. With almost a fully brand-new squad, this Vols team is filled with talent and new faces. With the regular season underway, here’s a complete breakdown of the Vols’ newly acquired roster. Freshmen Tennessee has one of the highest-ranked freshman classes in the country heading into this season, led by the No. 1 player in Tennessee, Chris Washington Jr. Finishing his high school career with over 2,000 points, Washington is a gifted athlete who thrives when playing above the rim. The 6-foot-9 small forward will look to make an immediate impact in a frontcourt that will be looking for a spark plug coming off the bench. New to Tennessee along with Washington are Ralph Scott, Manny Green and Marquis Clark.
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Lady Vols season preview TYLER EDMONDS, Staff Writer NATHAN MILES, Contributor Fatmata Janneh shoots the ball against Florida A&M at Food City Center on Oct. 27. Jackson Reynolds / The Daily Beacon
Kim Caldwell didn’t sugarcoat her team’s offseason at media day. “It seems like it’s been 10 years,” the head coach said about the offseason. “It’s maybe looked uncomfortable at times, but it’s been necessary for our program to take the steps that we need.” After a roster overhaul that left no one from last season, we’re about to find out whether those steps went in the right direction. Here’s what to watch. Can a roster built in three weeks come together? Assistant coach Isoken Uzamere, who came over from Georgia this offseason, said that Tennessee’s staff never treated the rebuild as one big task. “If you’re going to climb a mountain, you don’t look at the top,” Uzamere said. “We were just checking off boxes.” This resulted in 14 commitments in 22 days and a portal class USA Today ranked No. 9 nationally. With just one high school signee, the staff targeted players who were “selfless competitors.” That mindset is showing up in the locker room. “I’ve always been considered an underdog,” Texas A&M transfer Fatmata Janneh said. “So just coming in with that underdog mentality, putting Tennessee back on the map.” Three players headline the class, but only two will take the court this season.
Kaylene Smikle (0) shoots from behind the arc in a game against Duquesne Terrence Hill Jr. prepares to drive the ball during a game against Xavier at Food City Center on Oct. 15. Jaden Vitt / The Daily Beacon at Food City Center on Nov. 2. Jackson Reynolds / The Daily Beacon
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The Daily Beacon
Letter from the Sports Editor: A farewell to three and a half years of tomorrows TREVOR MCGEE Sports Editor
To me, there’s always been a tomorrow. Ever since I walked into The Daily Beacon office my freshman year, I’ve gone about my day with the feeling that I’ll get to return to what I love the next day. That’s remained true for the last three and a half years of my life. I wrote one story a week in the fall semester my freshman year — Vols in the NFL. Talking to people terrified me, and my skewed reality of journalism at the time was to write a story from the comfort of my dorm room. So I got acclimated to one story as I navigated college. Super Bowl LVIII is when it randomly took a turn for me. I watched from one of the Dogwood Hall common areas with friends as the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs battled for world champion status, with former Tennessee football players Trey Smith and Jauan Jennings facing off. At one point, Jennings appeared to be a potential favorite to win Super Bowl MVP honors, so I downloaded Google Docs on my phone and began writing the story in the middle of the game. I wanted my sports editor at the time, Caleb Jarreau, to have a story immediately if it happened. He didn’t ask for it, but I felt a responsibility to do it. While the Chiefs pulled it out and snubbed Jennings of his moment, I quickly turned the story to favor another ring for Smith. That’s just a small part of journalism. But in that moment, my quick action appeared to satisfy Jarreau, who offered me the chance to cover the 2024 baseball team that same night. From there, I took my first beat and worked through my fear of talking to people. That team won the national championship, and I covered it from the press box at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. I experienced the pinnacle in my first ever go-around. Some journalists never get that opportunity, and others might consider it the peak of their careers. me, it was only the beginning of what every one of my days would look like. I took the assistant sports editor role that fall alongside Jarreau, and then moved to sports editor about four months later when he took a full-time job in November 2024. I’ve held the role ever since. I’ve often joked about being the longest-tenured sports editor in unofficial Beacon history. Former sports ed-
Trevor McGee has served as The Daily Beacon’s sports editor since November 2024. He wraps up his tenure this December with his graduation from the University of Tennessee. File / The Daily Beacon itor David Cobb sat next to me in the press box on Saturday for the Kentucky game and posed the same observation. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. No day is the same in the newsroom. No two workdays look the same. And no opportunity has ever been the same. I’m grateful for it all. Each day — through the good, bad and ugly — reminded me there was always a tomorrow. Life is hard. I’ve been fortunate in a lot of ways. But I’ve also experienced shortcomings that make some days harder to get through than others. If there’s anything about me, it’s that I care a lot — I’m my own worst critic, and I take some things harder than others. When I lost my cousin in August, I kept much of the grief to myself. I didn’t know what to do other than show up the next day, and it was the first loss so close to home that made me realize tomorrow is never promised. The Beacon was my place to show up. I’ve spent more hours than I can count between those walls in the basement of the Communications Building. It’s not the most glamorous place to spend your time, but it also becomes a part of you. I’ve met lifelong friends between those walls. Jarreau is still a very close friend of mine. He was my mentor and the one who gave me opportunities and intro-
duced me to many people I was too shy to introduce myself to. Alex Sarkis and Theo Colli have become two of my closest friends, and they’re two guys I’ll always know will be there. They’ll be taking the reins from me in the spring, and I’m confident in their abilities to uphold the standard of the Beacon sports section. Caden Dyer has also become a close friend of mine over the years because we’ve lived similar stints between the office walls. We’ve seen editorial teams change year over year, and we have similar ambitions because we care about the product. My friendships created in student media aren’t limited to just them either, but there’s only so many inches of print I can take up before I’m cut off. If I’ve ever had a conversation with you, just know I’m so appreciative of the time you took to speak with a kid who’s just trying to figure out life. It’s been an honor to interact with the people I’ve crossed paths with in life. Whether it was the many editors, staff writers or contributors, they’ve all played a meaningful role in my life. I wouldn’t be the person I am without everything the Beacon has provided me. And the people make it what it is. I’ve traveled so many places. I’ve been to 13 of 16 SEC cities since coming to college. I’ve covered a national
championship, two Elite Eights, a College Football Playoff game and nearly every sport the University of Tennessee has to offer. I even convinced the school to send me to Italy to cover the Paralympics. My work has earned me some award placements and national recognition, including an Associated Press Sports Editors scholarship. The coolest part about my tenure has been seeing people grow. My role as sports editor wasn’t just about getting to cover these events. It was about being a leader and helping others find their footing in a place that gave me so much. I hope I’ve fulfilled that responsibility. Because while I’ve had a pretty cool tenure, the people I’ve gotten to work alongside have made it that much more meaningful. It might even take a sicko to have done it as long as I did, but the even cooler thing is that the Beacon will continue without me. I just happened to be another chapter in the story of the best student newspaper in the South. At the end of the day, it’s just another chapter in my life, too. There have been so many moments that have made me realize why I chose this path in life. Almost every reason comes back to the people. My pessimistic manner probably wouldn’t suggest my gratitude for every one of them. But there aren’t enough words to describe what the last three and a half years have meant to me. Everyone says to get involved and find a place in college. It’s not a cliché. The Beacon was my place. And when I wake up tomorrow, I will still feel that way. I’m blessed to serve a purpose in this life. I’m blessed to be surrounded by people who care as much as I do. I’m blessed to have a support system as simple as a student newsroom. While my time is not yet over, and I feel like my time with the Beacon is never-ending, December graduation looms and my farewell is imminent. It only felt right to sum it up in the final project I organized. Please enjoy the stories inside the basketball preview as I take a quiet step out the door that has consumed nearly a sixth of my life. I love sports and I love the people I’m surrounded by. If not for the Beacon, I am not the person I am. It gave me a reason to be grateful for the life I’m living, even through the hard times. While I don’t know just yet what’s next, I’m blessed to be at peace with the thought that I’ll wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. Maybe I’ll eventually start living like it isn’t promised. For now, I’m just grateful that I get another one.
Transfer portal class leads a new-look Tennessee | cont. from page 1 Back in July, Preseason Player of the Year nominee Juke Harris spoke with the media and described Scott as “one of the best freshmen I’ve ever seen.” Unfortunately, Scott underwent left knee surgery in September and will be out for the foreseeable future. Green joins the Vols from Cedar Grove High School in Georgia. The small forward averaged 27.7 points per game his senior year and broke his high school scoring record, previously held by former Tennessee forward Reggie Johnson. The fourth incoming freshman is Clark, who joins the Tennessee program from Whitney Young High School in Chicago, where he also held the school’s all-time score record. Clark is regarded as one of the best players in Illinois and is an aggressive scorer who improves an offense both on and off the ball. Transfers The identity around this year’s Vols team will be centered around the talent that Barnes and his staff acquired from the transfer portal, bringing in nine new guys. ESPN ranked this year’s transfer portal class No. 1 nationally. Terrence Hill Jr. comes to Knoxville after spending two seasons with the VCU Rams, earning First Team All-A-10 honors. The 6-foot-2 junior point guard averaged 15 points and 2.8 assists en route to the conference Sixth Man of the Year honors and will look to be the leader of this Tennessee offense. Another talented scorer expected to lead the Vols this season is Wake Forest transfer Harris. Harris shined as one of the best pure scorers in college basketball last season, averaging 21.4 points per game while shooting 33.2% from three. The 6-foot-7 junior is gaining much respect from college basketball analysts as a potential first-round NBA draft pick next season. Incoming transfers Miles Rubin and Braeden Lue will provide a strong frontcourt. Averaging 2.3 blocks per game at Loyola Chicago, Rubin became one of the nation’s best shot blockers last year. Lue averaged 10.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season at Kennesaw
Terrence Hill Jr. prepares to drive the ball during a game against Xavier at Food City Center on Oct. 15. Jaden Vitt / The Daily Beacon State, while earning Conference USA All-Defensive Team honors. Christian Fermin is another frontcourt option coming to the Vols after spending four seasons at VCU. Vanderbilt transfer Jalen Washington is also on the Vols’ roster, but the 6-foot-10 paint presence is still awaiting an eligibility decision from the NCAA. The Vols also added Dai Dai Ames and Jalen Haralson from the ACC this offseason. Ames averaged 16.9 points per game while shooting 37.6% from three in his junior season at California. Haralson, a 6-foot-7 interior presence and one of the best freshmen in the ACC last season, earned All-ACC Honorable Mention and averaged 16.2 points while shooting an efficient 51.5% from the field.
With all this size and mid-range scorers, Barnes knew his staff had to hit the portal looking for a pure shooter. The Vols got just that in Belmont transfer Tyler Lundblade. Lundblade averaged 15.6 points per game last season while shooting 40.6% from three as one of the best perimeter shooters in the nation. Returners The slimmest section of this year’s Tennessee men’s basketball team is the returning players from last year. The Vols only retained two scholarship players from the 2025-26 team, DeWayne Brown II and Troy Henderson.
Brown saw around 15 minutes per game last season for the Vols and is expected to make a significant jump this season. Not only is Brown a key returner for this Tennessee team, but Barnes has high praise for him as the team’s leader. The 6-foot-8 sophomore who excels on the boards will look to grow his game and contribute even more this season on both ends of the floor. Henderson played limited minutes last year, but is one of the few true point guards on the roster. Coming off an April shoulder surgery and an injury to the other shoulder, Henderson continues to battle through the pain. Should he remain healthy, his versatility with the ball in his hands could be valuable to the multitude of scorers around him.
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Meet Lady Vols basketball’s 15 newcomers BRODY RUPERT Contributor
The Lady Vols roster enters this season with 15 new players on the roster. After all of the players from the previous season entered the transfer portal, head coach Kim Caldwell rebuilt her team from scratch in just 25 days. Here’s a look at all 15 players that will take the court for the Lady Vols this season.
FRESHMEN
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GABBY GUARD MINUS
Minus is a four-star prospect out of Dacula, Georgia. She comes in as 247Sports’ No. 47 overall player, and was ranked No. 3 in the state of Georgia. She helped lead her school, Hebron Christian Academy, to four straight regional titles. Minus surpassed 1,000 points and 500 assists in her high school career.
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IRENE GUARD OBOAVWODUO Oboavwoduo comes from Manchester, England, where she most previously played for Manchester Basketball in the Super League. She was unanimously named the Molten Young Super League Basketball Player of the Year. Oboavwoduo has experience representing and captaining many Great Britain national teams in tournaments, and has experience playing high-level basketball for over half a decade.
TRANSFERS
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HARRISOUM GUARD COULIBALY
Coulibaly, a sophomore out of Paris, France, transferred to Tennessee from Auburn, where she led the Tigers in scoring, averaging 10.4 points per game. She put up double-digit points 19 times, including 12 out of 15 SEC games. Coulibaly also was second on the team in both steals and assists, while being fourth in rebounds. She was efficient from the field, scoring at a 45% mark. She is a great young find for the Lady Vols’ roster and should make an immediate impact on the team.
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ZHEN FORWARD CRAFT
Craft transferred to Tennessee after a freshman campaign at Georgia. The former four-star recruit averaged 5.7 points and 4.2 rebounds in her rookie season and shot at a 47% mark from the field. Her best game was a 16-point and 13-rebound performance against Charleston Southern.
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AVERY GUARD MILLS
Mills will not see the court this season after suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in June, but she will make an impact when she returns. She transfers from Liberty, where she averaged a team-leading 15.3 points per game in her sophomore season. One of the best shooters in school history, she drained a record 82 shots from 3-point range and was second in the nation.
09 SHAELYN GUARD STEELE
Steele, a junior transfer from Penn State, will look to add depth to the Lady Vols’ rotation. She has the ability to both score and rebound, with a career high of 10 points and put up seven games of five or more assists last season.
Naomi White pulls up in a game against Duquesne at Food City Center on Nov. 2. Jackson Reynolds / The åDaily Beacon
10
JADA GUARD EADS
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RYLIE GUARD THEUERKAUF
Eads transferred from Seton Hall in the offseason and is coming off a torn ACL in January. She was the leading playmaker for the Pirates, with 12.2 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists over the course of her career. She eclipsed double-digit points 33 times, as well as six games of 20 or more points. She scores at a high level and has the ability to take over a game offensively.
This will be Rylie Theuerkauf’s second stint at an SEC school, as she played for Georgia last season. In her lone season with the Bulldogs, she had shooting numbers near the top of the conference, being No. 3 in 3-point field goal percentage, No. 2 in free-throw percentage, and No. 8 in three-pointers per game. She finished last season averaging 11.9 points, two rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game.
HARPER FORWARD PETERSON
FATMATA FORWARD JANNEH
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Peterson should be able to fulfill a role in the frontcourt at 6-foot-3. The Stanford product has seen limited action in her career due to injury, but was a four-star wing out of high school. She averages 0.9 points in her career, but with a healthy season on a good Tennessee team should be able to have the opportunity to have a breakout campaign.
00 KAYLENE GUARD SMIKLE
Kaylene Smikle is a fifth-year senior and has 87 games in her career under her belt. Last year, she only played in seven games before opting to have knee surgery, which ended her season prematurely. Through her four-year career, she has averaged 17.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game across Rutgers and Maryland. She should be another highvolume scorer for the Lady Vols this season.
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Janneh is a player who is going to come on the team and help on both ends of the court. During her lone season at Texas A&M, she was second on the team in scoring with 11.4 points per game and first in rebounds per game at 9.7. She accumulated 12 double-doubles, including eight while in SEC play.
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NAOMI GUARD WHITE
White is primed to be a star for the Vols. She is coming off of her lone season of basketball at Northern Arizona, where she averaged 20.8 points per contest, which was the best by a freshman in the country and No.15 overall. She put up double-digit points in 29 of her 32 contests, including 19 games with 20-plus points and three where she got over 30. One of the best shooters in the country, White ranked 22nd nationally with 92 threes made. If the 5-foot-9 guard can be nearly as productive as she was in her rookie season, she will be a threat for opposing teams.
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KENNEDY GUARD FAUNTLEROY
Fauntleroy has been everywhere, and Tennessee marks her fifth school through five years. The fifth-year senior can make plays in every aspect of the game. Last season, she led the East Carolina Pirates in points, threes, assists, steals and blocks. Over her 89-game career, Fauntleroy has averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists.
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AALIYAH GUARD MOORE Sixth-year forward Moore is coming off of five years with the Texas Longhorns. She missed all of last year recovering from a knee injury, but was a talented player when she saw the court earlier in her career. She averaged 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest from her time in Austin. If she can bounce back from her injury, she could be an impactful player for the Lady Vols this season on both ends of the court.
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RILEY FORWARD MAKALUSKY Makalusky comes over from Caldwell’s home state of West Virginia, where she appeared in 35 games for the Mountaineers a year ago. In nearly 15 minutes of action per night, Makalusky averaged 4.7 points and 2.0 rebounds. She provides another skill set suited for shooting threes, making 35 of her 81 attempts last year. Makalusky is a career 39.4% shooter from behind the arc in three seasons between Butler and West Virginia.
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The Daily Beacon
How DeWayne Brown II, Troy Henderson are leading Vols
TREVOR MCGEE Sports Editor Will Smith walked into an empty house in the season finale of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” only to find out everyone else had moved on. Troy Henderson and DeWayne Brown II didn’t walk into an empty locker room this offseason. But after Tennessee basketball’s roster underwent a dramatic overhaul, the familiar faces were largely gone. The Vols fell short in the Elite Eight for a third consecutive season. But head coach Rick Barnes approached rebuilding the roster differently, prioritizing “production over retention.” Tennessee brought in 13 new players on scholarship, while Henderson and Brown returned for their sophomore seasons. Now, the two are taking on different leadership roles under the 72-year-old, 12thyear Tennessee head coach. Henderson has embraced being a consistent voice for the newcomers, while Brown has grown into a more vocal presence after spending his freshman season learning from Tennessee’s veterans. “We know what to expect, and we know the process of Rocky Top,” Henderson said. “So just giving them a voice to hear every day. I’ve been picking it up.” The roster turnover is becoming increasingly common in college basketball. But for Brown, returning to a program with an almost entirely new group of teammates wasn’t necessarily strange. It presented an opportunity to embrace a different responsibility. “It’s just different,” Brown said. “But I just think it’s just something I embraced. I knew I was going to have to pick up being in leadership and being a leader and getting more of the guys to understand what Tennessee
DeWayne Brown II and Troy Henderson against Wofford at Food City Center on Nov. 3. Luke Goins / The Daily Beacon
We know what to expect, and we know the process of Rocky Top. So just giving them a voice to hear every day. I’ve been picking it up.” Troy Henderson Guard basketball is about. So I just kind of look at it that way.” Brown is now an example of what Barnes wants from a player in his program. The 6-foot-8 forward entered Tennessee as a recruit outside the top 100, not expected to be a major contributor in a loaded frontcourt. But he showed up to campus and proved to be a worker Barnes couldn’t keep off the court. An injury to Cade Phillips thrust Brown into a rotational role, and the then-true freshman didn’t relinquish his status. Barnes consistently harps on him being the “biggest surprise” of last season’s team. He’s now playing a different kind of crucial role: helping ensure the Tennessee standard carries over to a new group. He leads by example. He shows them where they need to be on the court and what Barnes expects, particularly when coaches get onto them. Brown also wants to be
someone teammates can lean on even when they’re not the ones receiving criticism. That change hasn’t gone unnoticed. Jalen Haralson, a transfer from Notre Dame, knew Brown before their time together at Tennessee. Haralson remembers a quieter Brown in high school, one who has since become a more vocal presence. Brown’s leadership is evident in the locker room and weight room, Haralson said. He’s become someone the newcomers can count on during difficult moments, even if he doesn’t have all the answers himself. “You know DeWayne Brown is going to be locked into the team,” Haralson said. Juke Harris has noticed it, too. When the sought-after Wake Forest transfer arrived on campus in the summer, he saw a quieter Brown. It didn’t last very long.
“It only took him a week to open up to a lot of us,” Harris said. “We get to see the real DeWayne.” The two returnees have helped lead the group through the adjustment, Harris said, preparing newcomers for what they were getting themselves into during summer workouts. The group has also found ways to get comfortable away from the court, spending time at each other’s houses to watch the NBA Finals together. Brown’s leadership is an extension of what he learned from last season’s talented frontcourt. As a freshman, he watched the older players to learn how to fit into the program. He received support while figuring out the system and expectations. Now, he wants to offer that same support to the new guys. Henderson has a similar understanding of what it takes to make that transition, but his approach is built
around consistency. The sophomore point guard sat behind Ja’Kobi Gillespie and learned about the standard from Tennessee’s veteran players, including two-year center Felix Okpara. They taught him about toughness, leadership and how to carry himself on and off the court. Henderson described those players as “big brothers” who helped show him how to meet expectations. He’s now passing those same lessons along. With so many newcomers learning the various yells, criticism and personal conversations from Barnes, Henderson knows his job goes beyond the end of practice. The hardest part of having so many new teammates, he said, is being consistent and making sure they have someone to lean on. He wants to be an outlet for players as they adjust, even when the work gets difficult. That includes the various stair-climb punishments that follow mistakes in practice. “I preach to them every time in the locker room before and after practice,” Henderson said, “that it’s going to be the hardest thing you ever did in your life.” Henderson hasn’t taken on that responsibility alone. He has watched Brown become another consistent voice for the newcomers. “He’s doing it every day,” Henderson said. “He don’t take no days off with his voice. That’s something that you can control. So I feel like he’s doing that every day Barnes has seen the two sophomores embrace their leadership roles as the newcomers adjust to Tennessee. “They both really try to help these guys understand what we’re trying to get done,” Barnes said.
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How Juke Harris hopes to continue transfer portal touch for Tennessee basketball ALEX SARKIS Assistant Sports Editor Before every Tennessee basketball home game, you’ll find Juke Harris indulging in his favorite pregame ritual — playing Fortnite. If time permits, the Salisbury, North Carolina, native likes to get three rounds of the popular video game in before making his way to the basketball facility for the day’s contest. It’s the first step of a gameday routine that started in high school, one that has followed the now-college junior throughout his basketball career to a new home with the Vols. It’s just another small element of what makes one of Tennessee’s 13 newcomers unique. “I remember I came home because we don’t play until 7:30 (p.m.) in high school,” Harris said. “I was just sitting around, I got bored. I played Fortnite, and then when I went to go play, I think I had like 45 points or something like that. I felt like that was the reason why.” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes didn’t bank on Harris’ gaming superstitions leading to elite production when the Vols recruited the 6-foot-7 guard out of the transfer portal this past offseason. After a standout sophomore season at Wake Forest saw Harris earn the ACC Most Improved Player honors, he declared for the NBA Draft before eventually withdrawing to return to the college ranks with the Vols. While other top programs vied for his talents, Harris’ decision to join one of the game’s winningest coaches was a straightforward one. Barnes reeled in one of the portal’s big fish. “I feel like the main reason why I came here is because of Coach Barnes, his coaching style too,” Harris said. “I built that relationship out of high school, and I knew that everything I needed to work on, this
is the place for it.” Over the last several years, transfer guards under Barnes have blossomed into some of the top players in the country. Dalton Knecht, Chaz Lanier and Ja’Kobi Gillespie are a few of the figures who enjoyed an uptick in their game in Tennessee’s system. Knecht and Lanier each came from mid-major programs, while Gillespie didn’t arrive with the star-level expectations around him that he eventually finished his season with. Harris’ situation is different. The standard is higher. “I think Juke is in a situation a lot like Nate (Ament) was, probably more so,” Barnes said on Nov. 3. “I don’t know if anybody expected as much from Dalton and Chaz, as much. But when you’re talked about as much as those guys were, and they’re competitive, they want to do well. And I think sometimes they put pressure on themselves.” It’s no secret that Harris has big shoes to fill, high expectations or not, following in the footsteps of the names that have come before him. Those shoes come with leadership responsibilities for soles, an element of his game that Harris doesn’t always find as a second nature. “He is one of the most experienced guys we got,” assistant coach Earl Grant said. “So he is trying to lead. I don’t know if that is naturally his personality. I think he does lead by example in terms of, he works on his game pretty hard. He’s in the gym, so he’s more leading by example than he is leading by voice.” Harris’ actions did all the talking last season with the Demon Deacons. He started all 35 games, breaking a single-season minutes record set by Randolph Childress in 1994-95. He garnered praise for being one of the most improved players in the country, seeing a scoring increase of 15.3 points per game from his freshman season. Harris hopes that buying
Juke Harris plays defense against Xaiver at Food City Center on Oct. 15. Jaden Vitt / The Daily Beacon into Tennessee’s way of doing business can keep the improvement steady. He only needs one adjective to describe the Vols’ culture. “It’s tough,” Harris said. “We have a lot of guys on this team who are tough physically and mentally. You got to be mentally tough to play here, and I feel like a lot of our guys have that tough mentality.” Adjusting to Barnes’ hardnosed system is a task not cut out for the faint of heart. A season ago, it took some of Tennessee’s newcomers some time to find their sea legs, even once the regular season started up. It’s the small details that usually pay the most dividends in Barnes’ teams being successful. Each tries to win by being one of the most painful teams to play against. It’s a mantra the Vols’ coaching staff made sure to convey to Harris before he signed his name on the dotted line. “We told him everything he wanted is on the other side of
hard,” Barnes said. “It’s going to be hard. You can talk about it at the time, but once you step in and step on campus and start every day getting into the blender, you find out it is really hard. And it’s not just physically. I think most guys can handle that when they get to this level. Most guys can, but it’s the mental part.” A few months later, Harris feels like he’s ahead of the learning curve. As the regular season ramps up, he’ll have his chance to showcase all of the offseason growth for a shot at his ultimate NBA dream while playing a crucial role on a talent-laden Tennessee squad. “I think I’m adjusting really well,” Harris said. “Some of the shots that coach wanted me to take, at the beginning of the summertime, I wasn’t super comfortable taking those shots. As the summer came on, they were on me about playing at a fast pace and getting my shots up quicker. I feel like I’ve adapted super well now.”
After 3 Elite Eight losses, Tennessee basketball sets sights on breaking through to Final Four ALEX SARKIS Assistant Sports Editor Yaxel Lendeborg taunted the Tennessee basketball defense. The star Michigan forward stood stagnant over a rolling inbounds pass, daring Vols defenders to challenge him. The eventual national champion Wolverines held a 29-point lead over Tennessee in the NCAA Midwest Regional Final. Just over 11 minutes later, the Vols joined a rare list, becoming just the second program in history to drop three straight Elite Eight games in consecutive seasons. Florida fell victim to the same fate over the 2011-13 seasons. A season later, those Gators finally broke through to the Final Four — Tennessee hopes it can follow the same pattern. “I feel like there’s not really pressure on us,” Juke Harris said. “I feel like we know what we’ve got. We know what we need to do. Coach (Rick) Barnes has been there three years in a row, so I feel like the fourth time he’ll know how to get over that hump.” Unlike the Florida team that cut the nets down over a decade ago, the Vols are still trying to break down the doors to their first Final Four in program history. In 40 years as a head coach, Barnes has reached college basketball’s biggest stage just once. He led a mighty Texas squad to the final number of
The Big Dance in 2003. From his current Tennessee players, there’s plenty of belief that one of the game’s most respected men can lead them on his second run to the Final Four. It would be a crowning jewel in the best era in program history. “I think it would mean a lot to him,” DeWayne Brown II said. “I think it would mean a lot to the Tennessee fan base. I feel like everybody is waiting on it, and I feel like everybody deserves it. One thing we talk about in the locker room is trying to get that for everybody, including ourselves, the fans and coach.” To earn another shot at school history, Tennessee turned to an aggressive use of the transfer portal this offseason. The Vols hauled in nine new faces to help bolster a drained roster, cashing in on some of the nation’s highly touted movers. Dai Dai Ames is one of them, and also one of the millions of viewers who tuned in to catch Tennessee’s March matchup with Michigan. Though the outcome of that game didn’t go the way of his future team, Ames wanted a taste of what it might be like to play in a huge game. After all, the well-traveled senior has never experienced one of sports’ grandest events. “I just want to be around a winning program, see what that’s about,” Ames said. “I
also want to make the NCAA Tournament. I haven’t made it in my whole college career.” Brown and Troy Henderson make up the two returners who earned meaningful minutes from a season ago, already noticing some positive changes that could help this campaign’s group go farther than any Tennessee team ever has. “We have a lot of scorers,” Henderson said. “We’ve got a great group of guys who take pride in defense. So, when you have great natural scorers and people who want to take pride in defense, that’s the biggest thing.” In their last two trips to the Elite Eight, the Vols have been outscored 167-121. It’s been difficult for Tennessee to even compete with the talent it has faced, despite being one of the perennial top defensive units in the country. The Vols have simply looked a tier lower. It’s one of the reasons Tennessee is trying to take things up a notch in its playstyle. The Vols know they need to take things to a higher gear to get over the hump. “We also want to try to play faster this year,” Barnes said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to guard on the other end. So, it’s a never-ending game in terms of trying to get your team to be everything that you think it can be and get each player to be everything that they think they can be.”
Graphic by Delaney Karr
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Testing Tennessee’s ‘biggest myth’ TREVOR MCGEE Sports Editor
Juke Harris learned on the first day of practice. The Wake Forest transfer was one of the most prolific scorers in the country a season ago. He dazzled for 21.4 points per contest and became a hot commodity after entering the transfer portal. After choosing Rick Barnes and Tennessee basketball, the first practice humbled the talented bucket-getter. Harris got beat off the dribble on a defensive possession. Barnes let him know about it. “He chewed me up,” Harris said. “Sent me to the VersaClimber.” Running stairs after making a mistake in practice is part of the standard at Tennessee. Barnes expects perfection, and his players quickly learn that anything short of it comes with consequences. Harris isn’t the only newcomer learning that lesson. Tennessee brought in 13 new players, many of whom built their reputations on the offensive end. Now, they’re adjusting to a program where
Barnes’ defensive expectations are just as important as their ability to score. Tennessee brought in five transfers who averaged 15-plus points per game at their previous stops in Harris, Terrence Hill Jr., Dai Dai Ames, Jalen Haralson and Tyler Lundblade. In five of Barnes’ 11 seasons at Tennessee, no player averaged more than 15 points per game. Scoring alone won’t be enough, though. From 202125, Tennessee’s KenPom defensive rating — points allowed per 100 possessions — ranked inside the top five in the country. It peaked at No. 1 in the country in 2023 with an 87.5 rating, but dipped to 14th in the nation in 2026 at 94.4. That defensive reputation is already making an impression on Tennessee’s newest scorers. Harris, accustomed to taking contested shots, said the level of defense in practice has made those opportunities even harder to find. “I feel like a lot of shots are contested, but I’m so used to shooting a lot of contested shots. Sometimes I don’t see it,” Harris said. “It’s a lot of great defense being played out there.” The adjustment requires
learning defensive positioning, rotating consistently and trusting teammates on switches. A missed rotation or a communication breakdown can leave the entire defense vulnerable. “There’s a lot of learning,” said Earl Grant, former Boston College head coach hired to replace Justin Gainey as Tennessee’s lead defensive assistant this offseason. “There’s a lot of unlearning.” Barnes doesn’t necessarily view the newcomers as established defenders when they arrive. The head coach said the coaching staff has to develop that ability, even among players who have spent much of their careers focused on offense. “The biggest myth is that we recruit defensive guys. That’s not true,” Barnes said. “I mean, the majority of guys, 95% of them, are guys that they all think they are offensive players. All of them do. But that’s our job as coaches. We’ve got to teach them how to play the defense the way we want to play it.” That process can be difficult for players who previously carried large offensive responsibilities. Haralson knows that transition firsthand.
The Notre Dame transfer handled a bulk of his team’s offensive possessions last season. That allowed him to average 16.2 points per game as the lead option, but it also contributed to his reputation as a defensive liability when he entered the transfer portal. Roles matter, Haralson argues. “Having a 34% usage rate, it’s hard to play defense every possession with the ball in your hand so much,” he said. “But here, that won’t be the case. So I’m able to show that at that level.” Ames is a different case. Though the Cal transfer averaged 16.9 points per game in the ACC, he considers himself a guy who loves defense. His biggest learning curve has been being in the right spots. Grant has worked with Ames on positioning, including where to line up in defensive gaps and how to stay below the ball. The goal is to take away driving and passing lanes before an opponent can attack.“It’s a lot of naturally gifted scorers on this team,” Ames said. “So, us being able to play defense and be a great defensive team, it’s gonna be hard to beat us.”
Assistant coach Gregg Polinsky, who’s been with the program since the 2021-22 season, said the staff works individually with players to maximize their strengths, including how their size and length affect the way they defend. Barnes’ defensive expectations don’t mean every player has to become an elite ballstealer or disruptor. Instead, the staff expects everyone to stay in front of the ball and defend with discipline. “Very few guys can be the latter, but everybody can do the first. And we don’t mean cushion passively. We mean being smart, standing in front of the ball, understanding angles, using your hands, using your feet, using your head, not falling,” Polinsky said. Even with an identity of offensive-minded scorers, the standard won’t change. “That’s not going to change the defensive part no matter who’s on the team,” Haralson said. “It’s just the way he is. It’s just the way Tennessee (is), the way the coaches is. But yeah, it is nice having a lot of guys that can provide scoring in our own way.”
Graphic by Delaney Karr
Earl Grant helping install Vols’ defensive identity TUCKER WILLIAMS Contributor Tennessee basketball assistant coach Earl Grant isn’t afraid to work up a sweat during practice. In fact, the former Boston College head coach has been running alongside his players, bringing an energy that has caught the attention of both the Vols and his fellow coaches. “I think he’s got the best feet on the team, so he’s really quick,” assistant coach Gregg Polinsky said. “We joke about that. The guy can still move.” For Grant, who joined Rick Barnes’ staff after 12 consecutive seasons as a Division I head coach, the energy comes naturally. “The gym is a place I like to be the most,” Grant said. “My assignment is to help our defense improve every day, and I’ve always enjoyed assignments. I’ve always enjoyed challenges.” Grant arrived in Knoxville after five seasons leading Boston College and seven at the College of Charleston. Now, instead of running his own program, he is tasked with maintaining one of the defining characteristics of Barnes’ tenure at Tennessee: defense. It’s a responsibility that comes with high expectations, particularly with 13 newcomers adjusting to the program. “We got a ways to go because obviously, in the last
Tennessee basketball assistant coach Earl Grant coaches players during media day practice at Food City Center on Oct. 6. David Smith / The Daily Beacon 10 years, one of the staples of this program has been defense and rebounding,” Grant said. “So practices are hard. They’re intense.” Grant’s familiarity with Barnes’ philosophy dates back long before he joined the Tennessee staff. Growing up in South Carolina, Grant remembers watching Barnes coach at Clemson in the 1990s. He recalled how those teams competed against programs like Duke and North Carolina through physicality, toughness and defense. That impression stuck with him.
When Barnes eventually called about joining his staff, Grant saw an opportunity to learn from a coach he had admired for decades. “I knew I would have a chance to learn and grow, and serve the players and the coaches,” Grant said. His approach has already made an impression on Tennessee’s players. Guard Troy Henderson, one of the Vols’ few returning players, said Grant’s willingness to work alongside the team helped establish the expectations for a largely new roster. “He’s bringing the passion
every day,” Henderson said. “I mean, some days he’s sweating like us, and so he got a passion about himself too.” That consistency helps Henderson and his teammates embrace Grant’s coaching style. “When he shows up and gives it all every day, consistently like that every day, I mean, it’s just a blessing to have somebody to look up to and follow,” Henderson said. Polinsky, who has worked alongside Barnes for years, believes Grant’s previous experience as a head coach prepared him for the challenge.
“If you watch his teams play, they were always good defensively,” Polinsky said. “He’s been the right fit, the right guy.” But teaching Tennessee’s defensive system to a new roster takes more than enthusiasm. Polinsky explained that the coaching staff emphasized defensive positioning, understanding angles, containing the ball and avoiding unnecessary fouls. Grant acknowledged that players arriving from different programs must adjust to new expectations while breaking habits developed elsewhere. “There’s a lot of learning to do,” Grant said. “There’s a lot of unlearning compared to coming from different programs.” Despite the challenges, Grant believes Tennessee has already made significant progress since practices began. For a coach who has spent decades on the sidelines, the opportunity to help establish Tennessee’s defensive identity is another challenge worth embracing. And if that means running alongside his players and leaving practice covered in sweat, Grant doesn’t seem to mind. “That’s who I was as a player. That’s who I’ve always been as a coach,” Grant said. “Love being in the gym and just lock into the job and the assignment and try to do the best job you can.”
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Key questions facing Vols’ newcomers LYNDEN PROSSER Contributor
With the number of new guys that head coach Rick Barnes and his staff brought in this off-season, questions begin to arise as we gear up for the start of regular-season play for Tennessee basketball. Here are some things to keep an eye on from every one of the Vols’ new transfer members before tipping off against Wofford on Tuesday. Wake Forest transfer Juke Harris: Can he maintain his elite scoring production while becoming Tennessee’s go-to on-ball scorer in the SEC? Harris became one of the most sought-after players during this transfer portal cycle, largely due to how efficiently he scored the ball in the ACC last season. Harris is expected to be Barnes’ go-to guy, and the question still remains if he will be able to translate his scoring abilities to an SEC that prides itself on physical, in-yourface defense. If Harris is able to score the ball anywhere near the rates he did last season and establish his identity on defense, the Vols will benefit highly. California transfer Dai Dai Ames: Can he establish himself as the Vols’ primary floor general while also maintaining his scoring ability in a backcourt with multiple new assets? With Ames coming in alongside Terrence Hill Jr., the Vols are still sorting out who will be their true point guard and run this Tennessee offensive scheme. Ames averaged 16.9 points and 2.2 assists last season in the ACC, but he will look to gain the staff’s trust early on and earn his way onto the floor in big moments. VCU transfer Terrence Hill Jr.: Can he maintain his explosive offensive production while expected to be the leader of Barnes’ offensive scheme? Hill will be one of the biggest deciding factors to this roster’s success in the SEC and beyond this season. His true point guard ability provides a reliable playmaker on offense, but he also was no stranger to
being a main scoring option at VCU last season. This Tennessee transfer portal class is full of talented scorers, but whether or not Hill will succeed in balancing running the offense and scoring at efficient rates is the main question. Belmont transfer Tyler Lundblade: Can he maintain his high shooting percentages from the MVC and bring them to the SEC? Barnes and his staff went into the portal and brought one of the best outside shooters in the nation back to Knoxville. Lundblade shot 40.6% from three last year at Belmont and 48.1% the season prior. With a team loaded with mid-range scorers, a large part of this team’s success will be keeping Lundblade out on the floor and trusting him to continue his outside shooting efficiency that he’s displayed the past two seasons. Notre Dame transfer Jalen Haralson: Can he develop his outside shooting well enough to become a three-level scorer for Tennessee? Haralson proved himself as a high-major talent last year, averaging 16.2 points per game and ending the season as one of the best freshmen in the ACC. When analyzing Haralson’s game, it can be said that he wasn’t quite able to find his stroke as a 3-point shooter last season at Notre Dame. The All-ACC Honorable Mention shot 20% from three on just 25 attempts. A skilled inside scorer, the question will remain if Haralson can provide a consistent outside shot for this Vols team. Loyola Chicago transfer Miles Rubin: Can he translate his high-level shot-blocking ability to the SEC and become a reliable defensive anchor for the Vols? Rubin comes in as one of the best shot blockers in the nation last season, averaging 2.3 a game. This Barnes team likely won’t rely on offensive contributions from the big guys, but what will make an impact is how well the post players can match up against other schools in the SEC.
Rubin’s primary role will be as an interior defensive anchor, and if he can continue protecting the rim at the level he did in the A-10, the Vols will match up much better against SEC foes. Kennesaw State transfer Braeden Lue: Can he provide consistent rebounding, physicality and defensive versatility coming off the bench? One of the best pure athletes on this Tennessee team, Lue comes in looking to provide a physical presence and maintain the tough identity of past Tennessee teams. Similar to Rubin, Barnes will expect Lue to make a large impact on both the glass and on the defensive side of the ball. VCU transfer Christian Fermin: Can he establish himself in the rotation after seeing limited action at VCU
last season? Christian Fermin comes to Tennessee from VCU alongside Hill. Fermin only played four games for the Rams last season before taking a leave of absence due to personal reasons. Another athletic interior player, listed at 6-foot-10 and 234 pounds, Fermin will look to serve as a defensive anchor and reliable inside scoring option for Barnes. Bringing him in from the portal, the Tennessee staff believes Fermin can serve as a valuable depth option for a lacking frontcourt. Vanderbilt transfer Jalen Washington: Can he use his SEC experience to provide consistent frontcourt production and help Tennessee fill the spots of their departing bigs?
Still waiting on an eligibility decision from the NCAA, Jalen Washington comes to Knoxville after stops at North Carolina and Vanderbilt. Washington primarily came off the bench for the Commodores last season, but did make nine starts and took advantage of the time he was given. With J.P. Estrella and Jaylen Carey departing in the portal, Washington would provide a much-needed starting forward option for the Vols. Washington’s experience playing in both the ACC and the SEC throughout his collegiate career should allow him to come in and feel significantly more comfortable off the jump than some of the other Tennessee frontcourt players.
Jalen Haralson protects the ball during a game against Wofford at Food City Center onNov. 3. Luke Goins / The Daily Beacon
Games to watch on Vols basketball schedule EMILY BRACCO Contributor
against a nationally recognized program. Dec. 11 at Purdue
A lot can change for a team in an offseason. Last season, Tennessee basketball’s historic postseason run came to a crushing end at the United Center on March 29, when the No. 6-seeded Vols fell 95-62 to No. 1-seeded and eventual national champion Michigan. Now, the Vols face a different challenge. A new season brings a reshaped roster, and this is, quite frankly, the most reshaped it can get. With only two returning players — sophomores DeWayne Brown II and Troy Henderson — the experience and chemistry that carried Tennessee through last year’s postseason run will not automatically translate to another successful campaign. A demanding schedule forces the Vols to reestablish their identity and prove last season’s success was no fluke. Here’s a look at some of the toughest games for the Vols this season. Nov. 17 vs. Michigan State
Terrence Hill Jr. (3) shoots the ball during a game against Wofford at Food City Center onNov. 3. Luke Goins / The Daily Beacon
Tennessee’s first ranked matchup comes against the No. 6 Michigan State Spartans, setting up a high-profile nonconference showdown between two of college basketball’s most established coaches, Rick Barnes and Tom Izzo. As their only transfer-portal addition, the Spartans added 7-foot-2 center Anton Bonke from Charlotte. They secured commitments from four-star center Jaydn Jenkins and fivestar guard Antonio Pemberton for its 2027 recruiting class. The matchup will provide an early test for Tennessee’s revamped roster. Michigan State will face a hostile SEC environment, something Tom Izzo’s program hasn’t experienced since traveling to Gainesville in Dec. 2018. A win would give the Vols an early statement victory
The Vols face yet another prominent Big 10 team early in their season, this time on the road. Mackey Arena is widely regarded as one of the loudest and most intimidating environments in college basketball, making the trip to West Lafayette, Indiana, a significant test for Tennessee. Purdue enters the season following unprecedented talent departures. Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer graduated, while Trey Kaufman-Renn transferred to Kansas after securing an additional year of eligibility. The Boilermakers will need new contributors to fill those gaps, but Tennessee cannot afford to overlook a program accustomed to deep postseason runs. Purdue also ended Tennessee’s 2024 season with a 72-66 victory in the Elite Eight. The return matchup offers the Vols a chance to respond to a familiar postseason foe while proving they can compete in a difficult road environment. Jan. 23 at Kentucky Kentucky presents another major conference challenge, especially in Lexington. Last February, the Wildcats erased a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat Tennessee 74-71 at Rupp Arena. That was after the Vols blew a 17-point lead in the first matchup at Food City Center a month prior. The Wildcats added Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, one of the nation’s most efficient 3-point shooters last season. Tennessee’s perimeter defense will need to limit his open looks while preventing Kentucky from building momentum at Rupp Arena. This rivalry brings added pressure to an already demanding SEC schedule. For Tennessee, the rematch offers a chance to
avenge last season’s collapse and earn a valuable road win as the conference standings begin to take shape. Jan. 30 vs. Florida Florida presents another major test for Tennessee, with the Gators bringing back 81.8% of last season’s total scoring and much of their championship-grade core. Forward Thomas Haugh, who led the Gators with 17.1 points per game last season, returns to a frontcourt that also includes Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu. Tennessee will need to limit Florida’s second-chance opportunities while containing Haugh’s perimeter scoring. With the Gators returning four starters, the Vols’ new slate will be tested against a team with established chemistry. Protecting home court could be crucial as Tennessee looks to strengthen its position in the SEC standings. Feb. 20 vs. Alabama Tennessee’s late-February matchup against Alabama could be one of its most consequential games before the postseason. By then, the Vols will have had months to build chemistry and establish their rotation, making the game a measure of how far the reworked roster has come. Alabama presents a difficult matchup with its fast-paced offense and revamped frontcourt. The Crimson Tide added size through transfers including 6-foot-11 forward Drew Fielder and 6-foot-10 forward Brandon Garrison to improve its rebounding and interior defense. Tennessee will need to limit second-chance opportunities while keeping pace with Alabama’s high-scoring offense. With the regular season nearing its end, the matchup will test the Vols’ ability to handle the multifaceted front that the Crimson Tide holds.
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Lady Vols season preview: A rebuilt roster, a killer schedule and a lot of questions
| cont. from page 1
The Lady Vols bench erupts in a game against Duquesne at Food City Center. On Nov. 2. Jackson Reynolds / The Daily Beacon
Liberty transfer Avery Mills tore her ACL late in the summer and will miss the year. The others are Kaylene Smikle and Naomi White. Smikle, who missed all but seven games last year with a knee injury, is a former All-Big Ten guard. She led Maryland in 2024-25 with 17.9 points a game and opened the season with a 31-point outburst against Duquesne on Nov. 2. White will be a name to watch this season. The Northern Arizona transfer was 15th in the nation in scoring, averaging 20.8 points a game last year. The sophomore looked confident in Tennessee’s exhibition win over Florida A&M, posting 16 points and seven assists with no turnovers.
Mills sidelined? With an entirely new roster this season, the only constant for the Lady Vols is Caldwell’s system. Tennessee put up 67.5 field goal attempts per game last season, eighth in the country, while attempting the fourth-most 3-pointers with 30.6 per game. This pace-andspace style has its drawbacks, and opponents took advantage of that as the Lady Vols ended last season on an eight-game losing streak. But before Caldwell can worry about that, she must determine where the 3-point volume and efficiency will come from. It looked like Mills would be a major part of that solution, as she shot an impressive 42.7% from beyond the arc last season on 7.4 attempts. But when she tore her ACL over the summer, the answer became much more unclear. The only Lady Vol with comparable 3-point impact is White, who shot a conferenceleading 36.5% from 3 on 7.9 attempts per game last season. The first option for the Lumberjacks last year, White rarely left the floor, playing over 37 minutes a night. Although her usage will almost certainly drop as she jumps from the Big Sky to the SEC, if her shooting is transferable, that will go a long way for the Lady Vols. Alongside White in the backcourt is Rylie Theuerkauf, who took a huge jump in 3-point efficiency at Georgia while also upping her volume, shooting 40.6% on 5.5 attempts last season. She’ll have to continue that trajectory to help fill in for Mills. The rest of the Lady Vols’ roster is mostly made up of non-shooting forwards and guards who have hovered around 30% from deep throughout their careers. One major exception is forward Janneh, who could see her 3-point volume increase with Tennessee after a respectable 33% on 3.3 attempts last season at Texas A&M.
Can the press and the glass hold up? Caldwell’s defense-first identity returns, and so does the question of what happens when the press gets beaten. The press only works if Tennessee finishes possessions on the boards, and much of that rests with Janneh. “She’s a rebounding monster, and she’s a point forward, as we call her,” Uzamere said. “She has a great IQ when she’s pushing the ball.” During the exhibition against the Rattlers, Caldwell emphasized that rebounding would be a big part of her team, and that grabbing offensive boards would be critical to running the offense. The Lady Vols pulled down 30 offensive rebounds against Florida A&M, which helped them attempt 41 3-pointers. “I think we are going to shoot at a higher percentage (from beyond the arc) for the most part,” she said. “I did like the way we rebounded the ball when we weren’t shooting well. I liked the way that us not hitting threes didn’t make any difference whatsoever.” Where will the 3-point shooting come from with
How rough is the schedule?
There is little room to ease in for the rebuilt roster. Tennessee will play 10 games against nine teams in the AP Preseason Top 25, and 14 of its 32 games are against teams that reached last year’s NCAA Tournament. For the secondstraight season, the Lady Vols face all four teams from the previous year’s Final Four. Five games to watch 1. UCLA – Nov. 22 (Food City Center) This is the first real measuring stick. No. 11 UCLA went 37-1 last season, won its first national title, and beat Tennessee 99-77 at Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 30. By Nov. 22, Caldwell’s rebuilt group will have played six regular-season games. That makes this a good test of whether the press, the rebounding, and the chemistry hold up against the defending champions. The Lady Vols lead the all-time series 18-4 but have lost the last three meetings, a stretch dating to 2011.
of the SEC schedule, so it should show where Tennessee stands in the league. Although Tennessee leads the series 51-18, the Lady Vols haven’t beaten a Dawn Staley-coached team since 2021, losing the last nine games to the Gamecocks. 4. at Vanderbilt – Feb. 7 Vanderbilt entered the season at No. 8 in the AP poll and hosts the Lady Vols in Nashville on Feb. 7. The game comes three days after Tennessee travels to Mississippi State, so the Lady Vols will be running on little rest against their top in-state opponent. The Commodores fell to Notre Dame in the Sweet
16 last year, but Mikayla Blakes is back for her junior season, and Aubrey Galvan is expected to make another leap from her already-fantastic freshman year. 5. LSU – Feb. 25 (Food City Center) LSU is ranked No. 9 to open the season and visits Knoxville on Feb. 25, the second-tolast league game. If the Lady Vols are fighting for NCAA Tournament positioning, this game could carry real weight. It also comes right after No. 14 Kentucky on Feb. 21, so Tennessee will need to hold up over a tough stretch.
2. at UConn – Dec. 12 This is another rematch with an ugly recent history. Despite a tie at halftime, UConn blew out the Lady Vols 96-66 in Hartford last season. The Huskies waltzed to a 38-1 record and a Final Four trip before losing to South Carolina. The No. 2 Huskies lead the all-time series 18-10, winning five of the six matchups since the rivalry reignited in 2020. 3. South Carolina – Jan. 28 (Food City Center) South Carolina opened the year No. 1 in the AP poll and visits Knoxville on Jan. 28. Last year, Tennessee traveled to Columbia and suffered the worst loss in program history, falling 93-50 in a game that was never competitive. The game falls in the middle
Fatama Janneh (44) keeps an eye on the hoop while playing against New Haven on Nov. 10. Jayden Vitt / The Daily Beacon
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SEC transfers ‘set the tone,’ lead Lady Vols basketball into fresh-start season NATHAN MILES Contributor On Jan. 23, 2025, Aaliyah Moore and Texas women’s basketball defeated Tennessee, 80-76. In her fourth season as a Longhorn at the time, Moore scored 11 points in the win. But what she didn’t know was that it would be over 600 days until she played in another college basketball game, and the next time she stepped out on the court, it would be in a Tennessee Lady Vols uniform. The Tennessee forward is part of a 13-member transfer portal class that includes five players with SEC experience. Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell and new assistants Bill Ferrara and Isoken Uzamere made it a priority during the offseason to target SEC players who understand pace and pressure. “The guys that have lived in the SEC before and felt it, they have really helped set the tone for the toughness that we’re going to have to practice with every single day,” Ferrara said. Moore struggled with knee injuries throughout her career in Austin. After she missed the entire 2025-26 season with an injury, Moore’s college basketball future was in doubt. But this spring, she decided to spend her sixth and final year of eligibility with the Lady Vols. Moore decided with lots of prayer and encouragement from her mother and grandmother. Moore said she gets nervous before every game, but she’d have a heightened anticipation for her first game as a Lady Vol. “Probably a lot of nerves,” Moore said. “At the same time, I’ll be very grateful, because this time last year I didn’t know if I would be playing again. It’s going to be nervousness, it’s going to be excitement, it’s going to be joyful.” Last season, 10 teams from the SEC made the NCAA Tournament and eight finished in the AP Top 25. Known to have some of the nation’s most potent and fast-paced offenses, five out of the top seven teams in points per game last season came from the SEC. Moore said that there are plenty of differences between how she played at Texas and the Caldwell system. But the skills that are common to the ultra-competitive SEC carried over. “Coming from my old school, we also pressed, we also denied,” Moore said. “We were all about that tenacity on defense and being aggressive, and it’s the same thing here.” The last time Georgia transfer Rylie Theuerkauf saw the Lady Vols, they were still intact. The senior guard scored 15 points for the Bulldogs in an 82-77 overtime loss to Tennessee on Feb. 5. The Lady Vols went on to win just one more game the rest of that season. “I remember how fast they played,” Theuerkauf said. “I was out of breath in the third and fourth quarter when I was playing against them. Just their intense pressure the whole game.” Theuerkauf, who averaged 11.9 points and shot 40.6% from deep last season, came to Knoxville with assistant coach Uzamere and teammate Zhen Craft. On an entirely new Tennessee roster, Craft, Theuerkauf and Uzamere have the most familiarity with each other. “It made it super easy,” Craft said. “I feel like I’m a good person who learns
on the fly, but just having (Uzamere) and carrying over the same terminology from Georgia that we had, just being able to see a comforting face when something is going wrong or something is a little bit harder to learn. So just having her here has made the transition so much easier.” In the spring, after the Lady Vols lost eight straight games to end their season, players began racing to the transfer portal, and before long, Tennessee was left with no players on its roster for the upcoming season. Over the next few weeks in April, Caldwell and her staff undertook a difficult task: building out a brand-new roster while the outside noise about the state of the program was louder than ever. “Whatever happened last year happened last year,” Moore said. “I was not here, but the one thing I do want people to know about coach Kim is that she is human. She has emotions, and she really cares about us. She’s a tough coach, but she’s also a loving coach.” For Auburn transfer Harissoum Coulibaly, who led the Tigers with 10.4 points per game last season, transferring to Tennessee took trust, both in herself and in her head coach. “When I came on my visit, I had to ask (Caldwell) some questions,” Coulibaly said. “And the fact that she was really honest with me, and she told me the truth, that’s what I really loved about her.” Multiple Lady Vols cited the storied tradition of women’s basketball at Tennessee as a primary reason for their decision. Texas A&M transfer Fatmata Janneh saw that tradition firsthand last season, putting up 17 points and 12 rebounds in an 82-74 Aggies win against the Lady Vols at Food City Center. “The thing that shocked me the most was the Lady Vol families,” Janneh said. “They really came out and supported. Even when they were down, they were still up cheering. Having a good family behind you just makes you want to play even harder for them.” Although these five players have all experienced the physicality and pace of the SEC, they haven’t all had the same amount of success. Coulibaly led a struggling Auburn unit that went 3-13 in conference play. Janneh and Texas A&M didn’t make the NCAA Tournament last year. said, is where Moore comes in. The sixth-year player has played in the Elite Eight twice at Texas. The Longhorns also achieved back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2025 and 2026, though Moore was injured both times. “Aaliyah Moore is a standard-setter,” Ferrara said. “She talks like that because she’s lived SEC battles. And she constantly reminds people of, ‘Hey guys, this isn’t going to cut it against South Carolina. This isn’t going to cut it against Oklahoma.’ That’s the way she naturally talks. So I think all five of them get it from a practice standpoint and a competitive standpoint, but I would shout out Aaliyah Moore for being able to center us.” While the five transfers with SEC experience had an advantage in some ways, Moore credits the entire 13-player portal class with buying into Caldwell’s program and picking it up quickly. “Honestly, I have to give it to everyone,” Moore said.
“We’re all transfers. This is incredibly hard to do. It’s hard to leave a program where you’ve been at, and you’ve won, to go to another program where you don’t know what’s going to happen. But we all did that, and I think it turned out pretty good.” After a whirlwind of an offseason, the new-look Lady Vols have coalesced into one team and are ready to attack the season. “I think we all had a chip on our shoulder when we came here, so we all work really hard,” Theuerkauf said. “We’re just going to outwork everybody and be the best we can be.”
The guys that have lived in the SEC before and felt it, they have really helped set the tone for the toughness that we’re going to have to practice with every single day” BILL FERRARA Assistant coach
Fatmata Janneh shoots the ball against Florida A&M at Food City Center on Oct. 27. David Smith / The Daily Beacon
Rylie Theuerkauf drives to the basket against Florida A&M at Food City Center on Oct. 27. David Smith / The Daily Beacon
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The Daily Beacon
Kaylene Smikle’s path to becoming a Lady Vol THEO COLLI Senior Staff Writer
Joining the Lady Vols basketball program might not have been on Kaylene Smikle’s radar entering the offseason. The Lady Vols coaching staff had Smikle in their sights early in the offseason. The program came off a major roster turnover, with no players set to return for the next year. The coaching staff also added assistants Bill Ferrara and Isoken Uzamere. Ferrara had his eyes on Smikle long before she made her way to Knoxville. “I’ve known Kaylene, basketball-wise, for many years, even before high school,” Ferrara said. “She was, to me, always an underappreciated kid that had a chip on her shoulder every single step along the way.” Smikle spent her collegiate career at two other schools before joining the Lady Vols. She began at Rutgers, where she averaged 17 points her first two seasons. She transferred to Maryland, where she started every game during her third season and averaged 17.9 points on 44.8% shooting from the field. Her scoring average matched her freshman-season mark, while her shooting percentage marked a career best. Her fourth collegiate season ended after just seven games when she opted to undergo surgery to repair a nagging knee injury. After Smikle entered the transfer portal following the 2025-26 season, Ferrara and Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell went to work trying to bring her to Knoxville. Caldwell didn’t have to think long when asked what stood out about Smikle. “Her stat line,” Caldwell said. “Before you look at anything else, you look at the stats, and what she was able to accomplish on the floor, and it was consistent. It wasn’t a one-year thing. She had done it throughout her entire career. Then, getting to know her made me want her even more.” Ferrara also admired Smikle’s development as a player.
“I got a lot of respect for people that can go from being a post to a guard,” Ferrara said. “And for her to evolve her skill set like that and then prove all the haters and doubters wrong at each stop, and then still have stuff to prove afterwards, made her, to me, a no-brainer to bring to the table.” While the coaching staff became enamored with Smikle’s game, getting her to Knoxville became the next obstacle. “When I talked to Kim about, ‘Hey, what else do we want on this team, what else do we need?’ after we had only a few pieces that committed, she’s like, ‘I need a monster,’” Ferrara said. “And I said, ‘OK, we’re going to have to go in this direction.’” Ferrara played a major role in the recruitment because of his history with both Smikle and her AAU coaches. With the entire previous roster gone, Smikle’s AAU coaches didn’t believe Tennessee to be a place she would consider. “They were not like, ‘Hey, yeah, that’s something that she’s going to want to entertain,’” Ferrara said. “But we came back around about three days after that … I basically re-emphasized, ‘Hey, this is what the role is going to be, this is what we need, this is what you could be at Tennessee.’” Smikle committed to the Lady Vols on April 22, becoming the team’s eighth commitment. The final push to convince Smikle to join the team centered on the opportunity to become a main piece of a brand-new roster. “We showed her, here’s the team, and then she was on a flight like two days later to come to Knoxville,” Ferrara said. “The rest is history.” For Smikle, once she saw the roster come together, the fit made sense. “To play for Kim, to play for Tennessee, the way they play fits how I play,” Smikle said. “So I think when they recruited me in the portal, it tested me and seemed like a right fit.” Smikle’s recruitment is now in the rearview mirror. Her early performances, however, have shown Tennessee what it gained in the former Maryland guard. Smikle instantly became one
of the most impactful players on the court, and the Oct. 27 exhibition against Florida A&M only solidified that. Her fit with the rest of the team was on display. She led the team with 19 points in just 16 minutes of play, while shooting 7-for-15 from the field. She added two assists, two rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Her regular-season debut added another 31 points, the secondmost in a Lady Vols debut in the storied history of the program. While her game will serve as a driving force for the Lady Vols this season, her impact has already been felt beyond the court. Northern Arizona transfer Naomi White, one of the most impactful freshmen in the country a year ago, has seen Smikle’s quick growth. “She tries to be very vocal. She’s a very vocal leader,” White said. “And her scoring, she’s a very complete player. She can do it all. I think that helps people want to be better, want to be great, so I think that’s how she shows her leadership.” Even Caldwell noticed how often Smikle had been using her position to keep the team connected, even at some unlikely locations. “When she first got here, she said that wasn’t really her strong suit. She’d practice and go home,” Caldwell said. “But seeing how much she is around her teammates, when the team went to Dollywood she rode every ride. Being comfortable with who she is helps her be a leader by nature.” This season gives fifth-year Smikle a chance to become a major part of a team searching for a new identity after a complete roster overhaul. Her production indicates she will be among the team’s best players, but her growth as a leader may prove just as valuable in the long run. “I think it just comes with who I am. I’m not really the loudest person, the most talkative person, but I’m definitely going to go hard and help my team become better,” Smikle said. “Feeding my confidence I have in myself to the team.”
Kaylene Smikle (0) warms up for a game against Florida A&M at Food City Center on Oct. 27. David Smith / The Daily Beacon
They were not like, ‘Hey, yeah, that’s something that she’s going to want to entertain. But we came back around about three days after that … I basically re-emphasized, ‘Hey, this is what the role is going to be, this is what we need, this is what you could be at Tennessee.’” BILL FERRARA Assistant coach
International transfers bringing global feel to Lady Vols TYLER EDMANDS Staff Writer Fatmata Janneh never planned on a basketball career in the United States. “I thought I would stay in England,” the Tennessee forward said. “I didn’t think that I was good enough to come to the States.” Now, Janneh and freshman guard Irene Oboavwoduo give the Lady Vols two players from England. Harissoum Coulibaly, a sophomore guard from Paris, France, makes it three international players on a roster Kim Caldwell built entirely from scratch. By Tennessee’s records, no more than two international players have been on the roster at the same time before. It’s a rare sight at Tennessee. Before this year, the Lady Vols rostered only four international players in the program’s modern history. Cheridene Green, born in London, played as the first from 2017-19. Australians Lou Brown and Jessie Rennie followed, and Spain’s Marta Suárez, who played from 2020-23 before stepping away for personal reasons, became the most recent. Coulibaly played high school basketball in the U.S., but she still gives the roster a French connection. The Paris native played at S3 Academy in Virginia and was a top-100 recruit in the 2025 class. She led Auburn’s scoreboard as a freshman, averaging 10.4 points per game, getting named SEC Freshman of the Week in December. Janneh is the most experienced of the trio. She averaged 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds a game at Saint Peter’s in 2024-25, leading Division I in defensive rebounds and earning All-MAAC First Team honors. She spent last season at Texas A&M, averaging 11.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. She had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the Aggies’ win at Tennessee on Feb. 19. Making the jump from a mid-major to the SEC was a
question mark at first, but Janneh said it didn’t take long to adjust. “After the first couple of games, I realized my game from the mid-major was translating to the SEC,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, this is where I belong.’” After leaving the Aggies, she picked Tennessee for the challenge. She signed April 22, becoming the sixth player to join the Lady Vols out of the transfer portal. When asked whether coming to a rebuilt roster felt like a risk or an opportunity, she didn’t hesitate. “I’ve always been considered an underdog,” she said. “Definitely not a risk.” Caldwell said that personality is a big part of why Janneh fit in so quickly. “She’s a hard person not to have a great relationship with,” Caldwell said. “She is resilient. She can take coaching and move on like it never happened. She lights up the room when she walks in.” Assistant coach Isoken Uzamere, who also came to Tennessee from Georgia, said that energy carries onto the court. “Her energy is contagious,” Uzamere said. “She’s a rebounding monster, and she’s a point forward, as we call her. She has a great IQ when she’s pushing the ball.” Uzamere said the staff was intentional about the type of player it wanted when it rebuilt the roster. “Obviously, they had to be skilled,” she said. “But just as far as competitiveness and knowing the pressure just coming here and knowing that it’s not about you, you’ve got to be selfless.” Oboavwoduo, a Manchester, England, native, signed the same day as Janneh. She arrived on campus with an impressive résumé for a freshman, highlighted by being unanimously voted Super League Basketball’s Molten Young Player of the Year at 17. She originally signed with Boston College but reopened her recruitment and chose Tennessee over Purdue and
Fatmata Janneh celebrates with teamates in a game against Duquesne at Food City Center on Nov. 2. Jackson Reynolds / Daily Beacon Cincinnati. Her first months in the States have been an adjustment, but she can lean on Janneh. “She’s been a big guide for me,” Oboavwoduo said. “Being here before, doing her four years and now me coming in. She’s really helped me a lot, helping to transition and all that good stuff.” Janneh said she watches out for Oboavwoduo because she knows how it feels to arrive alone. “I wish I had a senior that was from England that knew, coming to America, what to expect,” Janneh said. “I tell her every day to keep pushing, talk to family, make sure you keep talking to your mom. I tell her every day because it can get lonely.”
Oboavwoduo said the advice from Janneh that stuck with her was to keep in touch with home. England is five hours ahead of Knoxville, so she fits calls with family in between classes. “It’s really important to keep in touch with them and not disconnect from them,” she said. Her transition is easier because the whole team is new. After a summer of team
bonding, she said, she’s “really adjusted to everyone being new and a whole new team and a whole new system.” The bonds go beyond the English duo. Janneh said she and a few teammates regularly head to one another’s houses or out to eat after practice. Her mother, who lives in London, hopes to attend the SEC Tournament. “We have each other,” Janneh said.
We have each other.” FATMATA JANNEH England native
The Daily Beacon
Entertainment
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Courtesy of Domen Puncer Kugler © 2008-2025
2026 FOOTBALL PICK‘EMS Theo Colli, Senior Staff Writer (51-18) Tennessee 27 vs. Texas A&M 19 Utah vs. Arizona Texas vs. LSU
Wake Forest vs. SMU
USC vs. Indiana
Duke vs. Miami
Trevor McGee, Sports Editor (49-20) Tennessee 24 vs. Texas A&M 13 Utah vs. Arizona Texas vs. LSU
Wake Forest vs. SMU
USC vs. Indiana
Duke vs. Miami
Alex Sarkis, Assistant Sports Editor (48-21)) Tennessee 17 vs. Texas A&M 9
Utah vs. Arizona
Texas vs. LSU
Wake Forest vs. SMU
USC vs. Indiana
Duke vs. Miami
Trip Scouten, Digital Editor (45-24) Tennessee 24 vs. Texas A&M 10 Utah vs. Arizona Texas vs. LSU
Wake Forest vs. SMU
USC vs. Indiana
Duke vs. Miami
Tessa Nacke, Assistant News Editor (44-25) Tennessee 27 vs. Texas A&M 24 Utah vs. Arizona Texas vs. LSU
Wake Forest vs. SMU
USC vs. Indiana
Duke vs. Miami
Patrick Busch, Editor-in-Chief (43-26) Tennessee 24 vs. Texas A&M 21 Utah vs. Arizona
This chart is compiled weekly by Tessa Nacke, assistant news editor, in accordance with the 60-Day Crime Log available at https://clery.utk.edu/crime-log/.
Texas vs. LSU
Wake Forest vs. SMU
USC vs. Indiana
Duke vs. Miami
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New faces roaming Lady Vols sideline CONNOR WHITNEY Contributor Kim Caldwell will seat plenty of new faces on her bench this season — but it’s not just her players that are new. The third-year head coach of Tennessee women’s basketball brought on a pair of new assistant coaches during the offseason: Bill Ferrara and Isoken Uzamere. Both come to Knoxville following fouryear coaching stints at the Power Four level. The former got brought over from Florida State, while the latter was hired on from Georgia. Given the complete turnover of the roster, each carried a background that figures to aid Caldwell as she seeks to implement her up-tempo play style and team-oriented culture. Bill Ferrara: pushing the pace Caldwell wants a team that can push the pace and shoot the three. Identifying and hiring Ferrara would seem to go hand-in-hand with this philosophy. “He has played an instrumental role in Florida State’s high-scoring offense and 3-point shooting over the past four seasons,” Caldwell said at the time of his hiring. As he developed into a coach, Ferrara spoke of learning some of his philosophies from film studies of Mark D’Antoni and Paul Westhead systems, both of which notoriously emphasized a quick pace of play while he acted as a graduate assistant at Florida. While on staff with the Seminoles, the Brooklyn, New York, native elevated the
offense to a premier group from beyond the arc, creating one of the best scoring teams in not just the ACC, but the country. Florida State led its conference in scoring in each of Ferrara’s first two seasons on staff, and led the nation in scoring in 2024-25, dropping 86.9 points per game. Much of this success relied on the team’s predicated ability to shoot from beyond the arc, as the program reset its program record for threes in a season three times during Ferrara’s tenure. “If we can figure out a way to play uber-fast like this, and then turn it over a little bit less while still shooting a million threes, while still getting to the free throw line all the time, and get into the paint and spraying, it’s going to be really fun,” Ferrara said in May. The Lady Vols were 190th in 3-point shooting percentage at just 30.5% despite averaging the fourth-most attempts from beyond the arc across the country. If this new-look team improves their shooting from range, Ferrara could play an important role in such developments. Isoken Uzamere: laying the foundation When building a roster quite literally from the ground up, good recruiters will attract good players. Uzamere fit this profile quite well. During her tenure with Georgia, she aided the staff’s efforts to recruit players while focusing more on the defensive side of the game as a coach. This background appeared to be key after she joined the staff, as Uzamere reportedly played an important role in bringing
in players to both the Lady Vols’ high school and transfer portal classes. “I’ve been looking at halftime speeches from like coach Summitt and all of that,” Uzamere said in May. “And she said a phrase, and it was, ‘Offense sells tickets, defense wins games and then rebounding wins championships.’ And I think we have a little bit of all of that: a little bit of offense, a little bit of defense, a little bit of rebounding.” As for her developmental role, the Hofstra alum worked primarily with players in the post. Each of these pieces to the puzzle allowed her to help mold Mia Woolfolk into a premier player for Georgia, named to the All-SEC Freshman team in 2024-25 before becoming their leading rebounder the following season. The Lady Vols averaged 39.4 rebounds per game last season — above average, but nowhere close to elite. Uzamere could be important in changing their fortunes down low and improving their ability to snatch boards. “I love defense, I love getting a stop, having a little screw loose when you play some defense,” Uzamere said. “And I think we’re going to complement each other in that aspect.” Both of Caldwell’s new assistant coaches figure to play important roles on her staff this season, with each adding different skill sets to balance the staff. How these new assistant coaches gel with a brand new roster will be pivotal for what the Lady Vols accomplish this season.
Lady Vols basketball assistant coach Bill Ferrara coaches players during media day practice at Pratt Pavilion on Oct. 22. David Smith / The Daily Beacon
Lady Vols embracing Caldwell’s system THEO COLLI Senior Staff Writer It’s no secret by now that Kim Caldwell’s system is out of the ordinary in college basketball. As she enters her third season as Lady Vols head coach, the system’s approach has stayed the same. The roster taking the floor this season creates quite a challenge — none of the players on
this team have played this fast before. Two freshmen and 13 transfers make up Tennessee’s locker room, and with Caldwell’s tendency to cycle through her entire bench, any of them could have an impact on any given night. Despite only being with each other for one offseason, the new-look group has already begun meshing together. “They have meshed together incredibly well,” Caldwell said. “We’ve talked about it a lot. They are as close as they can be. They live very close together. They hang out on and off the floor. And I think that helps when they are on the floor, to be able to problem-solve together, to be able to take feedback from each other.” Now, Caldwell is tasked with implementing her trademark intense scheme on a fresh group. It starts with experience, and Tennessee made sure to fill its roster with some, bringing in five transfers from other SEC schools.
Lady Vols basketball head coach Kim Caldwell watches from the sideline against Florida A&M at Food City Center on Oct. 27. David Smith / The Daily Beacon
Senior guard Rylie Theuerkauf and sophomore forward Zhen Craft both made the move from Georgia, where the two fell against the Lady Vols last season in an 82-77 overtime final. “(Tennessee is) really hard to play against, because it’s so fast-paced,” Theuerkauf said. “Most teams don’t want to play that fast, and they don’t want to get pressured like that. So it’s definitely hard to play against, and last year I definitely had a hard time doing it.” Craft echoed similar sentiments. “Just the high intensity,” Craft said. “The way they press, that was the really big thing we focused on last year, not turning it over in the press.” Just a freshman when the Lady Vols came to town a year ago, Craft wasn’t tasked against any of her current teammates. Still, Caldwell’s tempo delivered a shock. “Playing against it was like, ‘wow’, as a freshman,” Craft said. “But I feel like being on the other side of it now, you really see how hard you have to work to do it the whole game, and I feel like it really fits the way I play, I like to play fast.” Tennessee reeled in other former conference foes in Aaliyah Moore, HarissoumCoulibaly and Fatmata Janneh. Coulibaly saw the Lady Vols up close in action during her time at Auburn despite not recording any playing time last season. “What I saw was that they played really hard,” Coulibaly said. “I feel like Coach Kim has a big defensive mindset, and that’s what I like.” There is reason for optimism inside Tennessee’s walls. “It’s been great, I’ve loved
it,” Caldwell said. “Everyone that is here knows what they were getting into. They signed on to this. We told them it was going to be hard, we told them they were gonna have to play full-court defense, we’re gonna push the pace and we’re gonna sub frequently.” Naomi White fits that mold. White averaged 20.8 points last season as a sophomore at Northern Arizona. While Caldwell’s system has never seen a player average more than 16 points per game in her two seasons, figures like White hold the potential to make more noise within the system. “I think the biggest
challenges are still ahead, doing it live, shooting quick,” Caldwell said. “Trying to sit down and guard, playing under fatigue and duress with people in the stands. It’s one thing to do it with an empty gym, but our fanbase is spectacular and very few of them have gotten to experience that.”
Everyone that is here knows what they were getting into. They signed on to this. We told them it was going to be hard, we told them they were gonna have to play full-court defense, we’re gonna push the pace and we’re gonna sub frequently.” Kim Caldwell Head coach