Kim Caldwell says Lady Vols were 'fun to coach' even in loss to Oklahoma
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Lady Vols basketball was close to a top-10 win for a second straight Sunday, but again couldn't execute well enough down the stretch and suffered a fourth straight loss.
No. 21 Tennessee lost 100-93 to No. 9 Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center on Feb. 22 in Norman, Oklahoma, its seventh loss in nine games.
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The Lady Vols (16-10, 8-6 SEC) were playing their fourth game in eight days, though they did look better than in their prior two outings. Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said the "incredibly tough stretch" is part of playing in the SEC.
"I think you just be honest, and they can handle it or not," Caldwell said in her postgame news conference. "And sometimes the honesty is not good, and sometimes the honesty is good. And tonight, honestly, our team was fun to coach.
"We definitely made some basketball errors, but the people that were on the floor played hard. They played together."
Talaysia Cooper led Tennessee with 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting, and had four assists, three rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes. Nya Robertson added 18 points on 4-for-9 shooting with three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 34 minutes.
Tennessee shot much better from 3-point range, knocking down 10 of 29. Oklahoma (21-6, 9-5) was 4-for-18, but made up the difference with 22 second-chance points and 36 made free throws.
Jaida Civil the best freshman on the floor
In a matchup that was set up for two of the top freshmen in the SEC to square off — Aaliyah Chavez and Mia Pauldo — Jaida Civil was the best freshman on the floor.
Civil was unstoppable when she got downhill, and she shot well from behind the arc, too. She made good decisions with the ball in her hands, took her open shots and was all over the boards.
The 6-foot guard had a career-high 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting with 10 rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers in 32 minutes. Civil also had only one foul in a high-foul game, which is something she has struggled with in the past.
"Jaida's a dog," Cooper said on Lady Vol Radio Network. " . . . She does the little things, like no matter if she's having a great night, she's going to go out there and do the small things. She's going to get stops on defense, she's just going to encourage. That's the energy we need from her every game, and I told her that, too."
Chavez ended the game with 21 points on 5-for-13 shooting, four assists, three rebounds, four turnovers, two steals, and she fouled out with 27 seconds left in the game. Pauldo had five points on 1-for-6 shooting, one rebound, two turnovers and a steal in 10 minutes, and she also fouled out.
What Kim Caldwell said about Janiah Barker's absence
Tennessee was without senior Janiah Barker, who did not travel with the team to Norman. The ESPN broadcast said Caldwell told them Barker "did not meet program expectations."
"She didn't meet team standards, didn't make the trip," Caldwell said after the game. "We’ll fix it when we get back, she's got a bright future and she'll be fine."
The Lady Vols played well offensively without Barker, but they missed her defense inside and her rebounding as they got destroyed on the glass 47-34.
Barker's absence comes after she scored a career-high 29 points in Tennessee's loss to Texas A&M on Feb. 19. She has been a significant piece of the rotation, averaging 25.4 minutes in SEC play.
The 6-foot-4 forward has averaged 14.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals, shooting 46.9% from the field and 36.6% on 3.9 attempts from 3-point range.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vols basketball loses to Oklahoma, but Kim Caldwell said it was 'fun to coach'