Hoops Central: SEC Tournament: #18/17 Lady Vols vs. Vanderbilt
No. 9 seed and No. 18/17-ranked Tennessee (22-8, 8-8 SEC) will meet No. 8 seed Vanderbilt (21-9, 8-8 SEC) in second round action at the 2025 Southeastern Conference Tournament in Greenville, S.C., on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET.
The Lady Vols and Commodores will face off at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in a contest televised on SEC Network and carried on Lady Vol Network radio stations as well as audio-streamed on UTSports.com. These teams met earlier this season in Nashville on Jan. 19, with Vandy claiming a 71-70 victory on a last-second put-back by Mikayla Blakes.
Tennessee got back on the winning track with a 77-37 blowout of Texas A&M on Wednesday, claiming victory for the fifth time in the past seven games. UT had its best defensive effort of the season, holding the Aggies to opponent season lows in points and field goal percentage (26.5). UT also got good news on the injury front, as All-SEC Second Team and All-Defensive Team performer Talaysia Cooper bounced back in strong fashion from a lower body injury suffered vs. Georgia on Sunday to lead all scorers with 19 points.
The Lady Vols have been led all season by Cooper, a member of the John R. Wooden, Naismith and Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year Watch Lists and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. She puts up 16.8 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 3.2 apg. and 3.0 spg. and shoots 45 percent from the field. Cooper has 11 20+ scoring efforts this season, including 25 at Kentucky on Feb. 27. Also averaging double figures are fifth-year guard Jewel Spear (13.1 ppg., 71 3FGs), junior forward Zee Spearman (11.7 ppg., 5.9 rpg.), junior guard Ruby Whitehorn (11.5 ppg.) and senior point guard Samara Spencer (10.4 ppg., 4.7 apg.).
Vanderbilt, which has a first-round bye, enters on a two-game winning streak after defeating Texas A&M and Missouri in succession. The Commodores, though, struggled down the stretch with a 3-5 record while playing arguably their toughest part of the schedule. VU is led by SEC Freshman of the Year Mikayla Blakes, who is averaging 23.3 points per game. She has scoring help from another big-time point producer and rebounder in Khamil Pierre (20.8 ppg., 9.6 rpg.) as well as from Iyana Moore (12.1 ppg.).