Horns, Vols set for rematch

Published 6:09 pm Friday, March 28, 2025

Field Level Media

The first-ever Southeastern Conference matchup between new league counterparts Tennessee and Texas went down to the wire. The two will meet again on Saturday (2:30 p.m., TV: ABC) in Birmingham Region 3, in the first NCAA Tournament pairing of the programs.

No. 1 seed Texas (33-3) held off fifth-seeded Tennessee 80-76 when the two met during SEC play on Jan. 23. The Longhorns scored the last four points of a back-and-forth final period.

“They have height. They’re really athletic, and they get to the boards quite a bit,” Texas forward Taylor Jones said was her key takeaway from the first meeting with the Lady Vols. “Making sure that we block them out and doing our job, getting to the rebounds, for the posts especially (will be key.

“For the guards and all of us as a whole,” Jones added, “breaking their press. They have a 40-minute in-your-face defense.”

Tennessee (24-9) uses its full-court pressure defense to generate 22.4 turnovers per game. The Lady Vols feed their Division I-best 87.5-point per game offense with a whopping 29 points off turnovers per game.

When they last met, Texas committed only 12 turnovers that Tennessee converted into 12 points.

“Possessions are going to be very important in this game,” Lady Vols guard Jewel Spear said. So will rebounding, she added, against a Longhorns bunch that averages 40 boards per game.