RALEIGH, N.C. — Tennessee fifth-year senior Tamari Key wasn’t sure how this basketball season might pan out after she missed most of the Lady Volunteers’ 2022-23 schedule because of blood clots in her lungs.
It has led her back to her home state.
“It’s definitely full circle for me,” Key said Sunday, “to come home, play in front of people that I haven’t seen in a while that haven’t been able to get out to Knoxville to see me play.”
Key and the sixth-seeded Lady Vols (20-12) will take on site host North Carolina State (28-6), a No. 3 seed, in the second round of the NCAA tournament at 4 p.m. Monday. ESPN will televise the matchup, with the winner earning a spot in the Sweet 16 and moving on to play a regional semifinal next weekend in Portland, Oregon.
The 6-foot-6 Key, who is from the Raleigh suburb of Cary, is Tennessee’s starting center, and her matchup with N.C. State’s River Baldwin (6-5) and Mimi Collins (6-3) in the lane figures to be something to watch as these teams vie to keep their seasons going.