KNOXVILLE - While the Tennessee women's basketball team has struggled on offense so far this season, the Lady Volunteers' defense has gone everywhere they have, to Johnson City and back to Knoxville, with two wins largely based on solid play on that end of the court.
Now, at least from a name perspective, the competition level rises.
When Tennessee takes the court Monday against 16th-ranked Notre Dame (2-0) - ESPN2 will televise the game, which tips off at 7 p.m. - it won't be against the same team that won the NCAA championship to cap the 2017-18 season before losing by a point in the title game this past spring.
The Fighting Irish lost all five starters to the WNBA draft and currently have just seven scholarship players after injuries depleted their roster. Their wins are against Fordham, 60-55, and Loyola University Maryland, 84-60.
But it's still Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Quite the step up in all aspects from the opening trip to East Tennessee - a 72-68 win last Tuesday in former Lady Vols point guard Kellie Harper's debut as their head coach - and Thursday's 63-36 rout of Central Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"One thing that I'm actually happy about now, our first game was a road trip, so this will not be our first road trip," Harper said Thursday. "I think that's a big deal. The environment and atmosphere over in Johnson City when we played was really good and it was loud. I fully expect Notre Dame to be an amazing place to play. I expect it to be loud and tough, but I do think we have a little bit of that under our belt now with our first game, so that's a positive for us going over there. Hopefully (it) won't be a complete shock to our system.
"There's no doubt the game is going to be tough. There's no doubt. But you know, I think it's what's good for us and we're going to know where we're at. We're able to walk out of there and know exactly where we stand this early in the season."
Tennessee lost all but one starter from last season. Despite six players making their program debuts last week, the Lady Vols have held opponents to just 30% shooting from the floor and 16% from 3-point range.
Tennessee led Central Arkansas just 20-18 after the first quarter, but the Lady Vols held the Sugar Bears to seven points in each of the next two quarters and four points in the fourth. The visitors made just 17% of their shots in the second half.
"When we went into halftime, we had a huge emphasis on defense, and we wanted to make sure all of the second half we really locked in on the defensive end," senior Lou Brown said Thursday. "But to do that, we need to have chemistry - knowing, talking to each other and communication. We have really great relationships on this team, and I think that really helps. You see that. You see the lightheartedness sometimes, but I think that's where our great chemistry is, and that's kind of what pushed us (on defense) in the second half."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.