KNOXVILLE - The opportunity for a quality win during the regular season may be gone for Tennessee as it tries to boost its hopes of making the NCAA women's basketball tournament, but coach Kellie Harper scoffed at the notion Thursday that there was any reason for a lack of motivation down the stretch.
"It's a foreign concept for me," Harper told the Lady Volunteer Network after Tennessee lost 83-75 at 22nd-ranked Arkansas to fall to 17-9 this season, including 7-6 in the Southeastern Conference.
"Whenever I go out to play or whenever we're coaching, we're playing to win. I don't need any motivation. I don't need a carrot dangled out there in front of me because I want to win so bad, so I hope we have some players like that. Also, you're still playing for seeding (for the SEC tournament). You're playing for your season, and you have to go out, play hard and find a way to win. Hopefully they've got more in them and don't have to have a carrot dangled in front of them."
The Lady Vols - who have lost five straight games, all against teams projected to make the NCAA tournament - return to competition by hosting Vanderbilt (13-13, 5-10) at noon Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena, having beaten the Commodores 78-69 on Jan. 30 in Nashville. Senior night for the Lady Vols is Thursday against Ole Miss (7-19, 0-13), and they will close their regular-season schedule three days later at Auburn (9-15, 3-10).
The SEC tournament is March 4-8 in Greenville, South Carolina, and sophomore guard Rae Burrell hopes Tennessee uses its next three games to address weaknesses and "get a few wins" before then.
"We need to get our momentum going," Burrell told the Lady Vol Network on Thursday. "It's within ourselves: mentally being tough, having heart, playing tough throughout the game and finishing all 40 minutes. Not 35, not 38 - all 40 minutes."
Here are three keys for Tennessee to get back in the win column:
1. Control the tempo: The Commodores are better when running. They shoot 51% in transition but only 39% when having to run half-court sets, in part because they don't have the shooters for opponents to respect their outside attack. It's one of the few times when Tennessee's size inside will be an advantage, as Vanderbilt doesn't have the personnel to play junior forwards Kasiyahna Kuskkituah and Jaiden McCoy off the floor.
2. Zone up? Another way Tennessee can use its size to its advantage is by playing some zone defense. Nobody in the SEC has faced as much zone this season as the Commodores, whose opponents have used it on 37% of Vanderbilt's possessions. Why? Because Vanderbilt shoots just 37% against zone defense, which is slightly down from the 39% it shoots against man-to-man. Tennessee doesn't have to play it much, but sneaking some zone in could help set the desired pace.
3. Run some: The Lady Vols don't need to turn into a run-and-gun operation, but finding some opportunities to get out in transition - and then making some good decisions - could help Tennessee steal some easy points, which could open the game up.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.