KNOXVILLE - It's safe to say Kellie Harper's experience as a Tennessee women's basketball player differed quite a bit from what current seniors Lou Brown and Kamera Harris have gone through during their time with the Lady Volunteers.
Harper, now months into her first season as coach in Knoxville, won three national championships as a point guard for Pat Summitt from 1995 to 1999. Harris, the 2019-20 roster's lone four-year member of the program, has endured the Lady Vols' decline in recent seasons, something Harper was hired to fix.
Brown, an Australian and sixth-year senior who was at Washington State from 2014 to 2018, had a backseat view of the 2018-19 campaign at Tennessee, sitting out due to an ACL tear that happened in the preseason. But she was still around to experience the program's worst season in terms of losses (13), six of which came consecutively, the first time in school history that happened.
For Harper, this season marks the beginning of what she hopes is an ascent back to the upper echelon of the country's elite in women's college basketball. For Brown and Harris, the final home game of 2019-20 signals another step toward the end of college basketball for the two seniors, who will be honored before the Lady Vols (18-9, 8-6 Southeastern Conference) host Ole Miss (7-20, 0-14) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols beat Ole Miss 84-28 on Jan. 9 in Oxford.
"Any time you have transition, I think it's tough on student-athletes," Harper said Tuesday. "The newness, the change it's hard, and (it's hard) for coaches as we inherit a group. I was talking about it the other day that Kam and Lou have been just terrific for us. They have done what we asked them to do; they have been low maintenance. They are good people. They have just welcomed us, and I am very grateful for them."
Brown has played in all 27 games this season and started all but one, averaging 4.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She had a season-high 10 rebounds in Tennessee's 67-63 win over Vanderbilt on Sunday.
Harris has played more this season than at any point during her Tennessee career, with 25 appearances. She has averaged 11.3 minutes, 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds per game.
"I think our group has been through a lot," Harris said Tuesday. "I think every team goes through things, but I kind of feel like I've been through it all. It makes me proud, and it makes me grateful. I've learned so much about myself throughout my time here. Honestly, I'm just happy I've been through it here. I wouldn't have picked anywhere else."
AP photo by Shawn Millsaps / Tennessee forward Kamera Harris heads downcourt duuring a home game against Texas on Dec. 8, 2019.Here are three keys for the Lady Vols to beat Ole Miss:
1. Play solid defense: The Ole Miss offense is ... not good. The Rebels are the worst-shooting team in the SEC, and there's not one metric in which they are good. They don't shoot jump shots well, making just 32%, don't score well around the basket (43%) and don't post up well (37%). To make matters worse, they're the one team in the league that turns the ball over more frequently than Tennessee. Harper's team doesn't really take chances on that end of the floor, but if the Lady Vols use their length, it will make things that much more difficult on the Rebels.
2. Execute in half-court play: Ole Miss's half-court is not very good, either. The Rebels use their quickness to attempt to force turnovers, but in a lot of cases they are left out of position for opponents to score at ease. Should Tennessee simply take care of the ball - and obviously the Lady Vols have had their share of problems doing that - they'll have chances to be just as successful this time as they were in the first meeting with Ole Miss, when they shot 49% from the field and didn't turn the ball over.
3. Pound the offensive boards: The Lady Vols outrebounded the Rebels 56-23 in Oxford last month and turned 18 offensive rebounds into 24 points. They've struggled to get those types of baskets lately, but they did have 19 second-chance points Sunday agaiinst Vanderbilt. It's going to be the cheap points that will be key for Tennessee the rest of the way, and getting some good work in against what's considered an inferior opponent could help the Lady Vols get some momentum going into Sunday's regular-season finale Auburn and next week's SEC tournament.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.