KNOXVILLE - Kellie Harper has harped on the little things in her first season as University of Tennessee women's basketball coach.
The former UT point guard has done everything one can to teach the game to the current Lady Volunteers, and together they have experienced ups and downs and highs and lows, but they've been better than the other team much more often than they've been worse.
No, the record might not be sparkling for the sixth-seeded Lady Vols (20-9), who begin their time at the Southeastern Conference tournament with a second-round matchup against 11th-seeded Missouri (9-21) at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina. However, Tennessee's mark is already one win better than last season, and the Lady Vols will have at least one more chance to improve on it with the game against the Tigers, who beat 14th-seeded Ole Miss 64-53 on Wednesday.
Harper's detail-driven coaching has helped develop Rennia Davis, already an All-SEC player, into a more consistent one. The 6-foot-2 junior has scored at least 16 points in 18 consecutive games and has per-game averages of 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds this season.
AP photo by Jessica Hill / Tennessee women's basketball coach Kellie Harper talks with Rennia Davis during a game against Connecticut on Jan. 23 in Hartford, Conn."I remember last year, I think there was a stretch where I averaged only like four or six points," said Davis, who was a first-team selection this year after being a second-team pick as a sophomore. "And it's not all about scoring; it's being able to produce in some way every night. I may not shoot the ball well every night, but (I'm) consistently crashing the boards. (It's) little things like that - communicating with my teammates, trying to consistently get defensive stops. It's not just about scoring, it's about the little things as well."
NCAA tournaments always have been the expectation for the Lady Vols, who have never missed one, and that hasn't changed. By all accounts, they are expected to be in the field again this year, but their résumé to date provides no margin for error. There are no bad losses, which is a plus, but aside from a 63-58 home win over LSU on Jan. 27, there really aren't any good wins.
During the Missouri-Ole Miss game Wednesday, ESPN women's basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme said that to feel safe going into selection Monday, the Lady Vols need two wins during the SEC tournament. The winner of Missouri-Tennessee advances to a Friday quarterfinal against third-seeded Kentucky (21-7) and former Bradley Central High School standout Rhyne Howard, who was announced Tuesday as the coaches' selection for SEC player of the year after being named the freshman of the year in 2019. The Wildcats won the lone regular-season meeting with Tennessee, 80-76 on Jan. 5 in Lexington, where Howard had a monster game.
Win one and lose one in Greenville, and the Lady Vols will be at the mercy of whatever else happens around the country in other conference tournaments.
Regardless of how this season finishes, Harper is building and developing a program. And as bad as the on-court product has looked at times this season - with turnovers the most glaring deficiency - she believes the Lady Vols are at the right place right now.
"It takes time, and everybody gets there at a different spot or a different time," Harper said Tuesday. "Everybody improves, and your team moves. I think we've grown a lot. There are a lot of areas where our offense has grown this season, throughout the season. That's been great to see. Our defense has grown throughout the season. I still think there are some things out there that we could be better at. I think we hit a dry spell there rebounding-wise and got back on the right end of that recently and have done a good job on the boards. I just think there are some things that we've done well.
"It just takes some time. I think it takes some adversity to be able to push you to a point where you're challenged and you're tested and you question. Then you're able to get through that. I'm hoping that the team, because of all those things, is in a good place going over to Greenville."
Here are two keys for the Lady Vols in their SEC tourney opener:
1. Force the Tigers' hands: Tennessee has one of the best half-court defenses in the nation. Missouri has struggled to create offense this season, with the Tigers at their best when they've been able to get open looks. This is a rematch of the SEC opener for both teams, a 77-66 win for Tennessee on Jan. 2 in which 11 of Missouri's 23 field goals made were 3-pointers. If the Lady Vols can stop the 3, it will make things that much for difficult for the Tigers.
2. Penetrate to create: Quite opposite to the Tigers offensively, the Lady Vols need to maintain the attack-mode mentality that has been their staple this season, though without the turnovers. That means going inside, that means attacking the basket, but it also means being smart in the attack. Missouri is pretty good defending in the post; the Tigers aren't good anywhere else on defense, though, and that's something Tennessee can exploit.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.