WBB Preview: #20/22 Lady Vols vs. Arkansas

No. 20/22 Tennessee (11-3, 3-0 SEC) makes its lone home appearance over a four-game span, playing host to Arkansas (11-7, 0-3 SEC) on Sunday afternoon at Food City Center in the Big Orange’s annual “We Back Pat” game. 

The Lady Vols and Razorbacks will tip off at 2 p.m. ET in a contest broadcast on SECN+ and carried on the Lady Vol Radio Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Channel 380).

UT enters on a four-game winning streak and has been victorious in six of its last seven contests after winning at Mississippi State, 90-80, on Thursday night. Kim Caldwell’s squad is one of only four remaining undefeated teams in league action, joining South Carolina, Texas and Vanderbilt at 3-0. 

UA, meanwhile, has lost its last four games and is among a quartet of 0-3 teams in SEC play. 

This is the 42nd meeting between these programs, with Tennessee owning a 36-5 advantage in a series that began in 1992. The Lady Vols have won the past six match-ups between the schools.

BROADCAST DETAILS

• Andy Brock (play-by-play), Kamera Harris (color analyst) and Sarah Detwiler (reporter) will be on the SECN+ call.
• All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
• The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play and Jay Lifford serving as studio host.
• A link to the live audio stream can be found on the WBB Preview page or the schedule on UTSports.com. 
• For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
• Air-time generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
• The Lady Vol Network broadcast also will be available on SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel 380.

A LOOK AT THE LADY VOLS

• UT is led by 6-0 redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper (14.9 ppg., 6.1 rpg., 4.3 apg., 3.4 spg., 25 3FGs), 6-4 senior forward Janiah Barker (14.6 ppg., 6.8 rpg., 17 3FGs), senior forward Zee Spearman (10.9 ppg., 7.3 rpg., 14 3FGs) and freshman guard Mia Pauldo (10.9 ppg., 37 assts./16 TOs, 27 3FGs).
• Senior guard Nya Robertson (9.6 ppg., 3.1 rpg., 30 3FGs) is right behind them.
• Tennessee is 6-0 at home this season.
• The Lady Vols are seeking to go 4-0 in SEC play for the first time since 2022-23 and also extend their overall winning streak to five games.
• The first quarter has been UT’s best in 2025-26, with the Lady Vols scoring their most points (309/22.1) and allowing their  fewest (198/14.1).
• Talaysia Cooper ranks No. 18 nationally in steals per game at 3.36 per contest.
• UT is outscoring opponents 81.0 to 61.2 for a +19.8 margin on the year.
• Tennessee averages 9.9 three-pointers per game to rank No. 6 nationally.
• UT is No. 10 in off. rebs. per game (17.0) and No. 23 in rebs. per game (43.36).

TRENDING…

• UT is shooting 46.7 percent from the field in league contests (ranks third) and has hit 50 percent or better in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
• After making 10 or more threes in a game only once in the season’s first five games, the Lady Vols have netted 10+ in five of the next nine tilts despite fewer attempts.
• Tennessee has shot 75.4 percent from the free-throw line vs. SEC foes, demonstrating marked improvement over its season standard of 67.1 pct. 
• Mia Pauldo ranks No. 2 in SEC games in free-throw pct., hitting 18 of 19 (.947).
• Pauldo also is averaging 15.0 ppg. over her past seven contests and is tied as the Big Orange’s second-leading scorer in SEC play at 14.7 ppg. after dropping a career-most 26 points at Mississippi State.
• Talaysia Cooper leads UT in SEC play at 16.3 ppg., hitting 46.5 pct. from the field.
• Janiah Barker averages 14.7 ppg. and 8.7 rpg. in league action while hitting 57.1 pct.
• Alyssa Latham is UT’s No. 4 rebounder (4.5) and No. 5 scorer (5.5) in SEC games.
• Nya Robertson is 11 points away from reaching the 1,500 plateau.

FAMILIAR FACES

• Tennessee forward Jersey Wolfenbarger hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and spent the first two years of her college career playing for the Razorbacks.
• She was named to the 2021-22 SEC All-Freshman Team after averaging 7.5 ppg. and 4.3 rpg. in 30 games there.
• Tennessee freshman guard/forward Lauren Hurst and Arkansas freshman guard Harmonie Ware are both natives of Cleveland, Tenn., with Hurst graduating from Cleveland High School and Ware from Bradley Central.
• Arkansas assistant Lacey Goldwire had the same role at Tennessee from 2019-21 before returning in 2021-22 to UA, where she also worked for Mike Neighbors from 2017-19 in his first two years as head coach there. Goldwire now is a member of Kelsi Musick’s first staff.
• Tennessee senior guard Nya Robertson played at SMU last season, where first-year Arkansas assistant Alex Furr was an assistant coach and director of player development for the Mustangs.

ONE OF THE FASTEST TO 250 WINS

• In the SEC opener vs. Florida on Jan. 1, Kim Caldwell reached 250 career victories in her 10th season as a head coach.
• One of the youngest to ever do that, Caldwell hit 250 wins at the age of 37 years, one month and eight days.
• She is one of only nine active coaches at all levels of NCAA women’s basketball to reach 250 victories by her 10th season as a head coach.
• Caldwell ranks third among active NCAA Division I women’s coaches in career winning percentage (.851) and is 10th among active women’s coaches from all NCAA divisions with at least a complete season of head coaching experience.
• Caldwell has a career record of 252-44 (.851) entering Sunday’s game, including 35-13 in her second year at Tennessee and 61-20 in her third season at the DI level (26-7 at Marshall in 2023-24).
• Including a COVID year in which her team played only 16 games, Caldwell entered 2025-26 averaging 26.8 wins per season. Her teams at Glenville State won 30+ on four occasions.

A LOOK AT OUR LAST GAME

• Freshman guard Mia Pauldo scored a career-high 26 points to lead four players in double figures, as hot-shooting No. 20/22 Tennessee prevailed over Mississippi State, 90-80, Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
• Pauldo finished eight of 12 from the field and eight of nine from the free-throw line to tie for the eighth-best scoring effort by a freshman in UT history. Also in double figures for the Lady Vols (11-3, 3-0 SEC) were senior forward Janiah Barker with 18 and senior forward Zee Spearman and redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper with 14 each, as UT shot 50.7 percent vs. the Bulldogs and carded its second-straight game making over 50 percent of its shots.
• MSU (14-3 ,1-2 SEC) was paced by Kharyssa Richardson and Madison Francis, who each finished with 22 points, with Francis adding a game-high 13 rebounds. Destiney McPhaul also scored in double figures, tossing in 14.

NOTES FROM THE MSU GAME

• CAREER NIGHT FOR MIA: Mia Pauldo’s career night of 26 points enabled her to lead the Lady Vols for the first time in her career. Pauldo tied for the eighth-most points scored in a game by a freshman in UT women’s history since 1982 and carded the highest rookie total since Rennia Davis dropped 33 at Arkansas on Feb. 9, 2018. The guard recently has been on fire, scoring in double figures in six of the last seven games. Thursday night was the first time she had 20+ points. The freshman came out firing, with her second double-digit scoring performance in a quarter this season (12 in the 1Q vs. Winthrop and 11 in the 1Q at Mississippi State).
• HIGH SCORING QUARTERS: Tennessee achieved four quarters of 20+ points for the third time on the year. The previous two games came against ETSU and Coppin State. The Lady Vols have now scored 20 or more in 31 of 56 quarters (55% of the total quarters).
• RAINING THREES: For the sixth time this season the Big Orange hit over ten threes in a game, finishing with 10. That total of six ties for the second most 10+ efforts in a season for the program. Kim Caldwell teams now hold the top two three-ball marks at Tennessee. UT has now made 10 or more deep balls in five of its last nine games. 

A LOOK AT THE NET RANKINGS

• Tennessee has climbed to No. 18 in the NCAA’s NET rankings as of Jan. 10.
• Sunday’s opponent, Arkansas, checks in at No. 101, while UT’s Jan. 18 foe, Alabama, sits at No. 22.
• The Lady Vols’ top NET victories are over No. 33 Stanford, No. 36 Mississippi State, No. 58 Florida, No. 75 Auburn, No. 93 Belmont and No. 105 Southern Indiana.
• UT’s losses are to NET No. 2 UCLA, No. 11 Louisville and No. 28 NC State.

UT/UA SERIES NOTES

• UT holds a 36-5 all-time record vs. Arkansas, including 17-2 in Knoxville, 17-3 in Fayetteville and 2-0 at neutral sites.
• UT is 2-1 in overtime and 2-0 in the postseason vs. UA, meeting for the first time in SEC Tourney play in 2016. UT prevailed, 68-51, in the second round in Jacksonville, Fla., on March 3 that year.
• Tennessee carries a six-game series win streak into Sunday’s contest.
• The Lady Vols and Razorbacks met in the 1998 NCAA Final Four in Kansas City, with No. 1-ranked UT rolling to an 86-58 victory in the semifinal round en route to an undefeated 39-0 national championship season and its third-straight title.

A LOOK AT ARKANSAS

• Arkansas is fueled by 5-10 senior guard Taleyah Jones, who puts up 16.9 ppg. on the season and 15.3 ppg. in SEC play as UA’s only double-figure league scorer.
• Bonnie Deas nearly averages a double-double, putting up 10.6 ppg. and 9.7 rpg. for all games.
• The Razorbacks are getting outscored in conference games, 86.0 to 59.0, for a margin of -27.0.
• Arkansas averages 16.7 turnovers per contest in all games and 19.7 in league action.

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH

• Kelsi Musick is in her first year at Arkansas after producing a 57-39 mark at Oral Roberts the previous three seasons.
• She guided ORU to a 24-9 record in 2024-25 and an appearance in the WBIT.
• Those 24 victories were the most by the program since Debbie Yow won 26 games in 1982-83.

THE RAZORBACKS’ LAST GAME

• No. 3/3 South Carolina outscored Arkansas, 29-12, in the opening stanza and cruised past the Razorbacks, 93-58, in Fayetteville on Thursday night.
• The Gamecocks forced 23 UA turnovers and converted those miscues into 30 points.
• USC also turned 24 UA fouls into 18 free throws in 29 trips to the charity stripe.
• Arkansas hit eight of 19 attempts from beyond the arc, with Jada Bates riding a 2-of-3 night on deep balls to a team-high 16 points, while Taleyah Jones added 13.

LAST TIME WE MET

• Talaysia Cooper led four players in double figures with her eighth 20-point effort of the season, as No. 16/15 Tennessee rolled past Arkansas, 93-63, on Jan. 12, 2025, in Fayetteville, Ark., the last time these teams met.
• Cooper scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added a game-high four steals to lead the Lady Vols (14-2, 2-2 SEC). Zee Spearman knocked down a career-best trio of three-pointers to tally 18 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard Ruby Whitehorn supplied 17 points and senior forward Sara Puckett was a rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.
• Arkansas (8-11, 1-3 SEC) was paced by Izzy Higginbottom, who led all scorers with 26 points. Carly Keats tossed in 10.

LAST TIME WE MET IN KNOXVILLE

• A 53-percent shooting night behind the arc and a 21-point effort by Rickea Jackson lifted the Lady Vols to their seventh straight home triumph in an 81-55 victory over Arkansas in Food City Center on Feb. 12, 2024.  
• Jillian Hollingshead recorded her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and senior Jewel Spear was close behind for Tennessee (15-8, 8-3 SEC) with 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven assists on the night. 
• Taliah Scott was the high scorer for Arkansas (17-9, 5-6 SEC) with 23 points, and Maryam Dauda added 10.

NEXT UP

• After being idle on Thursday, Tennessee will play its third away game in its last four contests next Sunday, making its way to Tuscaloosa for a road “We Back Pat” match-up with RV/#24 Alabama.
• The match-up is slated for 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET) at Coleman Coliseum.
• The contest will be televised on SEC Network and carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming on UTSports.com.