Caldwell gets first signature win at Tennessee with victory over rival UConn

By Canadian Press on February 6, 2025.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — First-year coach Kim Caldwell and No. 19 Tennessee got their first signature win of the season and it came against the Lady Vols’ longtime rival — UConn.

A back and forth game went Tennessee’s way in the end as the team came away with an 80-76 victory Thursday night. It was the first victory over the No. 5 Huskies since the rivalry was renewed in 2020. The Lady Vols had lost the four meetings since the teams started playing each other again for the first time since 2007.

It came in front of a raucous Tennessee crowd that was loud from the tip.

“We played really hard. So proud of our group,” Caldwell said after the win. “That’s a really good team and we needed to outwork them.”

Shortly after the game, Knoxville was placed under a tornado warning. But, the biggest storm that night was generated by the Lady Vols.

It has been a monumental few weeks for Caldwell, who gave birth to her son two weeks ago. Her team had come close to getting that big win in Caldwell’s first year a few times. Four of Tennessee’s five losses have come against highly ranked opponents. The Lady Vols lost to Oklahoma by one, LSU two, Texas by four and South Carolina by seven.

“Relief,” was the way Caldwell described finally winning a big one. “We’ve done this before. We do this in practice, we can do it on the floor.

“That’s a level of play I knew we could achieve, we just had failed to achieve it. (The players) made up their minds they wanted to do it. They locked in. They wanted it and played incredibly hard.”

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Al Lesar, The Associated Press