KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee (3-1) embarks on its second road trip and its second contest vs. a Big 12 Conference school this season, playing at No. 23 Texas (4-1) on Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Vols and Longhorns will meet for the 39th straight season and 42nd time overall at 4 p.m. CT (5 ET) at the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Special Events Center in Austin.
Head coach Kellie Harper‘s squad is coming off its most impressive offensive showing of the season in a 90-53 home win over Furman on Thursday night.
Texas, meanwhile, rolled past Idaho at home, 73-48, on Wednesday afternoon.
Both teams enter with one blemish on their record, coming in last weekend’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Tennessee dropped a 79-73 decision in overtime at West Virginia last Sunday, while Texas fell at home to bitter rival Texas A&M, 66-61.
Harper will match wits for the second time in her career with Texas head coach Vic Schaefer, who is in his first season on The Forty Acres after spending the past eight years at Mississippi State.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
- Sunday’s game will be televised by ESPN with Eric Frede (PxP) and Debbie Antonelli (analyst) on the call.
- All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) and the SEC Network 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 radio stations and by audio stream, with Mickey Dearstone behind the microphone. Now calling the action for his 22nd season, Dearstone is joined by studio host Bobby Rader.
- A link to the live audio stream can be found on each game’s Hoops Central page or the Lady Vol schedule on UTSports.com.
- For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click on the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on Vol Network Affiliates in the black bar at the top of the page.
- Air time for games on the Lady Vol Radio Network generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
- The game also will be available on SiriusXM via SEC Radio channel 374.
QUICK GLANCE AT THE LADY VOLS
- UT is led in scoring by junior guard/forward Rae Burrell, who is putting up 20.5 ppg. and shooting 52.8 percent from the field, 50 percent on threes and 78.9 percent from the free throw line. She averaged 10.5 ppg. and shot 41, 33 and 60 percent, respectively, a year ago in those categories.
- Senior Rennia Davis, who is on all of the preseason awards watch lists and a projected All-SEC First Team pick by the coaches and players, is second in scoring (9.8 ppg.) and is second on the team in boards at 6.3 rpg.
- Davis, who averaged 18.0 ppg. and 8.2 rpg. as a junior last season, has had tough luck shooting and has found herself in foul trouble in two of UT’s four contests. It is only a matter of time before the shots start falling and she finds her groove.
- Sophomore Jordan Horston, an SEC All-Freshman performer a year ago is third in scoring at 8.5 ppg. and is second in assists average (3.0) and tops in steals average (2.3) as a reserve.
- Tennessee has 11 players averaging better than 10 minutes of duty per game and 3.0 points per contest.
- Substitutions have been liberal thus far, as Kellie Harper has tried to get valuable minutes for every member of the 13-player roster. Eleven players saw at least 12 minutes vs. Furman, and the other two earned five minutes of action.
- Kellie Harper has deployed the same starting five for all four games thus far: Keyen Green, Marta Suárez, Rennia Davis, Rae Burrell and Jordan Walker.
- Green (grad. transfer), Suárez (freshman) and Walker (grad transfer) are in their first season at Tennessee.
- Walker (7.8 ppg.), Suárez (7.0 ppg.) and Green (6.8 ppg.) are UT’s fourth, fifth and sixth-leading scorers.
- Suárez leads the Lady Vols in rebound average (7.0), while Walker is third in assist average (2.8).
RECAPPING TENNESSEE’S LAST GAME
- A career day from junior Rae Burrell, who finished with a career-high 26 points and seven assists, fueled a 90-53 Lady Vols’ win over Furman in Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday night.
- Tennessee (3-1) shot a sizzling 54.8 percent from the floor, including an impressive 58.3 percent from behind the arc. Redshirt junior Jordan Walker was also in double digits for the Lady Vols with 14 points and three rebounds.
- Furman (1-3) was led by Tierra Hodges, who had 17 points and seven rebounds. Tate Rodgers and Sydney James each pitched in 11 for the Paladins.
- Tennessee, which had 11 players getting 13 or more minutes of duty, closed the game on an 18-0 run, with its reserves hitting at a 63.6 percent clip during a 21-4 fourth-quarter blitz.
TENNESSEE-TEXAS SERIES HISTORY
- Tennessee leads the series with Texas, 25-16, and has a 12-7 edge in Knoxville, an 11-8 record in Austin and a 2-1 mark at neutral sites.
- The Lady Vols have won seven of the last 11 in the series, but are 2-4 since 2014. UT is 3-2 in its last five trips to Austin.
- While the first meeting in the series was on Dec. 8, 1978 (Tennessee 84, Texas 60), this marks the 39th-consecutive season these programs have met. The UTs played twice in 1986-87 and 1991-92 in regular-season tourney match-ups in addition to the regularly-scheduled games.
- This could be Tennessee’s last time playing in the Erwin Center, where it won its first NCAA title at the 1987 Final Four. Texas is scheduled to open a new 10,000-seat venue, the Moody Center, sometime in 2022.
- Lady Vol Head Coach Kellie Harper was 4-0 vs. Texas as a Tennessee player from 1995-96 to 1998-99 and is 0-1 vs. the Longhorns as a head coach.
- Tennessee is 58-24 all-time vs. schools currently in the Big 12 after falling at West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Dec. 6 this season.
- Two of women’s college basketball’s most successful coaches put these programs on the map: Tennessee’s Pat Summitt (1,098-208, 8 NCAA titles) and Texas’ Jody Conradt (900-307, 1 NCAA title).
- Popular Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes, whose Vols are ranked No. 12 nationally, previously coached at Texas from 1998 to 2015.
ABOUT THE LONGHORNS
- Texas has four players scoring in double figures, led by 6-foot-5 forward Charli Collier, who averages 25.0 ppg. and 11.8 rpg. while shooting 61%.
- Also averaging 10-plus points are 5-11 guard Celeste Taylor (13.4 ppg.), 5-9 guard Audrey Warren (12.4 ppg.) and 5-8 guard Joanne Allen-Taylor (11.2 ppg.).
- The Longhorns, who return five letterwinners and two starters, were 19-11 overall and 11-7 in the Big 12 a year ago, tying for third place.
- During the offseason, Texas replaced head coach Karen Aston with former Mississippi State skipper Vic Schaefer. He is 305-173 in his 16th year as a head coach and off to a 4-1 start in Austin.
RECAPPING TEXAS’ LAST GAME
- No. 23 Texas (4-1) knocked down a season-high 12 three-pointers and turned the ball over just six times in knocking off Idaho (2-1), 73-48, on Wednesday afternoon.
- Texas tied for its third-most made three-pointers in a game (12), attempted the most three-pointers in a game (37) and tied for the third-fewest turnovers in a game (six) in program history.
- Charli Collier managed her 20th career double-double and ninth career 20-point effort by scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 boards.
- Karisma Ortiz contributed a career-high 15 points, while Joanne Allen-Taylor continued her strong start to 2020-21 by reaching double figures for the fourth straight game and equaling her career scoring mark with 15 points.
THE LAST TIME TENNESSEE AND TEXAS MET
- The No. 17/19 Lady Vols suffered their first loss of the season a year ago, falling to Texas in Thompson-Boling Arena, 66-60, on Dec. 8, 2019.
- Tennessee (7-1) was led by junior Rennia Davis, who finished the day with 15 points and seven rebounds.
- Seniors Sug Sutton and Lashann Higgs were the leading scorers for Texas (5-4), posting 19 each.
THE LAST TIME WE PLAYED IN AUSTIN
- Senior Meme Jackson logged a career-high 33 points to lift the No. 9/9 Lady Vols to an 88-82 victory over No. 12/12 Texas in the Frank Erwin Center on Dec. 9, 2018, in UT’s last trip to Austin.
- Cheridene Green was also in double figures for Tennessee (8-0), adding 10 points and six rebounds
-UT Athletics
