If Pat Summitt had her way, the focus of Thursday’s Tennessee-Vanderbilt game in Nashville would be on the teams as they prepare to clash in a key Southeastern Conference showdown.
But this is no ordinary game.
Granted, the 8 p.m. (ET) meeting at Memorial Gym between the intrastate rivals is never a run-of-the-mill event especially considering that unbeaten Tennessee is the number one team in the nation and Vanderbilt is ranked nineteenth.
The Lady Vols (17-0, 3-0 SEC) will be attempting to win their eighteenth game of the season and tenth consecutive over the Lady Commodores (13-4, 2-1).
Oh and by the way, the legendary Coach Summitt will be seeking her 900th career victory.
Summitt, who is a native of Ashland City, which is located near Nashville, became the all-time winningest coach last season with a second-round victory over Purdue in the NCAA tournament. Her 880th win surpassed former North Carolina coach Dean Smith’s record of 879.
Fifty-three spectators attended the Middle Tennessee State-Tennessee game on Jan. 10, 1975 at UT’s Alumni Gym when 22-year-old Pat Head won her first game as the Lady Vols’ coach.
A capacity crowd of 14,316 is expected to converge upon Memorial Gym to see if Summitt can capture victory number 900.
During a SEC teleconference call earlier this week, Summitt said while her first priority is the Lady Vols winning another SEC game, she is also proud of her players’ accomplishments over her tenure.
“When you’re in the middle of a season, you just think about getting a SEC win.” Summitt, who has won six NCAA championships, advanced to 16 Final Fours, captured 11 SEC tournament titles coupled by 13 regular season laurels commented.
“Certainly anytime you reach a milestone, you do reflect as a coach and I do on my career” she said. “I do think about all of the great players that have played here and one thing that I am really proud of is that we are able to play one of the toughest schedules in the country every year. We are able to go on the road and have a pretty successful time as well at home. Vanderbilt is going to be a big test for that.”
Summitt said that despite Tennessee’s recent string of success against Vanderbilt, the last meeting resulting in a 76-73 win on Mar. 5th at the SEC Tournament semi-finals in Greenville, the Lady Vols will not underestimate the Lady Commodores.
“We’re looking forward to it.” She said. “They are a team that has played us so tough so many times. Melanie (Vandy head coach Balcomb) has done a great job. They have a strong inside-outside game, and they are capable of shooting the three ball.”
Summitt was very complimentary of Liz Sherwood, the 6’4” sophomore center who is Vandy’s leading scorer averaging 14.4 points per game who posted her career high of 28 in a Jan. 3rd win over Western Kentucky.
“I think that she brings an anchor to their post game in particular their low-post game.” Summitt remarked. “She just has the size and skills and puts a lot of pressure on the defense. It’s a tough match-up. Hopefully we can focus and try to do a really good job on our interior defense because at times we’ve been good and at times we’ve been soft. We can’t be soft on Thursday.”
Summitt was clearly unhappy with her team’s defensive play over Georgia, but the Lady Vols rebounded in Sunday’s 79-56 win over Mississippi State forcing the Lady Bulldogs to commit 21 turnovers while the Lady Vols made 13 steals to MSU’s four.
Tennessee’s Candace Parker who scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against MSU became the first this season to win both the SEC Player and Freshman of the Week Awards simultaneously on Monday.
The redshirt rookie, who has had five double-doubles this season, will be attempting to post a double-double for the third consecutive game against Vandy.
Parker who is among the top 10 players in six SEC categories including being second in blocks and third in defensive rebounding, is averaging 15 points per game and 8.6 rebounds.
Cleveland High graduate Holly Rogers is one of three freshmen on the Vandy squad. The 5-9 guard has started in two games and is averaging 3.4 points and three rebounds. Her career high of nine points came in Vandy’s win against William and Mary.
Summitt who has coached 18 All-Americans including four-time honorees Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings along with longtime Lady Vol assistant Holly Warlick , has been named NCAA Coach of the Year seven times and was declared Naismith Coach of the Century in 2000, isn’t ready for retirement at the age of 53.
“It makes you feel old” she recalled. “I have been at this a very long time, but I have a lot of basketball games left in me because I enjoy it; I love teaching the game. This number made me stop and think, wow, I have coached a lot of tough basketball games against a lot of top competitors.”
Victory number 1000? At this rate, it will happen sometime in 2009.
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