All-Access: Inside the Texas trip to Tennessee

Getting popped in the mouth

Few venues can get rocking like Thompson-Boling Arena, and the Tennessee faithful are starting to realize the Lady Vols are legit this season after a few inconsistent years.

They sense the team’s improved chemistry and revitalization behind a core of experienced players and four talented freshmen. Nearly 10,000 showed up to watch the weekend’s marquee Top 25 match-up and provided full-throttled electricity.

Tennessee increased the magnitude by honoring three of its national championship teams from the 1987, 1997 and 2007 seasons.

Texas knows what it’s walking into.

Nine minutes before tip-off, the Longhorns gathered in the visiting locker room with Aston going over a few tactical reminders written on the whiteboard.

“The last thing I’ll say to ya’ll is this should be fun. I say that a lot, but again, you come here to play in these kind of games. You come here to play in these kind of traditional games,” Aston said. “This has been going on for over 30 years. You play this game because you love basketball. You play this game because it is a showcase game for women’s basketball, so the only thing I ask of you is to play it in the honor of the game. Play it the way it’s supposed to be played and give it your best effort.”

Texas immediately fell behind Tennessee, and spent the entire afternoon working to fight back.

Atkins stroked a left-handed jumper to pull Texas even at 29 to start the second half, but Tennessee freshman Evina Westbrook answered with a 3-pointer and the Lady Vols (10-0) kept Texas (7-1) at bay for the remainder of the 82-75 win.

Although not always pretty, the game was compelling, intense and physical. There were technical fouls, stare downs and bodies strewn across the floor.

Three Texas players fouled out, another left with an injury (Jordan Hosey) and Atkins was badly shaken up in a second-half collision.

McCarty struggled to find her rhythm, finishing 2 of 15 from the field with eight points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Atkins and Lashann Higgs tried to keep Texas within striking distance, but poor shot selection, turnovers and Tennessee offensive rebounds stymied the Longhorn’s comeback hopes.

“Quite honestly, it didn’t look like we were a very well-coached team today,” Aston said. “I will definitely go back in film, do a better job, because our team didn’t look very well-coached. That bothers me because I like to pay a lot of attention to detail. We didn’t look very detail-oriented today.”

Aston expected Tennessee to be hungry to snap a three-game losing streak in the series, and wanted to see how her team dealt with adversity in a hostile environment.

“I kind of felt like we were going to run into that, where they would be very determined, and we didn’t respond to that very well,” Aston said. “That is what I learned about our team, that we’re not quite ready to respond to somebody popping you in the mouth. Because we got popped today, and we’ll get better from this. There’s no question.”

After the players showered and packed their bags, they boarded the bus for the airport. The charter flight home would be much quieter following the first loss of the young season.

The Longhorns don’t have much time to stew. They play Northwestern State in three days and have another big game against No. 12 Florida State on the weekend.

Atkins was tight-lipped in the aftermath of the loss, saying Texas needed to get physically and mentally tougher. She will likely save a more detailed account of the road trip for her journal, where her true emotions can flow freely through the written word.

“I am not a fan of losing by any means, but you can’t fixate on it because then you miss everything,” Atkins said. “That is what I don’t want to do my senior year. I don’t want to miss anything. I want to be focused and enjoy it.”