‘Knew it was gonna be ugly’ – Kim Caldwell gets brutally honest after Lady Vols’ home loss to Mississippi State
Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell didn’t hold back on Thursday night after a tough home loss.
The Tennessee Vols led the Mississippi State Bulldogs 12-9 after the first quarter in Knoxville on Thursday night.
It was a lead that didn’t last long for the Lady Vols.
Mississippi State quickly took control of the game by outscoring Tennessee 26-14 in the second quarter. The Bulldogs extended their lead in the third quarter by outscoring UT 24-16.
The Lady Vols won the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 77-62 in front of 10,418 fans.
Kim Caldwell gets real after tough home loss to Mississippi State
Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell didn’t hold back after the loss, telling reporters that she knew the game was going to be “ugly” after her team was late to warmups.
“I knew it in shoot-around that it was gonna be bad,” said Caldwell. “It was gonna be ugly. I didn’t think it was gonna be that ugly. They out-worked us, they out-toughed us, [from] start to finish.”
“I hadn’t seen that version of them,” added Caldwell when asked to elaborate on her team being late to warmups. “And I told them this, in shoot-around, ‘I have not seen this version of you in about 20 or 25 days.’ It started to creep back in. And again, it’s my fault — I’m the coach. I can sit here and be frustrated all I want with them, but if I’m seeing it, it’s my job to fix it. And obviously, I didn’t fix it.
“But I don’t know if it’s just that it’s back to, ‘Okay, we beat ’em once, we’re gonna beat ’em again.’ It’s kind of what it felt like (UT beat Ms State 90-80 earlier this month). And when you are in the SEC, we have some leaders that have been here before that should know that that is never the case in this league.”
Ultimately, Caldwell took responsibility for not having the team properly prepared.
“It’s my job to raise them as leaders and have those conversations,” said Caldwell. “And, well, I don’t think that I’ve been doing a very good job at that. So a little bit disappointed that I felt like last year’s team, we learned this lesson….the mindset today still wasn’t 100 percent where it needs to be.”
The Lady Vols will need to get right quick — they’ll be back in action Sunday on the road against No. 1 UConn.
And we certainly know UConn will be out for revenge after losing to Tennessee in Knoxville last season.
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