Saturday’s matchup at Barclays Center between Kim Caldwell’s No. 17 Tennessee Lady Vols and No. 16 Louisville was anything but routine. From the opening tip, the game turned into a physical standoff, with elbows flying and tempers rising. Composure became as valuable as skill, as the chippy tone unsettled both benches and kept the crowd on edge throughout.

The tension that had been building up during the game was partly due to the way Louisville’s defense was very disruptive to Kim Caldwell’s No. 17 Tennessee Lady Vols’ flow.

FOX College Hoops, which captioned the game coverage as one where “tensions are high in the ranked matchup between Tennessee vs Louisville,” noted that the aggressive character of the game dominated certain parts of the second period.

There were several heated arguments among the players when the Cardinals’ unyielding pressure was at its peak, which made it necessary for the referees to be very cautious in dealing with the growing emotions.

The annoyance and irritation felt deeply by the court and the audience were expressed through arguments and bad-tempered interactions between the players of both teams as the game progressed.

At the end of the first half, Tennessee was in good shape; they were behind by only four points and still had a whole period to play. However, the third quarter was a complete turnaround.

The powerful defensive play of Louisville completely closed the Lady Vols, and what was once a close contest became a blowout. The game was already over by the time they reached the fourth quarter. Louisville’s victory was by a margin of 89 to 65, and Caldwell’s squad still could not find their game again.

Louisville (11-3), on the other hand, did not waste any time and snatched points right from the tip by scoring 24 second-chance points through 17 offensive rebounds. With every missed shot by the Cardinals, they got a fresh opportunity.

Each miss from the court of Tennessee was a pain for them. The third quarter was the end of it all—Caldwell’s team was outscored 22-16 as Louisville took a firm 63-52 lead into the fourth. No team can come back after such a heavy dominance in the rebounding area.

Kim Caldwell doesn’t hold back after Lady Vols’ brutal loss

Tennessee’s big moment in Brooklyn turned out to be a nightmare. The Lady Vols made a trip to Barclays Center with the hope of surprising the ranked Louisville team, but they came up short. The score at the end was 89-65 in favor of Louisville.

It wasn’t just a loss; in fact, it was a game on national television that was a huge margin of defeat for the Vols, and it was a situation that left many wondering, “What went wrong?”

The second half was a nightmare for Tennessee. They began alright, but couldn’t match the toughness and speed of Louisville. Their rebounds were gone, their defense was broken, and the Cardinals just dominated the game. Coach Kim Caldwell was angry after the match and was very frank in her comments.

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“We had a terrible display of basketball today,” she said. “We did a scout, it didn’t look like we did a scout. Didn’t rebound; we got beaten to every 50-50 ball. They were leaps and bounds tougher than us today.”

That game against Florida is the one that gives them the best opportunity to prove their worth in terms of competition this season at the highest level.