Tennessee Lady Vols basketball hosted the New Haven Chargers on Tuesday night. It was an 83-40 win, but a tough one that head coach Kim Caldwell said was needed. This was the second consecutive game the Lady Vols started slow. It’s only three games into the season, but some fixable struggles plagued Tennessee throughout the game.

After the game Caldwell spoke to some of those struggles and gave a reason for the slow start. She wanted to see how the team would react in different situations, and she used some different rotations.

“We intentionally had them call their own sets and didn’t call a lot of plays for them, for them to try to work their way through it,” Caldwell said. “I think that was part of the result of the slow start. But those are things we need, because we are going to get in high-pressure situations very quickly where five players on the floor have to figure it out together.”

Caldwell said Tennessee went back to its usual groups about halfway through the second quarter. This team is still working through finding different rotations that work, and she wants to get those settled quickly.

The Lady Vols shot 10-of-35 from the field in the first half and led 37-24 at the break. Finishing at the rim has been a problem already. Tennessee has missed a great deal of layups through three games, and Caldwell said most of that comes down to spacing.

“A lot of it is space-oriented,” Caldwell said. “We have too many people in the paint, and I think our stress response as a team is to cut. I have a team that is trying to do the right thing."

Caldwell said some of the misses were just misses. Others came from a crowded lane, whether players were cutting to fix the offense, crashing the offensive glass too early or just out of position with a new group still learning to play together.

“So finding our spacing to where we can get straight-line drives to the rim is going to be really important,” Caldwell said. “The finishing is going to come with time, but I think we have to fix our spacing for that to look better.”

Tennessee also missed its first six free throws and went 10-of-21 at the line in the first half. The Lady Vols finished 16-of-28. Caldwell said she had not seen this group shoot like that.

“I was like, what has happened?” Caldwell said. “This is not them. This is very out of character. I think they’ll get in the gym tomorrow, they’ll shoot some foul shots and it’ll be fixed.”

Tennessee’s defense took over in the second half. New Haven turned it over 26 times, and the Lady Vols scored 29 points off those turnovers. The Chargers went 1-of-18 from 3 and shot 7-of-32 after halftime. Tennessee outscored New Haven 46-16 in the second half.

Gabby Minus had 13 points, eight rebounds and six steals in 20 minutes in just her third college game. She only committed one turnover. Minus continues to impress everyone with her poise and grit, and she is already showing leadership tendencies even though she’s one of the youngest.

“I definitely just learned to let the game come to you,” Minus said after. “Like Coach Kim said, just playing hard, a little effort, just doing the little things. I think today we needed somebody who could get things going. I just said, let me be that person on the defensive end to get things going for my team. That was the biggest thing for me today.”

Aaliyah Moore led Tennessee with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting and seven rebounds. Kennedy Fauntleroy scored 11 off the bench, and the Lady Vols outscored New Haven 36-8 in bench points. Riley Makalusky went 2-of-3 from 3 in 13 minutes, and 13 of the 15 players Tennessee used scored.

Moore is a sixth-year transfer from Texas, and she’s one of the few players on a roster with 15 newcomers who has already been through the SEC. Asked about being a leader early in the season, Moore said she’s trying to echo the coaching staff and back it up with how she plays.

“I do know what it takes and what’s coming for us and how hard it’s going to be every night,” Moore said. “So I think just trying to repeat what Coach Kim says, what the coaches say, but also make sure I’m leading by example, because I don’t want to go out there and be telling my teammates to do something and then I’m giving up points, I’m not rebounding, I’m not doing my job.”

Caldwell said that experience matters for this team. New Haven grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, and Teaira Kelley finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Caldwell said Moore knows that number won’t hold up in conference play.

“Until you have played in the SEC and gone through that gauntlet, you maybe think that, OK, the fact that we allowed 15 offensive rebounds today is not a big deal,” Caldwell said. “She understands that it is, that 15 is going to turn to 40. For players like her to be able to echo what I am saying with a sense of urgency, it’s invaluable.”

Middle Tennessee is next, and Caldwell said the approach in practice will look different now. I could tell the urgency is already there to get on top of things.

“We’re at a point again where, all right, you did that for no reason. No, go back and do it again,” Caldwell said. “That’s uncomfortable for me to coach that way, and I know that. That’s uncomfortable for them, but that’s where we’re at. We’re at that point in the season.”

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