Tennessee opened the 2026-27 season with a 109-62 rout of Duquesne on Monday night, and Kaylene Smikle wasted no time making her mark. Smikle poured in 31 points on 11-of-13 shooting, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, the second-highest scoring debut in Lady Vols history and the best since 1976. Tennessee’s 109 points were the second-most in a season opener in program history, trailing only the 112 it put up against Stetson in 1989.

Here’s everything Kim Caldwell said after the win.

Opening statement

“We appreciate Duquesne coming and playing. Coach Burt has been a family friend of ours for a really long time and helped me a lot in my career, and I appreciate them coming. They gave us a really, really good punch there in the first quarter, and I was proud of how our team responded. 

“We needed that. I needed to see how our team would react and respond when hit with a little bit of adversity and the other team went on a run, and we wish them the best of luck. I think they’re going to do very well in the A-10.”

Kaylene Smikle scored 23 points in 12 minutes in the first half. What did you see from her?

“I don’t know if it’s a record, but it is pretty impressive. She has been locked in from the moment I saw her today. She’s been happy. She’s been full of joy. She had a great shootaround. She played very hard in shootaround. It’s been a very long time since she’s played in a basketball game, and to be able to see that joy in her today was really special for me. I hope that she had fun in the game.

“I think a play that stands out to me the most is she was on a scoring tear. And I don’t know how many she had, but you have players that once they get hot, it’s kind of human nature to stay hot. She had the ball coming up our sideline near our bench, and I thought for sure she was going to stop and pop, shoot another three, or get all the way to the rim. And she found Naomi [White] on a beautiful pass across the three-point line. Naomi hit it, and then they celebrated.

I think that says a lot about who she is and who our culture is as a team. She wants to make the right play. She doesn’t necessarily care about how many points she scored, but she wants to win. She wants to make the right play. She wants to be an all-around great basketball player, and I think you guys got to see that today.”

Jada Eads set the tone with the press. Do you want her to look for her own shot more?

“Yeah, I think she can. I think she can look for her shot more. I think she pushes. I think she really sets the tempo for us on both ends of the floor. She is the first one up. She is always in the other team’s space, and she pushes pace for us on offense. Kennedy does the same, and that’s really who Jada has been. She’s only been back cleared for maybe a month now, so I think she’s going to have a really high ceiling for us and continue to get better.”

Rylie Theuerkauf struggled from three but still scored inside. What did you think of her resilience?

“I’m very proud of her. Sometimes, from what I’ve known from her in the past, when that three ball isn’t going in, she’ll get in her head. I didn’t see her get in her head tonight. I saw her contribute in different ways. When we recruited her, we wanted her to know that we see her as an all-around player. We see her as a defensive player, an offensive rebounder, somebody that can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. And she showed that she can do that tonight.

“So shooting bad does not mean you had a bad game. She did many other things to help our team. We were a positive when she was on the floor, and I think that’s the beginning of this new era for her. If the three ball isn’t going well, she’s going to be able to put it on the deck and pass and score and go get rebounds and guard and take charges. She has a lot of ways she can help our team.”

How important is it to keep Fats Janneh out of early foul trouble, and what did you see from her on the glass?

“Yeah, she’s a great rebounder, and I think we need to keep her on the floor. All of her fouls are aggressive fouls, and that’s who she is. She’s an aggressive player right around the rim. We’ll continue to call those and tighten those up for her in practice so she can feel it, because we do need her on the floor.

“But again, K.K. has her hard hat on today, because you know we give out these awards. She got deemed the player that played the hardest. Fats has the WWE belt for rebounding. When you coach a new team, a lot of new issues come up. Well, they didn’t bring their prizes back from the last game, so they only had the hard hat. And Fats said she’s keeping her belt at home because she’s not giving it up. Nobody else is going to be able to take it from her.”

About 30 percent of your points came in the paint. How do you want to balance getting to the rim with the three-point distribution?

“We knew scout-specific that that’s how they were going to guard us coming in, and we had talked about that a couple days prior. We always want our points to be a mix. We don’t want to live and die by the three. We want to get to the foul line, and I think we got to the foul line pretty well tonight. But just being able to score inside the rim, they were tall, they had shot blockers, so we talked to the coaching staff in the locker room about ways to combat that. 

“One way is, hey, I’m sorry, I hate to break it to you, our practice guys aren’t going to be able to block our shots at the rim. We’ll just continue to get better there and give them different looks.

We knew they were going to pack that paint for us, and we will see that again. I think we’ll see a lot of zone, and we’ll continue working on playing off two feet at the rim, counter moves, going strong when we do play against that.”

Carla Viegas went 7 of 18 from three. What was she doing well, and what lessons do you take from that?

“She’s a great player. We knew coming in she was going to be a handful. One of my major concerns coming into the game was how well they can shoot it from three, and she lit it up by herself. I think that’s a compliment to her and the player that she is, that she will find a way to get that ball. She will find a way to get her shot off. That’s also an area where we need to continue to grow. The majority of our scout was around her, and we let her get that many threes off. That’s just an area where we have to get better.”

Six Lady Vols were in double figures. Talk about the ball movement.

“Yeah, I was very pleased with the 24. Did we have 24 assists? Yeah, I was very pleased with the 24 assists, sharing the basketball. I think for a little spurt there in the fourth quarter, we maybe started to take some bad shots.

“This is a selfless group. They’re a relentless group. They’re a hardworking group. They’re a fun group to be around, but they are a selfless group, and they want to win. They want to make the right play. They want to score, and it doesn’t matter who it comes from. It matters that the ball goes in. That’s what makes them so fun to coach, and I think that’s what’s going to make them fun for you guys to watch.”

Gabby had a few freshman moments but finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. What did you think of her debut?

“I was so happy you guys got to see that version of Gabby. That’s who she is. That’s who she is. We’re going to see some freshman mistakes out of her, but I’m going to rock with her. She was loyal to this program, and she stayed true and consistent from the day she said she wanted to be a Lady Vol. She’s been consistent in practice every single day since she’s been here. You know what you’re going to get from Gabby.

“You’re going to get some freshman mistakes. She’s going to look you in the eye. She’s going to adjust. She’s going to learn. And she’s going to go out there and make the right shot, get to the rim, go get offensive rebounds, keep her man in front of her. That young lady has a very, very bright future when you think she has four years left.”

Tennessee forced 27 turnovers. Do you expect the team to feed off that the rest of the year?

“I hope so. We still need to get better. There’s a lot of things that we’re going to watch on film. But when I go in the locker room, I always ask them what they see, and they’re giving the right answers. So they know what they should be doing. It’s a matter of being consistent. I think KK said it best in the locker room: all five people have to rotate together and play together.

“We’re going to continue to make some mistakes in our press throughout November while we learn. We have 15 new players. But we’ll keep lessening those each and every single game. Our goal going into this game was 30. We were close to that. We want to continue to turn people over and get easy layups off that. And to Cora’s point, that will help us get some layups at the rim and score three ways.”

What did Aaliyah Moore bring to the floor tonight?

“Yeah, it’s another player that hasn’t played in a really long time. It’s one thing to do an exhibition. It’s another thing to get her out there. She’s a very consistent player. She can score at the rim. She can score from three. And she’s a very good defender. 

“She had some lapses in the half court, but I think you guys got to see who she is in the full court when she’s rotating up and getting one-handed steals and pushing pace the other way. She’s very athletic. She’s smart. She’s a skilled player. Again, we have players that haven’t played for quite some time. We’re only going to continue to get better as they get their legs underneath them.”

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