One of the finest and most salient of women’s basketball rivalries is reengaged Thursday night. And for the first time ever, Texas and Tennessee tip off as conference rivals. The two ranked teams fittingly meet during the SEC’s Pat Summitt memorial initiative.
How to watch No. 17 Tennessee at No. 7 Texas
Venue: Moody Center — Austin, Texas
Time: 8 p.m. ET Thursday
TV: ESPN
Streaming: Fubo (try for free)
Watching in-person? Get tickets on StubHub.
Summitt’s Lady Vols and Jody Conradt’s Longhorns scheduled an annual meeting that dated back to 1982. They made history together to set the women’s basketball attendance record at their 1987 game — a mark since eclipsed twofold by the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2023. This rivalry helped elevate the sport in its early years of NCAA sponsorship. With Texas moving to the SEC, this historic rivalry gets an interesting remix.
Vic Schaefer’s Longhorns are well-rounded. They’re top-five in both offensive and defensive ratings, with Madison Booker just a few ticks shy of a 50/40/90 shooting season. In Monday’s 38-point blowout of Maryland, the sophomore standout was 13-for-19 for 28 points. With her No. 35 Texas jersey and her elegant three-level offense, Booker’s game recalls the great Kevin Durant. She’s one of the coolest players to watch right now. The ball methodically zips around her. Texas loves to keep it moving and force defenses to stay active.
But no one in Division I puts up more points than Tennessee. Kim Caldwell coaches a springy, up-tempo Volunteers team that leads the country in both field goal attempts and made 3-pointers per game. Their three losses have been by a combined four points, with back-to-back heartbreakers against No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 5 LSU.
Jewel Spear, Samara Spencer and Tess Darby can all sizzle from behind the arc. But Tennessee’s fulcrum is Talaysia Cooper. She has dropped at least 20 points in half of her outings thus far and she notched nine steals in the Oklahoma game.
The game is part of the SEC’s “We Back Pat” week, honoring Summitt’s foundation and the national fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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