Lady Vols Basketball Announces 2021-22 Schedule
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Lady Vol fans can start marking their calendars for the 2021-22 basketball season.
Tennessee’s women’s basketball team revealed most of its slate on Wednesday afternoon, as Kellie Harper enters her third season as head coach.
The schedule can be found here:
There will be one additional non-conference game announced a later date, but Harper’s team will still have its hands full with a schedule that might even have made the late Pat Summitt green with envy.
The slate features 13 games against teams that were ranked or received votes in the final 2021 USA TODAY Coaches Poll, including three of the teams in last year's NCAA Final Four: No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 UConn and No. 4 South Carolina.
Tennessee opens at home on November 3 with an exhibition matchup against Georgia College, whose coach is Kellie Harper’s brother, Ross Jolly.
The regular season will tip off on November 10, as Tennessee faces Southern Illinois in Knoxville.
After two more non-conference matchups, the Lady Vols will host Texas — a 2021 Elite Eight team — in Knoxville before taking on Kansas and Oklahoma State in the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas.
A Virginia Tech matchup in Blacksburg will cap the first week of December, and the Lady Vols will take on Stanford on December 18 in Knoxville.
Tennessee’s SEC schedule begins on December 30 against Alabama. UT will then travel to Arkansas on January 2 before continuing its slate across the conference.
A matchup with UConn is set for February 6, with the location yet to be determined. Then, Tennessee will endure more of its SEC matchups before facing South Carolina on February 20 in Columbia. Harper’s team will cap regular season play against LSU on February 27.
The SEC Tournament is set for March 2 through March 6, as the Lady Vols will navigate postseason play after one of the most challenging regular season schedules that Tennessee has seen in years.
To some, such a gauntlet might seem daunting. But for Harper — who takes after the late coach who led her to three straight national titles — the challenge is welcomed.
"One of our staff's objectives was to continue finding ways to improve our strength of schedule, and I believe we've done that," Harper said. "We have a challenging and exciting slate of games, and our players will have an opportunity to compete against several experienced and talented lineups. Our desire is that with this schedule, we can develop into the best team we can possibly be."
Tennessee returns three starters from last season, and Harper will look to six total players with starting experience to carry a load that will be much heavier without former All-SEC First Teamer and LVFL Rennia Davis.
In total, Harper has nine letter winners with five newcomers, giving the Lady Vols their largest roster since 2014-15.
The Lady Vols have also undergone a staff shift this off-season, as Samantha Williams and Joy McCorvey will look to help Harper lead a Tennessee team that fell to Michigan last year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Despite UT’s early exit last season, Harper still made history, as she became just the second women’s coach in NCAA Division I history to lead four different programs to the Big Dance.
Cover photo courtesy of Jake Nichols