No. 15/16 Tennessee (17-6, 4-6 SEC) begins a three-game home stand with a 6:30 p.m ET tussle with Auburn (12-12, 3-8 SEC) on Thursday at Food City Center in UT's annual Play4Kay game.

The Lady Vols will don white uniforms trimmed in pink to bring attention to the fight against breast cancer and all cancers that affect women as well as the need for funding and research with the hope of one day finding a cure. The Big Orange and Tigers will meet in a contest available for streaming on SECN+ and carried on Lady Vol Network radio stations as well as audio-streamed on UTSports.com and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Ch. 106 & 190).

Tennessee is coming off a narrow setback at #6/4 LSU on Sunday, falling to the Tigers, 82-77, in Baton Rouge. That contest was the final battle in an arduous five-game stretch that included four tilts vs. teams ranked among the nation's top seven. UT has faced six top-10 teams this season, and on three different occasions the Big Orange met top-10 squads in consecutive games, including its past two vs. No. 5/5 UConn (W, 80-76) and at No. 6/4 LSU (L, 82-77).

The Lady Vols are led by redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper, a member of the John R. Wooden, Naismith and Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year Watch Lists and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. She puts up 17.5 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 3.3 apg. and 3.2 spg. while shooting 46 percent from the field. Cooper has 10 20+ scoring efforts this season. Also averaging double figures are junior guard Ruby Whitehorn (13.1 ppg.), fifth-year guard Jewel Spear (12.4 ppg.), junior forward Zee Spearman (12.4 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) and senior point guard Samara Spencer (10.5 ppg., 5.2 apg.).

Auburn comes into Thursday's affair after falling by only two at No. 16 Oklahoma on Monday, 73-71. The Tigers began SEC play 0-5 but are 3-3 over their last six games, picking up wins over Missouri, Florida and Texas A&M, while falling to Mississippi State, South Carolina and the Sooners. AU is paced by DeYona Gaston, who puts up 21.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per outing.

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

Opponent: Auburn
Date: Thursday, Feb. 13
Tip-off: 6:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Food City Center
Watch: SECN+
Radio: Lady Vol Network
Online: Live Audio , Live Stats

TENNESSEE

Roster Schedule Game Notes

AUBURN

Roster Schedule Game Notes

THE LATEST FROM THE LADY VOLS

#6/4 LSU Edges #19/17 Lady Vols in Baton Rouge, 82-77 #19/17 Lady Vols Deliver Breakthrough Win Over #5/5 UConn, 80-76 Cooper Named To Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List Summitt Chosen For WeCOACH Lifetime Achievement Award

BROADCAST DETAILS

Roger Hoover (play-by-play) and Kamera Harris (analyst) will have the call for SECN+.
All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice providing play-by-play and Jay Lifford serving as studio host.
A link to the live audio stream can be found on the Hoops Central page or the schedule on UTSports.com.
For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
Air-time generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
The Lady Vol Network broadcast also will be available via SiriusXM Satellite Radio channels 106 and 190.

PARKING, TRAFFIC FLOW, ENTRY ALERTS

Fans coming to campus looking to purchase basketball parking will do so on-site with a credit card.
Those parking in the G-10 garage are requested to enter from Neyland Drive.
There is free public parking on the Ag Campus and a free shuttle to and from there for fans. All shuttles are fully accessible for those with disabilities.
The shuttle location on the Ag campus is on River Drive near the Brehm Animal Sciences Bldg. and across from the CF lot. Visit https://parking.utk.edu/parking/special-events/athletic/ for maps and more information.
Shuttles begin two hours prior to tip-off. Return shuttles run one hour postgame or until the Food City Center is cleared.
Accessible shuttle loading and unloading for those with disabilities is located next to Arena Dining.
For regular shuttles, the unloading and loading areas near Food City Center will be as follows: Prior to the game, regular shuttles will unload at Chamique Holdsclaw and Lake Loudoun Blvd. After the game, regular shuttles will load at Lake Loudoun Blvd and Phillip Fulmer Way.
All tickets and Tennessee Fund parking passes are digital.
Fans will again see walk-through metal detectors outside of all Food City Center entrances.
Gates typically open one hour before tip for women's games. Changes for large crowds will be announced publicly.

PHILLIP FULMER WAY CLOSURE INFO.

Due to the resumption of construction and upgrades to Neyland Stadium, basketball fans and media members should be advised of immediate changes to normal traffic patterns on Phillip Fulmer Way and Peyton Manning Pass during the rest of the 2024-25 season.
Phillip Fulmer Way from G-10 garage to Neyland Stadium Gate 21 vicinity is now closed.
The G-10 garage will not be accessible southbound on Phillip Fulmer Way.
Phillip Fulmer Way will be closed to southbound traffic at Middle Drive, and it will not be accessible via Peyton Manning Pass.
For events at Food City Center, G-10 and Staff 5 parking areas will be accessible via Lake Loudoun Boulevard, but it is strongly recommended that vehicles enter G-10 via Neyland Drive.
Lot G5/30 is only accessible from Lake Loudoun Blvd.

INDIVIDUALLY SPEAKING

COOP CAN HOOP: Guard Talaysia Cooper, who is on two POTY watch lists and the Naismith Defensive POTY watch list, leads UT in scoring (17.5 ppg.) and steals (3.2 spg.), hitting double figures in points 20 times, carding 10 efforts of 20+ points and notching 11 quarters where she scored 10 or more during that frame.
"FEAR DA SPEAR": Jewel Spear is enjoying her best stretch of the year, averaging 14.0 ppg. in SEC play, hitting 30 of 62 three-point tries in league action (48.4 pct.) to run her overall total to 54 treys and average 2.57 treys per game to rank No. 2 in the league.
SMOOTH SAMARA: Samara Spencer (10.5 ppg.) ranks No. 11 nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.83), is No. 33 in total assists (119), and is No. 34 in apg. (5.2) while ranking No. 48 in 3FG pct. (40.2) and No. 2 for Tennessee in 3FGs made (47).
GET A BUCKET, RUBY: Ruby Whitehorn is UT's second-leading scorer at 13.1 ppg., tallying 10+ points in 14 of her past 17 games, including a season-high-tying 21 at #6/4 LSU.
ZEE COMING ON STRONG: Zee Spearman has scored 10+ 14 times, averages 11.3 ppg. and 6.0 rpg., and has hit 16 treys.

FROM A TEAM PERSPECTIVE

PILING UP POINTS: The Lady Vols rank No. 2 nationally in scoring offense, generating 90.0 points per game. The lowest a Kim Caldwell team has ranked in ppg. is No. 4, where she was in 2023-24 (85.3) at Marshall.
UT RECORD FOR 3s: UT ranks No. 1 nationally for 3FGs made per game at 10.7 (245 total) and broke the old Lady Vol single-season record of 242 (37 games in 2010-11) in only 23 contests this season.
CRASHING O-BOARDS: UT is No. 2 in the nation in offensive rebounds per game at 18.6. It has twice reached 30+ this season.
TURNING OVER THE OPPOSITION: UT is No. 11 in turnovers forced per game (23.22) and No. 8 in T.O. margin (8.57). Miss. State had 20 miscues on Jan. 16 for the 13th 20+ T.O. game (7 were 30+) by a foe in 2024-25.
RACKING UP STEALS: UT is No. 14 nationally in steals per game (12.2). It now has 13 games of 10+ steals and 281 total in 23 games. It had 159 in 33 contests last year.
TENN-ACIOUS PRESS: Tennessee has prevented its foes from getting the ball over halfcourt in 10 seconds a total of 21 times in 23 games. UT forced only five violations the previous five years combined.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

UT 12TH IN NET: UT is 12th in the NET and has wins over No. 2 UConn, No. 24 Florida St., No. 29 Iowa, No. 30 Richmond, No. 34 Mississippi St. and No. 50 Middle Tennessee along with narrow losses to No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 Texas, No. 9 LSU (twice), No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 22 Vanderbilt.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: UT's itinerary is No. 13 on the NCAA Toughest Schedule report.
100 DIMES x 3 FOR SAM: Samara Spencer has dished 100+ assists (119) for the third straight season after putting up 154 in 2022-23 and 115 in 2023-24 at Arkansas.
WHITEHORN HITS 1K: Ruby Whitehorn has tallied 302 points in 2024-25 (13.1 ppg.) to combine with 711 over two seasons at Clemson and hit 1,013 for her career.
2,000/500+ STAT LINE: Jewel Spear now has 2,078 points and 501 rebounds, achieving a 2000/500+ career stat line. She is one of only four active SEC players to score 2,000 career points.
UNCOMMON 1,500/500/500 IN SIGHT: Samara Spencer has 1,609 pts., 491 rebs. and 484 assts., nearing a 1,500/500/500+ career stat line. Only five SEC women's players have done that since 1991-92.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST GAME

Playing its fourth contest in a five-game span against top-five ranked teams, No. 19/17 Tennessee went toe-to-toe with No. 6/4 LSU and grabbed a fourth-quarter lead before the Tigers prevailed, 82-77, in front of 11,154 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Vols (17-6, 4-6 SEC) were led by 21 points from junior guard Ruby Whitehorn, while fifth-year guard Jewel Spear contributed 19, sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper 16 and junior forward Zee Spearman 15 in another narrow setback for the Big Orange against a gauntlet-like stretch of their schedule. Sophomore forward Alyssa Latham came off the bench to pace her team on the glass with eight rebounds.
The Tigers (25-1, 10-1 SEC) also had four scoring in double figures, led by 23 from Kailyn Gilbert. She was aided by Mikaylah Williams with 16, Aneesah Morrow with 14 and Flau'Jae Johnson with 12. Morrow grabbed 14 rebounds to card a double-double for LSU, which connected on 20 of 22 attempts from the free-throw line, including eight of nine in the fourth quarter.

POSTGAME NOTES VS. LSU

RUBY REACHES 1,000 CAREER POINTS: Ruby Whitehorn eclipsed 1,000 career points on Sunday afternoon, hitting a total of 21 vs. LSU to boost her career total to 1,013 in her third collegiate season. The junior drove to the hoop to secure a layup for her 1,000th career point with 51 seconds left in the first quarter. The Detroit, Michigan, native notched nine points in the first quarter alone. Whitehorn has scored 302 points this season at UT and is on track for her highest-scoring collegiate season. She tallied 331 as a freshman and 380 as a sophomore at Clemson for a total of 711.
UT BREAKS SEASON RECORD FOR THREES: The Lady Vols tallied six three pointers versus the Tigers, boosting their total to 245 treys in only 23 games this season to card a new Tennessee women's record. The previous Big Orange record for a season was 242 deep balls in 37 games during the 2010-11 campaign. Jewel Spear led the Big Orange with three treys on the day and has a team-high 54 in 2024-25.
SPEAR CLIMBS TO NINTH IN CAREER SCORING: Jewel Spear's 19 points against LSU propelled her into ninth place on Tennessee's career scoring list, including transfers. The fifth-year guard possesses 2,078 during her collegiate career. Spear surpassed Meighan Simmons, who totaled 2,064 points from 2010-14, moving her to tenth on the Big Orange all-time scoring list. Spear scored in double figures for the 13th time this season and the 107th time in her career.

UT/AU SERIES NOTES

The Lady Vols are 24-2 vs. the Tigers in games held in Knoxville, 16-6 in games played at Auburn and 9-4 at neutral sites.
UT is 2-0 vs. AU in overtime, winning extra-frame contests in Knoxville vs. the Tigers in 1996 and 2004.
Tennessee and Auburn played for the 1989 NCAA Championship in Tacoma, Wash., with the Lady Vols prevailing, 76-60.
Tennessee also beat the Tigers in regional finals in 1987 and 1991 en route to NCAA Final Fours they ended up winning.
UT and AU played four times for SEC Tourney titles from 1985 to 1990, with the Lady Vols winning three of those (1985, 1988, 1989).

A LOOK AT THE TIGERS

The Tigers are led by 6-foot-2 forward DeYona Gaston, who is averaging 21.9 ppg. and 6.9 rpg., and 6-0 guard Yuting Deng, who has produced 10.0 ppg. in six games played during SEC action.
Taliah Scott, a 5-9 guard who has been out due to injury, averaged 20.3 ppg. in three games played.
Auburn averages only 69.0 ppg. but limits foes to 61.9 ppg. and forces 20.8 turnovers per contest.

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH

Johnnie Harris is in her fourth year as head coach and sports a 58-56 record on The Plains.
Prior to her arrival at Auburn, Harris spent 16 years combined at Arkansas, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, and she spent the 2020-21 season as the associate head coach at the University of Texas with Vic Schaefer after he made the move to Austin from MSU.

AUBURN'S LAST GAME

Auburn fought back from a double-digit deficit to take a lead in the final two minutes, but late free throws proved to be the difference as No. 16 Oklahoma escaped with a 73-71 win Monday night.
DeYona Gaston scored 24 points – 14 of them in the fourth quarter – to lead the Auburn effort. She went on a personal 9-0 run to open the fourth quarter, cutting a 10-point Oklahoma lead down to one in a span of 92 seconds.
With the score tied 71-71 and Oklahoma holding for a final shot, Auburn was called for a foul under the basket, and the Sooners' Payton Verhulst made both free throws to move ahead by two. Auburn got the ball under the basket and got a look from Gaston, but it would be one of the few shots she missed on the night, and Oklahoma held on.

LAST TIME WE FACED AU

Rickea Jackson turned in a double-double, helping Tennessee erase an 11-point, second-quarter deficit to seize a 75-67 victory over Auburn in the SEC opener for both teams at Neville Arena on Jan. 4, 2024.
Jackson finished the game with 24 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to lead Tennessee (8-5, 1-0 SEC) in both categories. Fifth-year senior Jasmine Powell was also in double figures with 16, and junior Kaiya Wynn turned in 10 points and a game-high six assists.
Auburn (11-3, 0-1 SEC) was led by Mar'shaun Bostic with 17 points. Honesty Scott-Grayson and JaMya Mingo-Young were also productive with 16 and 11, respectively.

LAST TIME WE MET IN KNOXVILLE

The Lady Vols beat Auburn, 83-76, on Feb. 19, 2023.
Tennessee was led by Rickea Jackson, Jordan Horston and Tess Darby, who poured in 27, 19 and 17 points, respectively.
Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 23 points, while Aicha Coulibaly added 15.

UP NEXT

Next on the schedule for the Lady Vols is a noon ET home matchup with RV/RV Ole Miss on Sunday at Food City Center.
The contest will be streamed by SECN+ and also will be broadcast on Lady Vol Network radio stations statewide and via audio stream on UTSports.com.
The matchup will be UT's Black History Month game.

Hoops Central: #15/16 Lady Vols vs. Auburn

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

RELATED LINKS

TENNESSEE

AUBURN

THE LATEST FROM THE LADY VOLS

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Talaysia Cooper

Tess Darby

Rickea Jackson

Alyssa Latham

Jasmine Powell

Jewel Spear

Zee Spearman

Samara Spencer

Ruby Whitehorn

Kaiya Wynn

University of Tennessee Athletics

Hoops Central: #15/16 Lady Vols vs. Auburn

MORE INFO

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

RELATED LINKS

TENNESSEE

AUBURN

THE LATEST FROM THE LADY VOLS

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Talaysia Cooper

Tess Darby

Rickea Jackson

Alyssa Latham

Jasmine Powell

Jewel Spear

Zee Spearman

Samara Spencer

Ruby Whitehorn

Kaiya Wynn

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