Ann Arbor, Michigan — North Carolina State University concluded Tennessee's season with a 76-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship on Friday night, leaving the Lady Vols to exit the season with a long losing streak of eight games — the first time in modern history that the team finishes a season with such a collapse.
For the first time since the NCAA tournament's inception in 1982, Tennessee exited March without a win, having last secured victory on February 12 against Missouri.
Head coach Kim Caldwell, in her second year, stated, “I can't blame it on the roster construction. I have to take this upon myself, right? I've always been able to attract players... and get them to give their all, but I wasn't able to do that. The only thing I can pinpoint is I let go of what we want to do first, so how can I blame anyone but myself?”
Caldwell added that the game's flow did not go according to plan. Tennessee looked sluggish at the start, allowing NC State to capitalize by making their first eight shots and going on a 15-0 run to lead 19-4. At that point, the coach was unable to spark her team’s performance effectively. The Lady Vols managed to cut the deficit to 48-46 late in the third quarter, but that was as close as they would get.
Historically, Tennessee has participated in every NCAA tournament, having only exited the first round twice before — against Ball State in 2009 and UCLA in 2019.
Caldwell described the season as the worst of her career, saying, “This was the worst year of my career. The players deserve better than that from me, and we learned from this going forward. There was no clear leadership from me to clarify exactly what we were going to do and why we were going to do it. We didn’t have consistency in rotations.”
Tennessee struggled behind the arc, shooting 7 of 36 from three-point range on Friday night. In the second quarter, when NC State switched to zone defense, Tennessee's offense scored 0.5 points per possession and missed all thirteen of its three-point attempts.
The team recorded a total shooting percentage of 33% from the field and made only six free-throw attempts, the second-lowest in the program's NCAA tournament history.
This marks Tennessee's seventh loss this season by 15 points or more — the highest number for the team in the past forty years.
Caldwell, who has previously coached at Marshall and led her former Glenville State team to a Division II title in 2022, said, “It was tough to feel this failure, and I've never felt such a failure before. It's hard for that to be public, and I didn't like how I acted at times.”
Players expressed their disappointment after the end of the season, some in tears.
Junior forward Alyssa Latham said, “Of course, it hurts to lose any game, but because the season is over, it’s more painful. We tried our best today to extend the season, but it didn't go as we wanted.”
Captain Talaysia Cooper, who scored 24 points, remarked, “I feel like we played hard today. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” She stated that she is not currently thinking about her professional future, although she will be eligible for the 2026 WNBA draft.
On the other hand, NC State advanced to the second round of the tournament for the eighth time in their last nine appearances, set to face Michigan on the road this Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.