The Lady Vols entered the holiday break at 8-3, ranked in the top 20 and will start SEC play on New Year’s Day in a conference that has somehow gotten even tougher top to bottom.

All three losses were to ranked opponents, but it was the manner of how it happened each game with the score either tied or close before Tennessee unraveled.

“If you look at our season, we’ve had just epic meltdowns in three or four minutes that have cost us all three games,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “And if we take those meltdowns away, we are mentally tough enough to come together and play through things, our season looks a little bit different right now.”

The preseason hype about the Lady Vols was quite high because of the core returnees, a top-ranked freshman class of five and three experienced transfers. But it missed the memo of pumping the brakes when it comes to freshmen, who not only are making the jump from high school to college, but also adapting to a system of constant pressure and rapid substitutions that is different from how they are used to playing basketball. The pieces haven’t snapped together as a team, and it shows in stretches on the court.

“I think the biggest thing you learn is that it takes time, and you have to develop and you have to learn and grow,” Caldwell said. “And just because you’re great on paper doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s just going to get on the floor and click. You’ve got to continue to get games under your belt, and they’ve got to learn chemistry on the court.”

That is very much a work in progress, and the SEC will present one heck of a training ground. Caldwell’s system requires maximum effort in short bursts of court time, and the team isn’t firing on all cylinders.

“We play an effort-based system and if you go out there and you don’t give effort, you’re going to look silly,” Caldwell said after the Lady Vols struggled to subdue UT Martin and won by just nine points. The Skyhawks are now 5-6 on the season.

Initially, Caldwell wasn’t overly concerned because she knows it takes each team several weeks to get into the flow of a new system before it clicks. But it hasn’t clicked yet, and the games are all SEC matchups, plus a trip to play at UConn for the next two months.

The Lady Vols also remain a circled opponent on a team’s schedule. Beating Tennessee still matters because of the storied history of the program.

Two freshmen, Lauren Hurst and Mya Pauldo, got into Monday’s game against Southern Indiana, which came two days after the game in New York against Louisville, much earlier than usual.

“It was by design,” Caldwell said. “They’ve had good practices. They had a really good practice the night before on a one-day prep. They played hard. So, trying to get more out of more people.”

Alyssa Latham also is seeing the floor more for Tennessee. The junior forward gets on the glass, battles inside, can make free throws and will step out and hit a three.

“I would say it’s a confidence thing, knowing what my role is and doing that to the best of my ability, being there for my team, continuing to stack days in practice and be consistent,” Latham said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to work on, my consistency, so just continuing to do what I’m doing.”

The players will return to campus Dec. 27 to begin preparation for the SEC opener against Florida in Knoxville. That will be followed by two road games at Auburn and Mississippi State. Atop the to-do list are rebounding, making the extra pass and defensive rotations in the press.

“It’ll be very beneficial for us just continuing to sharpen what we need to sharpen, like our rebounding, making sure our defense is on point,” Latham said. “Every game going forward is going to be hard. We’re going to play a good team every game we play. So, it’s making sure that we’re being consistent, but also just being focused in practice and not looking around too much.”

The last line got a nod of approval from freshman point guard Mia Pauldo, who has played well this season and is about to experience the most rugged conference in the country that has some of the game’s best guards. Louisville came with some traps and pressure against the ball-handler and rattled Tennessee a bit. That will be an every game experience in the SEC.

Mia Pauldo launches a three against Stanford. (Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics)

“You can talk about it, and I don’t know that she’s going to know it until she sees it,” Caldwell said. “These freshmen, they’ve stuck with us pretty well, but they’re about to see what Alyssa was talking about. Every single night is a Louisville night. Every single night. It’s a grind. It’s a grind mentally. You’ve got to be locked in, and she’s going to grow up real quick on how hard that is. I know I did last year, so I can only imagine what an 18-year-old is.”

Mia Pauldo is aware of what lies ahead, and the only teacher is experience.

“I know the competition is definitely going to be there,” Mia Pauldo said. “Everyone loves playing against competition. I’m probably going to be the smallest person on the court. Actually, I will be the smallest person on the court and just showing that I belong here and that I’m going to ball regardless no matter the size.”

What Caldwell is seeking is that effort within her system, which last year’s team fully embraced. This team hasn’t reached that point yet but has shown signs. Nya Robertson, a senior transfer guard from SMU, had to be a high-volume shooter for the Mustangs. Tennessee needed her to be an all-around player.

“I think what she has done in a short amount of time is maybe under-looked,” Caldwell said. “She was not an efficient player coming in, and it’s something that we had talked about, talked about, talked about. We wanted her efficiency to get better and better and better, and it has. Her shot selection has gotten so much better. Her turnover rate has been cut down.

“Her body has changed. She’s playing better defense. She’s playing great. And she is somebody that I was really hard on early. I mean, really hard on in film, really hard on in practice, and she never wavered. She’d look at you, she said, ‘I’ll fix it.’ And she’s fixed it.”

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press and a 10th anniversary edition will be released June 16, 2026.