The Lady Vols didn’t stumble to start SEC play and have posted a 5-0 record with three of those wins coming on the road. The latest was Sunday’s 70-59 victory against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

As this column HERE pointed out two weeks ago, Tennessee, which is now 13-3 overall and ranked No. 17 in the country – up three spots in this week’s AP poll – couldn’t get tripped up by a game it should have won. Alabama, which is now down two spots to No. 23, had won 18 consecutive games at home, and the Lady Vols ended that streak.

Sunday also completed the week-long “We Back Pat” initiative by the SEC to bring recognition to the Pat Summitt Foundation and honor the legendary head coach’s life. The Lady Vols honored it the best way with two wins.

“I want to thank Alabama and all of the SEC schools that participated in the We Back Pat week,” said Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell, whose post-game presser can be watched HERE. “I think it’s so important that we can continue to raise awareness for the fight against Alzheimer’s and bring awareness to that cause because it affects so many people.

“We appreciate the week. We were happy to get two wins during it. We didn’t play great today, but again, to win on the road here, it’s a tough place, they had a great crowd, happy to squeak one out.”

Kristy Curry became the head coach at Alabama in 2013 one year after Summitt retired in 2012. But the two had crossed paths when Curry was the head coach at Purdue and Texas Tech and also when she was an assistant coach, including for Leon Barmore at Louisiana Tech in the late 1990s when the Lady Techsters and Lady Vols had epic matchups on the court.

“At the end of the day, we all have a responsibility to carry on Coach Summitt’s legacy with the dignity and the class and the integrity, how she coached the game, how she impacted as a servant leader and now with the We Back Pat initiative to raise awareness for this dreadful disease that everybody in this room knows someone that’s been affected,” Curry said after Sunday’s game.

“We truly have a responsibility. At the end of the day, we all, as coaches at every single level, it’s amazing how she’s impacted all of us, and especially me as a mom. The moments that she would take (with Curry) as a young assistant, for her to say, ‘Hey, how are you? How’s Kelsey? How’s Kendall.’ I will forever be indebted. I think when we take time for others the way that she did, it only helps our game be better than where it’s at.”

The matchup with the Crimson Tide presented a ranked opponent on the road. The schedule gets even tougher with the Lady Vols hosting No. 11 Kentucky this Thursday, Jan. 22, at 6:30 p.m. (TV: SEC Network) and then playing at No. 18 Ole Miss, 16-4, on Monday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. Eastern (TV: ESPNU).

The Lady Vols have now been outrebounded in four consecutive SEC games, so that will be a point of emphasis at practice. Caldwell also wants better defense at the arc, especially to open the game.

“Rebounding and we’ve got to guard the three-point line,” Caldwell said. “We wanted to hold (Alabama) to four. They had four in the first quarter. Kentucky shoots better than they do, and we have to guard the three-point line. We can’t take plays off. We’ve got to be ready for that one.”

As the SEC slogan goes, it just means more. And every win matters.

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.