Coach Kim Caldwell arrived to the post-game presser with her hair in a messy bun because the players soaked her with bottles of water after Thursday’s 80-76 win over UConn.

Coach Geno Auriemma joked that she should have stayed home to take care of her baby. It was a compliment because he also said this was a completely different version of Tennessee than UConn had faced in the previous four games since the series restarted in 2020.

The last time Tennessee beat UConn was in 2007 when Candace Parker dunked on the Huskies’ home court. The late Pat Summitt ended the series after that with a three-game winning streak. It returned in 2020, four years after Summitt passed away from Alzheimer’s disease.

During the glory days of the series, which started in 1995, Caldwell was in high school in West Virginia. She now has a win in the series in her debut season at Tennessee.

“I was really proud of our team,” Caldwell said. “That’s a level of play that I knew we could achieve. We just had failed to achieve it. And so, it was really good to get that win. It was good to get a close win. I think our crowd was phenomenal. They were worth 10 to 15 points easily. And so I appreciate everyone that came out and cheered.”

After the buzzer sounded, Lady Vols guard Samara Spencer sprinted to Caldwell to hug her, as did guard Jewel Spear as the team erupted in celebration, and nearly all of the 16,215 people in attendance let loose with cheers.

“I didn’t do it,” Caldwell said. “They did it. They made up their minds and did it. They can be excited for me, but I am excited for them.”

Several former Lady Vols attended the game, including Meighan Simmons, Isabelle Harrison, Jordan Horston and Tamari Key, and the players celebrated with them after the game.

No. 19 Tennessee is now 17-5 and has the signature top 10 win it has been seeking all season after coming so close. It is the first top five win for the Lady Vols since a defeat of No. 4 LSU in the SEC tourney in 2023.

No. 5 UConn is now 21-3 and will play South Carolina later this month.

“The bottom line is we have some players on our team that are supposed to be our best players, and they have to play well,” Auriemma said.

UConn is an excellent shooting team and went 5-20 from the arc against Tennessee. Auriemma said some were ill-advised shots while others were good looks that missed.

Zee Spearman led Tennessee with 16 points, Spencer notched 14 points, Spear tallied 12 points, and Talaysia Cooper, who played with the flu, added 11 points and the assist to Spearman that gave Tennessee a four-point lead with 12 seconds left.

Zee Spearman blocks a shot against UConn.

Sarah Strong led UConn, 21-3, with 18 points, while Paige Bueckers tallied 14 points, KK Arnold notched 11 points, and Azzi Fudd added 10 points.

Click HERE to watch Caldwell’s post-game press conference and HERE for Auriemma’s presser.

Former Lady Vol Alexis Hornbuckle, who was on the team that beat UConn in 2007, talked to the team before the game.

“It was basically just talking to us about how important and where it all started from,” Spencer said. “She said it started in 1995 which none of us were born then, but it’s special. It’s special to be here playing against them, and it’s special to wear Tennessee across your chest and be able to have that rivalry.”

Auriemma also noted that Tennessee’s pressing and fast-paced style of play under Caldwell is a big departure from the previous four matchups, so it requires a different preparation. UConn kept its turnovers well under control at 13 and won the points off turnovers, 24-16.

But Tennessee won the board battle, 46-34 – Caldwell said she was proud of that stat – and made big shots in the final minutes in a game that was tied 74-74 with two minutes to play. That is the difference in a close game against a top opponent.

The Lady Vols came up short in several of those this season. The players were all smiles after this one.

“I think relief,” Caldwell said about her immediate reaction. “It was just a sigh of relief to say, ‘OK, we’ve done this before. We do this in practice. We can do this on the floor.’ ”

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.