The Lady Vols have started conference play with two wins – one at home, the other on the road – and will be back on the road for game three.

Talaysia Cooper and Janiah Barker combined for 35 points in the 73-56 win at Auburn on Sunday and got help from the twin freshman backcourt duo of Mia and Mya Pauldo. Mia Pauldo is averaging 21.5 minutes per game – that’s significant time in coach Kim Caldwell’s system – while Mya Pauldo entered the Auburn game averaging 9.5 minutes. Mya Pauldo played nearly 17 minutes against the Tigers and tallied nine points after shooting 3-3 from the arc.

“(We) talked coming into the game and cleared up what her role was, and I thought she did it really well,” said Caldwell, whose post-game presser can be watched HERE. “She didn’t try to do too much, she guarded, she went and got rebounds, she took shots when she was open. I’m over the moon for her.”

“I’m proud of my sister today,” Mia Pauldo added after the game. “She balled out.”

Mia Pauldo has stepped in early for Tennessee due to both skill and need at the guard spot. Both of the twins are making the adjustment from high school to college.

“We know how to play with our players,” Mia Pauldo said. We have great teammates, great coaching staff, so we’re adjusting well to it.”

Freshman Lauren Hurst also is earning playing time – she has entered the last two games in the first half – and has shown a willingness to get on the glass. Hurst tallied four rebounds in 13 minutes against the Tigers in a physical game.

Cooper isn’t surprised by Mya Pauldo’s performance against Auburn.

“If you see Mya in practice, you’ll see why she got the success on the court,” Cooper said. “She’s the first one running on the court. She practices hard every day. She does the little things. She talks. I would have expected her to hoop (against the Tigers) because she worked for it. She’s a dog. I’m happy for her.”

Tennessee (10-3, 2-0) and Mississippi State (14-2, 1-1) will tip at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in Starkville this Thursday, Jan. 8, with a livestream on SECN+.

The Lady Vols will play at home this Sunday, Jan. 11, against Arkansas for the annual “We Back Pat” game with tipoff set for 2 p.m. Eastern at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center and then get back on the road to play at Alabama next week. Tickets for Sunday’s game in Knoxville are available HERE.

First up is preparation for the Bulldogs in Starkville and working on Tennessee’s deficient areas at Auburn, including a season-high 25 turnovers.

“A little bit of both, but it starts with throwing the ball to the right team,” Caldwell said.

The turnovers, several of which were caused by overdribbling, combined with just eight assists – the Pauldo twins tallied half of them – isn’t the formula that Caldwell wants to see unfold on the court, as she is a proponent of sharing the ball and making extra passes to teammates.

“When we bounced the ball and tried to do too much and tried to get ours, they were in the gaps and took it away,” Caldwell said. “We’re going to continue to see it until we share the ball and stop doing selfish things.”

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.