KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 5/4 Tennessee plays its lone exhibition game of 2022-23 on Sunday afternoon, as Carson-Newman travels from Jefferson City to Thompson-Boling Arena to take on the Lady Vols. Tip-off is slated for 2:02 p.m., with the contest being streamed on SECN+.

This will mark the 17th occasion the teams have met in preseason play, with UT holding a 16-0 mark in the previous exhibition contests between the schools. UT is 50-4 in exhibition games after defeating Georgia College last season, 108-44, on Nov. 3.

Kellie Harper begins season four at the helm of the Big Orange with what looks to be one of the deepest, most talented teams in recent history on Rocky Top.

After Sunday’s game, the Lady Vols will have a little over a week to prepare for their regular-season opener on Nov. 8, as they travel to Columbus to face defending Big Ten champ and No. 14/15 Ohio State at Value City Arena. That game will serve as a homecoming for UT senior Jordan Horston, who prepped at Africentric Early College in Ohio’s state capital.

Tennessee’s home opener will come on Nov. 10, as UMass visits Rocky Top, followed by a Nov. 12 tussle in Knoxville with No. 11/11 Indiana.

Broadcast Information

• Zack Nelson (play-by-play) and VFL Steve Hamer (analyst) will have the call for SECN+.
• All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
• The contest also can be heard on Lady Vol Network radio stations and by audio stream, with Brian Rice behind the microphone. He will be joined by studio host Andy Brock. 
• A link to the live audio stream can be found on each game’s Hoops Central page or the Lady Vol schedule on UTSports.com. 
• For a list of Lady Vol Network affiliates, please click on the Fans tab at the top of UTSports.com, select Vol Network and then click on the Vol Network Affiliates tab.
• Air time for games on the Lady Vol Radio Network generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.

Big Things Are Brewing On Rocky Top

• Tennessee returns 10 players, including four full-time starters, from a squad that began last year 18-1 and finished 25-9 overall and 11-5 in the SEC (third).
• The Lady Vols did so while advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 despite season-ending injuries to three key contributors (starters Keyen Green, Jordan Horston and Marta Suárez).
• UT also brings aboard six newcomers, including three heralded senior transfers, a sophomore transfer who was a five-star prep recruit, a five-star freshman signee and a walk-on who turned down scholarships to be in Knoxville.

Six Returnees With Starting Experience

• The Lady Vols feature four full-time starters returning from 2021-22, a fifth with two games in the jump circle as a freshman a year ago and a sixth who was in the first five 14 times as a rookie in 2020-21.  
• Leading the returning starters are 6-foot-2 senior All-SEC/All-America Honorable Mention combo guard Jordan Horston (16.2 ppg., 9.4 rpg., 4.0 apg., 23 starts before injury) and 6-6 senior All-SEC/All-Defensive Team center Tamari Key (10.5 ppg., 8.1 rpg., 3.5 bpg., 34 starts, school blocks single-season and career record holder). 
• Additional starters back include 5-8 graduate point guard Jordan Walker (7.6 ppg., 4.1 rpg., 3.5 apg., 34 starts) and 6-1 junior guard/forward Tess Darby (5.3 ppg., 2.4 rpg., 49 3FGs, 30 starts). 
• Other returning contributors with starting experience include 6-2 sophomore guard/forward Sara Puckett (6.4 ppg., 3.5 rpg., two starts, 2022 SEC All-Freshman) and 6-3 redshirt sophomore guard/forward Marta Suárez (4.1 ppg., 3.6 rpg., 14 starts, 2021 SEC All-Freshman, missed 2021-22 due to injury).

Experience Off The Bench

• UT also welcomes back a trio of sophomores with 88 combined games of experience and a senior who has seen the court in 65 career contests.
• Rising sophomores who logged substantial playing time a year ago include 5-4 point guard Brooklynn Miles (2.5 ppg., 2.8 rpg., 33 games), 6-0 guard Kaiya Wynn (2.3 ppg., 2.0 rpg., 30 games) and 6-3 forward Karoline Striplin (2.6 ppg., 2.1 rpg., 25 games).
• Miles built a reputation as a defensive menace, Wynn overcame an injury to flash her potential on both ends and Striplin had one of her finest efforts of the year vs. Louisville in the NCAA Sweet 16, carding seven points, six boards and a block in 13 minutes.
• Jessie Rennie (0.6 ppg., 0.5 apg., 0.4 rpg., 21 games) is the aforementioned senior, but the three-point specialist will be sidelined for an extended period of time following surgery in June to repair an offseason knee injury.

Newcomers Add To Decorated Roster  

• The Lady Vols welcome three all-conference transfer additions, giving Tennessee a roster flush with eight players earning league recognition at the college level, including six all-conference performers.
• That trio of newcomers includes starters and all-league performers Rickea Jackson, a 6-2 forward from Mississippi State (20.3 ppg., 6.8 rpg., 2021 All-SEC, two-time WBCA All-America H.M., Cheryl Miller Award Finalist), Jasmine Franklin, a 6-1 graduate power forward from Missouri State who played for Jon and Kellie Harper there as a freshman (14.9 ppg., 12.1 rpg., 2.4 bpg., two-time All-MVC, 2022 MVC Def. Player of the Year), and Jasmine Powell, a 5-6 senior point guard from Minnesota (12.4 ppg., 5.7 apg., 4.4 rpg., 2021 All-Big Ten, 2020 All-Big 10 Honorable Mention and Big Ten All-Freshman).
• They join returning All-SEC performers Jordan Horston (first team) and Tamari Key (second team), 2020 All-Mid-American Conference performer Jordan Walker, as well as 2022 SEC All-Freshman honoree Sara Puckett and 2021 SEC All-Freshman Team member Marta Suárez.

Wait…There Is More!  

• In addition to Franklin, Jackson and Powell, Kellie Harper welcomes another player with college experience in Jillian Hollingshead, a mobile 6-5 sophomore forward transferring from Georgia (5.1 ppg., 2.5 rpg., two-time 2021-22 SEC Freshman of the Week).
• Hollingshead was a 2021 McDonald’s H.S. All-American whose time on the court was limited a year ago with an illness and nagging injury. She appears back to full strength and has unlimited potential.
• UT also welcomes two high school signees, including McDonald’s and WBCA All-American Justine Pissott, a 6-foot-4 wing, and 5-7 lefty guard Edie Darby, the younger sister of Tess. Both newcomers bring long-range shooting prowess to the program.
• Pissott and Hollingshead join Jordan Horston and Rickea Jackson as McDonald’s A-A honorees on the UT roster after the Lady Vols had only one (Horston) last season.

Tennessee By The Numbers

• UT returns 58.1 points per game (of 70.1) and welcomes an additional 52.7 ppg. from four incoming transfers for a total of 110.8 ppg.
• Tennessee returns 38.4 rpg. (of 48.1/No. 2 in NCAA) and welcomes an additional 25.8 from four incoming transfers for a total of 64.2 rpg.
• The Lady Vols welcome back 338 career starts and bring aboard 205 career starts from their newcomers for a total of 543.

Our Largest Roster Ever

• Tennessee features 16 players on its 2022-23 squad list, which marks the largest roster ever in the modern-day history of Lady Vol basketball. 
• UT’s previous high was 15 players on a season roster on four occasions, including 1973-74, 1983-84, 2000-01 and 2004-05.

Personnel Losses From A Year Ago

• Rae Burrell (12.3 ppg.) was the No. 9 pick in the WNBA Draft despite playing only 22 games and starting 13 after a game-one injury.
• UT also lost 34-game starter Alexus Dye (10.2 ppg., 7.7 rpg.) and reserve posts Keyen Green (7.0 ppg., 3.2 rpg.) and Emily Saunders (1.0 ppg.), all of whom graduated. 

A Look At Carson-Newman

• The Lady Eagles return a pair of first-team all-conference selections in Braelyn Wykle and Lindsey Taylor.
• Wykle, an All-American as a sophomore, enters the year third on the school’s all-time scoring list and fourth in three-pointers. 
• Taylor was fourth in the country in field-goal percentage, and C-N was 26-0 when she scored in double figures last year
• Carson-Newman has collected hardware in each of the last two seasons winning the South Atlantic Conference’s regular-season crown in 2020-21 and the tournament championship in 2021-22. 
• The program has reached the NCAA Tournament in five straight seasons, the longest postseason stretch in three decades. Over that period, the club has won 80 percent of its games.
• Head Coach Mike Mincey’s team can tout one of the top scoring offenses in the country leading the league in seven straight years and ranking in the top 13 nationally in each of the last six. 
• In 2021-22, C-N was fifth with 81 points per game scoring at least 80 18 times while leading the country with 18.4 assists per game.

UT/C-N Notes

• According to the UT record book, this is the 34th meeting between these schools in women’s basketball.
• It marks the 17th match-up in an exhibition contest, with UT winning all 16 previous battles at Thompson-Boling Arena.
• In regular-season match-ups, Tennessee leads the all-time series vs. Carson-Newman with a 14-2 record. There also was another contest in 1971 when no final score was available.
• UT and C-N didn’t play one another in 2020 during the limited-attendance COVID-19 pandemic era or in 2021, when Kellie Harper welcomed her younger brother Ross Jolly’s Georgia College team to The Summitt as the exhibition opponent in a 108-44 Big Orange romp on Nov. 3.
• Tennessee opened the 2019-20 campaign with a 70-44 exhibition victory over Carson-Newman on Oct. 29. It was the first time that seniors Jordan Horston, Tamari Key and Jessie Rennie donned a Lady Vol uniform and the initial game with Kellie Harper on the sideline as coach of the Lady Vols.
• Horston had six points, four steals, four rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.
• Key posted six points, four rebounds, an assist and a block in 15 minutes.
• Rennie saw 20 minutes of duty and went scoreless while grabbing a rebound.

-UT Athletics