The Alabama women’s basketball team will take on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers at home Thurs., Jan. 26. Alabama (10-10, 0-6) will be looking to earn its first SEC win against the Lady Vols (14-5, 5-1).

Both teams will enter the game coming out of blowout losses away from home. Alabama lost at Florida, 37-61, while Tennessee fell to Notre Dame, 44-72. Head coach Wendell Hudson said he expects to face a very good basketball team in Tennessee, especially considering they’re trying to rebound from a loss.

“[Head coach] Pat Summit and her staff always do a good job,” Hudson said. “They’re coming off a loss that’s really a big-time loss for them. So I think that the key for us would be to match their intensity level…and I think that’s the whole key to all of this.” Sophomore Jasmine Robinson echoed her coach’s thoughts about Tennessee. “They’re a good team,” Robinson said. “I know they’re bigger than us. They can easily throw it in the post, and they have good guards. I think all across the board they do everything well.” Hudson also said Tennessee has a plethora of talented players with distinct size advantages over the Tide. For Hudson, the key to overcoming these disadvantages will be to put pressure on Tennessee, use the entire court to make it a transition game and limit Tennessee’s rebounding opportunities.

Another key Hudson emphasized is dividing the game into segments. By competing and winning ten four-minute segments, Hudson said his team can recharge and strategize during that time, as opposed to trying to compete over the length of the game. For Robinson, it all comes down to shooting. Even though the Tide has managed to find opportunities for open shots, she said, they’ve had trouble making the basket. Indeed, against Florida, Alabama had more shooting attempts than Florida did but was unable to make a connection. Still, junior Kyra Crosby said the biggest thing her team can do to help win the game is play together as a team, something the Tide has had difficulty doing this season – over the course of the year, Alabama has had eleven different starting lineups. “As a team, we need to start playing together,” Crosby said. “We need to swing the ball more, transition defense, it’s a lot of stuff. And there’s always going to be things that we can improve as a team.”

“I just want it to be a good game. I want to win, of course. But I can’t take another big loss by double digits,” Robinson said. “I just want it to be a good game, and I hope it just goes our way this time.”