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What we learned from Lady Vols basketball's dominant exhibition win vs FAMU
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- What we learned from Lady Vols basketball's dominant exhibition win vs FAMU
Lady Vols basketball gave fans a preview of the 2026-27 season with a 132-63 exhibition win over Florida A&M on Oct. 27.
It was a lopsided matchup at Food City Center, but Tennessee showed some flashes of potential with its new 15-player roster. The Lady Vols' press clearly wore down the Rattlers, who committed 37 turnovers that led to 45 points for UT.
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Here are takeaways from our first look at Tennessee.
Naomi White impresses in debut
Junior guard Naomi White came in as a talented scorer, but what stood out was her playmaking. White led the Lady Vols with seven assists, while also scoring 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting with six rebounds and four steals. She didn't commit any turnovers and shot 4-for-9 from 3-point range.
Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell didn't expect that high of an assist number from White, but she was proud of it.
"She is such a great player, and she is a little bit of a gamer, too. And we were, as a coaching staff, talking about her before the game of, I think we'll see a little bit of a different spark," Caldwell said. "She always plays hard. She's in the gym as much as, if not more than, anyone. So she deserved to have a great stat line. She always deserves to have a great stat line."
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Gabby Minus provides versatility, strong defense
Freshman Gabby Minus showed why she's solidly in the 10-player rotation. The 6-foot-1 forward is a strong defender and rebounder, and she was mostly responsible for forcing Tennessee's first 10-second violation at the top of the press.
Minus finished with 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block and one turnover. She took a couple ill-advised 3-pointers early in the game, but other than that made good decisions. Minus also fits in with different lineups with her size and versatility.
Caldwell said she was proud of Minus, who admitted to being nervous before her first college game.
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"I'm trying to coach her up on the shots and say, tell me about those two shots, and the correct answer was, I shot them too quick," Caldwell said. "She just grabbed me and said, 'Coach, I'm so nervous.' And so that's why tonight was so good. We had so many players that had sat last year or sat part of last year, two freshmen, that they get their debut, and it means something to them."
The strongest Lady Vols lineup in exhibition
Caldwell went with a starting lineup of Kennedy Fauntleroy, White, Rylie Theuerkauf, Zhen Craft and Aaliyah Moore, which was a mix of the two main lineups that played together.
The strongest lineup was Jada Eads, White, Kaylene Smikle, Minus and Craft. They spent 11:15 on the court together and had a score differential of +33 and 1.69 points per possession. Eads did a fantastic job pushing pace and knew when to call her shot and when to pass it off.
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Smikle led UT in scoring with 19 points. It wasn't her sharpest performance from behind the arc, going only 2-for-7, but she got to the rim and got to the free throw line. Eads added 13 points, shooting 5-for-8, and Craft had 11 points and six rebounds.
"We have so many weapons, so it's like, once you move the ball around, the floor is open," Eads said. "Honestly, if somebody attacks (the rim), someone is open. It feels nice to be able to play with a lot of weapons on the floor."
What Kim Caldwell wants to clean up before season opener
There were a lot of positives for the Lady Vols against an opponent they could overpower, but there were several areas Caldwell wants to clean up before the season opener.
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Tennessee's half-court defense wasn't sharp enough at times, and they gave FAMU too many open 3-pointers. Caldwell wants them to do a better job of knowing personnel, and they over-helped under the rim at times. The Lady Vols' scrambles after the press was broken need to be cleaned up, too, Caldwell said.
"All of those things were pretty eye-opening," Caldwell said. "We talked mid-game about sharing the ball more on offense. I think early we were just shooting whatever the first shot was, and that's not going to hold throughout the season. I think they did a really good job in real time of trying to do the right thing and making the right pass and swinging the ball sideline to sideline a little bit more."
Kennedy Fauntleroy injury update
Late in the fourth quarter, Fauntleroy landed awkwardly on her left leg and went down under the basket and grabbed her left knee. She stayed on the ground for a few minutes while athletic trainers attended to her, and she eventually left the court but wasn't putting weight on her left leg.
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"The update is it looks OK," Caldwell said. "She'll see a doc tomorrow, but she came running back on the floor, and I could have killed her for having that response. But we hope she's OK."
The senior started the game and logged 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting with four assists, four steals, one rebound and one block in 18 minutes.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women's athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll ; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social . Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: What we learned from Lady Vols basketball's dominant exhibition win vs FAMU
