UK players ready to face the Lady Vols

The No. 16 UK women’s hoops team (23-4, 11-3 Southeastern Conference) will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to face the No. 4 Tennessee Lady Vols (25-2, 13-1 SEC).

The game is by far the biggest challenge to date for the Cats, but junior starters Victoria Dunlap and Amber Smith are ready to face a team filled with several former McDonald’s All-Americans looking to lock up the SEC regular season crown with a win.

“I don’t think there’s any added pressure,” Smith said.

There may be no additional pressure in preparing for the game, but UT will bring additional size to the court with 10 of their 13 roster players measuring over 6-feet tall. UK has three players taller than 6-foot in their rotation.

“They have so many different threats with the height and the different positions they play,” Dunlap said.

Dunlap added that this game would be a good measuring stick as to how UK can perform against a top-five team before heading into postseason play.

The game will also serve as a litmus test for how well UK’s pressure defense works against an opponent with superior athleticism and size.

The Cats beat the Lady Vols last season at home as an unranked team last season, and as a result of that loss, Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt took away her players locker room for a week.

“Knowing what happened last year, I think this team will be ready,” Summitt said via teleconference. “The stakes are pretty high, I think they all understand that.”