KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Lady Vols are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under second year head coach Kellie Harper. UT earned a No. 3 seed on Monday night and will play No. 14 seed Middle Tennessee State on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Lady Vols finished the season with a 16-7 record, going 9-4 in conference play. As a No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament, the Lady Vols made it to the semifinals, falling to No. 1 seed South Carolina in Greenville.
An eight-time NCAA national champion, the Lady Vols last won it all in 2008. Tennessee is 125-30 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee is the only program in women's basketball history to take part in every NCAA Tournament since its beginning.
The Lady Vols are the fourth program head coach Kellie Harper has guided to the NCAA Tournament (Western Carolina, NC State, Missouri State, Tennessee).
Harper won three NCAA Tournament titles as a player at Tennessee. The farthest she's taken a team in the Big Dance as a coach is the Sweet Sixteen.
The Lady Vols have struggled, as far as Tennessee expectations go, in the NCAA Tournament as of late. The last time the Lady Vols got past the first and second round was 2016, when UT made it to the Elite Eight before falling to Syracuse. The 2018-19 postseason was just the second time in NCAA history the Lady Vols lost in the first round.
The NCAA women's tournament will be played in the San Antonio, Texas area because of COVID-19 concerns.
