The Lady Vols played 11 games before the holiday break and won all of them in Kim Caldwell’s debut season. The head coach also knows the schedule is about to get a lot tougher.

The first game after the brief break will be Sunday, Dec. 29, against Winthrop, which is coached by former Lady Vol Semeka Randall. That will be followed by the start of SEC play on the road against Texas A&M on Jan. 2 and then home games against Oklahoma on Jan. 5 and LSU on Jan. 9. The first month of 2025 also includes trips to Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Texas and home games against Mississippi State and South Carolina.

The SEC is so loaded this season that at least 10 of the 14 teams are expected to make the NCAA tourney. Finishing at .500 in league play would be successful. Of course, the goal is elite and to be among the first four in the SEC standings.

“I think we’re getting better,” Caldwell said. “Our half-court defense is getting better. I think players are playing with more confidence, they’re getting more comfortable. That’s exactly what we needed.”

Sara Puckett, far right, celebrates with Zee Spearman, Kaniya Boyd, Tess Darby and Samara Spencer. (Tennessee Athletics)

Tennessee played its last three games away from home with a win at Memphis and two victories at the West Palm Beach Classic in Florida over Richmond and Tulsa. Caldwell is still awaiting full effort for 40 minutes.

“We’ve just got to work on putting four quarters together, and then it’ll be a lot better,” she said.

Early in the game against Tulsa, she saw the Golden Hurricane win too many 50-50 balls, meaning both teams have a shot at taking possession.

“We’re going to watch those 50-50 balls, because once we get to SEC play, if that’s the effort we go with after a ball, it’s going to be a long year,” Caldwell said.

The Golden Hurricane opted for a physical approach to Tennessee’s relentless pressure, and Caldwell noted her team’s blue collar mentality emerged.

“If they want to give it, we’ll give it right back and harder,” senior forward Sara Puckett said.

Puckett’s shot emerged in Florida after some early season struggles, and she led Tennessee against Tulsa with 17 points. Jewel Spear, who had missed two games in Knoxville with a lower right leg injury, played in all three games on road. Donning a brace that Spear said she liked wearing, she tallied 16 points against Tulsa.

Tennessee also has seen the steady emergence of Ruby Whitehorn and Lazaria “Zee” Spearman, two players who can be difference-makers on both ends. Both are physical on the glass and can score inside and at the arc.

“It’s good to see them do what they do in practice,” Puckett said. “I think we’re all kind of getting it together, and it’s going to be really fun after Christmas.”

The players scattered for home over the weekend for some family and holiday time with at least one workout planned before coming back to campus.

“We take about two days and then get a little workout in before Christmas, and then we come back and we’re right back at it,” Puckett said. “We have a couple days before we play Winthrop, and we’ve just got to keep the same mentality, let our mental state rest while we’re at home and prepare for the rest of the season.”

Caldwell, who is welcoming her first child in January – the ESPN broadcast of the Memphis game mentioned a due date of Jan. 20 – will welcome her team back in December after the players have a few days away for home-cooked meals, presents and extra sleep.

“We’re going to get back and we’re going to have really hard practices,” Caldwell said. “And we’re going to try to get in shape and use that game as a tune-up to get all the shakes out, the jitters out and then go into SEC play.”

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press.