Updating Lady Vols rankings in college basketball polls after loss to LSU, big win at Arkansas

Lady Vols basketball moved up a spot in the rankings after splitting its games last week.

Tennessee (14-2, 2-2 SEC) is ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press poll after a week that included a 89-87 loss to LSU and a 30-point road win against Arkansas on Sunday. The Lady Vols were ranked No. 15 in the USA TODAY coaches poll and No. 16 in the AP Top 25 last week.

Tennessee returns to Knoxville for a matchup with Mississippi State (15-3, 2-2) at Food City Center on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

The Lady Vols started coach Kim Caldwell’s first season going 13-0 before suffering their first loss, which was their best start to a season since going 15-0 in 2017-18. Tennessee started SEC play with a road win against Texas A&M before losing by one possession to both Oklahoma and LSU.

Tennessee moved up to No. 16 in the NCAA NET rankings despite the loss to LSU. UT was No. 17 in the NET last week.

Tennessee has been ranked in the polls for the last six weeks, restarting its streak in the polls after being unranked for more than a year.  In the entire history of the AP Top 25, Tennessee has spent 784 of 875 weeks ranked.

The Lady Vols reentered the polls on Dec. 9 after wins over Florida State and then-No. 20 Iowa. Before that, the last time they had been ranked in the AP Top 25 was Week 4 of the 2023-24 season, which was released Nov. 27, 2023.

Before getting ranked this season, Tennessee had only been ranked for 10 of the previous 45 weeks of the AP Top 25 since being ranked the entire 2021-22 season.

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The Lady Vols climbed into the top 15 on Dec. 23 after winning three games away from Knoxville. Tennessee won its first true road game against Memphis and then won both its games at the West Palm Beach Classic against Richmond and Tulsa in a four-day span.

Tennessee leads the nation in several categories. It ranks No. 1 in scoring offense (96.4 points) and made 3-pointers per game (12). UT ranks second nationally in offensive rebounds per game (20.6), steals per game (14.9), turnovers forced per game (26.4) and turnover margin (11.8).

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Updating Lady Vols basketball rankings in college polls after LSU loss