'Never thought we were going to lose:' MTSU was 0-22 vs Lady Vols basketball before breakthrough win
There was a mixture of emotions for the Middle Tennessee State women's basketball team after Wednesday night's 73-62 win over Tennessee in Huntsville, Alabama.
The expectation with the Lady Raider program is to win games against Power Five opponents.
But the elation of defeating the Lady Vols for the first time was undeniable.
"It's big," said MTSU coach Rick Insell, who had lost his first eight games against Tennessee. The program was 0-22 all-time vs the Lady Vols. "Later on, probably, as I sit down and retire and look back, I'll be able to check that off."
"This (success) didn't just start last night," said Insell, whose squad finished 27-8 and reached the NCAA Tournament last season, being ranked in the AP Top 25 at one point. "We felt going into the year that we had a good bunch. We never thought we were going to lose against Tennessee."
MTSU improved to 7-3 with the win while the Lady Vols dropped to 4-5.
The last time the two teams had played was in the NCAA Tournament in 2021, with the Lady Vols defeating the Lady Raiders 87-62. Before that the two teams hadn't played since 2013.
The Lady Raiders, who have been to the NCAA Tournament 10 times during Insell's tenure, have been right in the mix with top Power Five teams in NET rankings over recent years. The Lady Raiders have won at least 20 games in 15 of Insell's 17 seasons. One of those two times they didn't was the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season (17-8).
Despite the accustomed success, the anticipation of the first regular-season game vs. Tennessee in a decade was prevalent since the game (beginning a four-game series) was announced during the summer.
"I hate to say this, but that's one of the reasons why we got beat by Belmont (the prior game). Tennessee was a catch game. We knew that. The kids, parents, marketing department, they were all pointing to this game against Tennessee in Huntsville.
"The hardest part for the coaching staff was getting these kids through those other games. Last night wasn't tough at all. They were all focused. The whole attitude and atmosphere was different, starting Monday."
The announced crowd for the game was more than 5,000, which Insell said was a majority MTSU fans.
"That fan base was unbelievable," Insell said. "It was probably 10-to-1, blue over orange. It was big, because we gave them a hint of what the (Conference USA) tournament will be like (also in Huntsville).
MTSU guard Jalynn Gregory, who has taken on the role as defensive stopper after the departure of Alexis Whittington, scored 22 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. She also had five rebounds.
"That was her best game of the year," Insell said. "We've been waiting for Jalynn to really take off. She has a lot of pressure on her as our defensive stopper. She exerts a lot of energy playing defense, and she knows she can't get in foul trouble. But she's a young lady that can handle all of that."
"I just did the defense I'm told to do," said Gregory, on defending Tennessee standout Jewel Spear, who was held to three points. "They put me on whoever they want me to and I said, 'OK, I'll take the challenge and I'll make every catch hard."'
MTSU's five starters all played at least 38 minutes, with Gregory and Courtney Whitson playing all 40.
MTSU will travel to Knoxville next season while the Lady Vols will come to Murfreesboro in 2025 before the series wraps up in Knoxville the following year.
Insell will now try get his squad re-focused on another rivalry game at Tennessee Tech Sunday (1 p.m. CT).
"We've got another catch game Sunday," Insell said. "We're their biggest rival. I told our players, 'Look, those guys are going to play just as hard as you did against Tennessee.'"
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Lady Vols basketball: How MTSU got first win ever over Tennessee
