Tennessee Lady Vols basketball vs. Arkansas: Score prediction, scouting report in SEC game

Lady Vols basketball has one game to right the ship before No. 1 South Carolina comes to town Thursday.

Tennessee (14-8, 7-3 SEC) returns home to play Arkansas (17-8, 5-5) at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Monday (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network). Both teams are coming off road losses, the Lady Vols losing by 16 points to Alabama, and the Razorbacks losing 85-81 to Florida.

Here's what you need to know about the matchup.

Arkansas has a star in freshman Taliah Scott

Freshman guard Taliah Scott is one of the many freshmen across the country making an immediate impact for her team. She leads Arkansas in scoring with 22.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 36 minutes per game.

She is shooting 41% from the field and leads the team with 49 made 3-pointers on 30.2% shooting, even after missing six games due to injury.

Scott has scored 20-plus points in 12 games this season, including the past two games. She has scored more then 30 points in three games, her most recent a 33-point outing in the Razorbacks' win against Auburn, when she shot 6-for-12 from 3-point range.

Razorbacks will let it fly from deep

Arkansas is the highest-volume shooting team from 3-point range in the SEC, with 754 shots; the next closest is Missouri with 540.

The Razorbacks' 31.3% 3-point percentage ranks ninth in the conference, however. They rely heavily on the 3-pointer and will take about 25 attempts per game at the very least. Their most attempts in SEC play was 47 (making 12) in a 99-68 loss to LSU.

They average 10 made 3-pointers per game in SEC play, and they have four players who have made 30 or more 3-pointers this season to stretch the floor.

Rebounding, points in the paint will be key

Arkansas is 1-5 in games in which it gets outrebounded. It's also 1-5 when it gets outscored in the paint. Both of those areas will be key for Tennessee to win.

The Razorbacks average 39.9 rebounds per game, led by Saylor Poffenbarger (12.1); Maryam Dauda is second (6.9).

Arkansas' paint scoring is inconsistent, but it has the ability to score a lot of points there. It scored 40 points in the paint against Kentucky and Alabama, but it also has been held to fewer than 20 points in the paint.

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Tennessee has outscored most of its opponents in the paint in SEC play, and that trend has to continue against Arkansas.

Score prediction

Tennessee 77, Arkansas 72: The Lady Vols' margin of error gets smaller with each loss, and this is a win they absolutely need, especially with South Carolina up next. This will be a close one, but I think Tennessee pulls this one out at home after a disappointing showing at Alabama.

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: Lady Vols basketball score prediction, scouting report vs. Arkansas