Lady Vols basketball ran to a 110-64 win over the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders on Thursday. Kaylene Smikle, who was named the Tennessee Sportswriters Association’s Player of the Week on Tuesday, showed again why she deserves any recognition. Smikle was on from the start and put together a 30-point night with five rebounds, five steals and four assists.
She wasn’t the only one, though. Tennessee saw great effort and plays from a wide range of players.
One was Harissoum Coulibaly, who hadn’t started the season the way she would have liked. The 5-foot-10 sophomore guard totaled only nine points in 34 minutes across three games. Thursday night against MTSU, Coulibaly was intentional from the beginning and attacked.
“That’s who Hari is,” head coach Kim Caldwell said after the game. “It was really great to see her be more comfortable on the floor tonight. And I think she’s going to continue to grow and grow. She’s been struggling a little bit in games, and we have a few players that are still trying to figure it out.
“And we’re, again, a new team, and that’s going to take some time. But I think our team was really happy for her tonight because that’s who she is. That’s why we recruited her. And I hope that’s who she’ll continue to be.”
Tennessee came up with 30 steals in the game, the second-most in a single game in program history, and MTSU turned it over a total of 43 times. For the most part, Coulibaly ran the court and capitalized on fast breaks. She finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, two steals, two rebounds and an assist in 21 minutes. She didn’t turn it over once, and Tennessee was plus-23 with her on the floor.
Four of her six field goals were fast-break layups. Two of those came off Fats Janneh steals in the first quarter, with Janneh picking up the assist both times. The first broke a 6-6 tie at the 7:00 mark, and the second put Tennessee up 20-14 with two minutes left in the quarter. She followed that with a 3-pointer off a Naomi White assist to make it 23-17.
Coulibaly had seven points after one quarter, which was close to what she scored in her first three games combined. In the second quarter, MTSU cut the lead to 11 before she picked off Xai Whitfield and scored on the other end to make it 42-29. She went into the locker room with 11 points.
Tennessee finished with 48 fast-break points and 53 points off turnovers, and Coulibaly kept getting out ahead of the defense and finishing.
But my favorite score of hers came later in the third quarter, in the half court. Coulibaly passed up a 3-point shot, drove into the paint, backed down Blair Baugus and made a nice move for the scoop to put Tennessee up 75-40. That one showed me she was really in the zone.
Smikle spoke to the player that Coulibaly is. Nothing is a shock to K.K., and what we all saw on Thursday night is just the beginning.
“I don’t think anything that I’m seeing now is a shock,” Smikle said. “Hari’s a great player. She’s very fast and gets downhill. She’s a hard person to guard. I just think it’s her becoming more comfortable in the system, and I think she’s doing just that, and the ceiling is very high for her, too.”
Janneh said the work has been there in practice.
“I agree,” Janneh said. “She’s in the gym every day working, putting in the work. And you can see on the court, it’s coming into fruition.”
With an entirely new roster, and only four games in, everyone is still figuring out how they fit in game situations. On Thursday night, Coulibaly made great strides.
Tennessee will travel to Nashville Tuesday to take on Belmont at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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