“Inconsistent again, same old story”: Kim Caldwell gives disappointed review of Tennessee’s shocking exit from SEC tournament vs Vanderbilt

The Tennessee Volunteers of Kim Caldwell were knocked out of the 2025 SEC tournament on Thursday. The No. 18-ranked team in the country was defeated in the second round by the unranked Vanderbilt Commodores, 84-76.

During the postgame press conference, Caldwell shared her disappointment in the outcome of the hotly-contested fixture. She notably pointed to her teams poor effort to compete on defense.

"A very disappointing loss for us. I think we were inconsistent again. I think same old story, we play really hard when the ball's going in the hole, didn't do a very good job on the defensive end. We just weren't able to finish it," Caldwell said. (0:21)

Before the SEC postseason began, the Volunteers did not end the regular season well as they posted back-to-back defeats to conference opponents. They suffered a 82-58 blowout loss against the 12th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats on Feb. 27 and a 72-69 loss at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs on March 2.

"It's been really disappointing, last week, week and a half. I don't think we've played well, even some of the games we've won, I don't think we played well. So, I don't think we need to rest. We need to get healthy and then, we need to get back to it," Caldwell later shared. (3:00)

The premature exit from the conference tournament is one that Caldwell and co. did not see coming, as they now hope for respectable positioning come the national tournament later this month.

Kim Caldwell believes that rest is all her team needs for a deep national tournament run

Later on in the presser, Kim Caldwell re-asserted that her team has not been dealing with the influx of games all too well and that it has taken its toll on them. She feels the teams needs a breather to deliver better performances in the winner-take-all NCAA tourney.

"Again, I think we need rest. I think we haven't really handled our load the way we should have, in hindsight. I think we're tired, I think we need to rest, get healthy and then, just get a rest," Caldwell claimed. (3:25)

The Tennessee Volunteers have made the national tournament in each of the last 42 seasons, but they will be keen to avoid last year's disappointing second-round exit.