Tennessee and UCLA, each ranked in the top 10 of preliminary preseason polls, announced on Friday a two-game series in women’s basketball, beginning with the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
The Bruins, ranked No. 3 in ESPN’s “Way Too Early” Top 25, will play host to the No. 7 Lady Vols in a contest at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial on Nov. 30. UCLA is slated to travel to Knoxville for a contest at Food City Center during the 2026-27 campaign.
The match-up in Westwood this season will open a two-game West Coast swing for the Big Orange, who have a previously-announced visit to Stanford on Dec. 3 as part of the ACC/SEC Women’s Basketball Challenge. This will mark the fifth time Tennessee has faced both teams on the same journey out west and the third-straight occasion the Lady Vols-Bruins match-up has opened such a trip. UT has fashioned a combined 5-3 record in the previous back-to-back battles, including a 4-0 worksheet in Los Angeles.
In the all-time series with the Bruins, UT owns an 18-3 record, including 9-0 in L.A., 8-1 in Knoxville and 1-2 at neutral sites. UCLA, however, has won the last two meetings between the programs, defeating the Lady Vols, 89-77, in College Park, Md., on March 23, 2019, in the NCAA First Round and 80-63 on Nov. 20, 2022, at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
In Kim Caldwell’s first season on Rocky Top and as a Power 4 head coach in 2024-25, she guided the Lady Vols to a 24-10 record, NCAA Sweet 16 finish and No. 15 final AP ranking with a fast-paced attack on both ends of the court. Her squad set records for scoring and three-point shooting during the campaign and picked up victories over UConn, Ohio State, Iowa and Florida State along the way.
Tennessee returns three of its top four scorers and rebounders from a year ago. That group includes redshirt junior guard and All-SEC Second Team/SEC All-Defensive Team performer Talaysia Cooper (16.6 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 3.2 apg., 3.1 spg.), senior forward Zee Spearman (11.7 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) and senior guard Ruby Whitehorn (11.6 ppg., 4.0 rpg., 1.7 apg.).
Caldwell adds a transfer portal class rated No. 1 by ESPN’s Charlie Creme and a high school signing group rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation by most analysts. The transfer class includes 6-foot-4 forward and Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year Janiah Barker (7.4 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 1.4 apg.), who played for UCLA last season, 5-7 guard and All-ACC Second Team selection Nya Robertson of SMU (18.5 ppg., 62 3FGs, 111 FTs) and 6-5 forward Jersey Wolfenbarger of LSU (4.6 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 63% FG).
The stellar prep class includes McDonald’s All-Americans Mia Pauldo, Deniya Prawl and Jaida Civil, as well as Mia’s twin sister, Mya Pauldo, and Lauren Hurst, all of whom rank among espnW’s top 60 recruits in the class of 2025. Mia Pauldo (No. 9), Prawl (No. 17) and Civil (No. 20) make UT the only school with three players rated among the top 20 in the 2025 class by espnW.
UCLA, meanwhile, finished at No. 3 in the final 2024-25 Associated Press poll, compiling a 34-3 overall record and 16-2 mark in the Big Ten. It advanced to its first-ever NCAA Final Four, falling to eventual champ UConn, 85-51, in the semifinals.
Head Coach Cori Close’s squad returns five of its top six leading scorers, including 6-foot-7 senior center Lauren Betts (20.2 ppg., 9.5 rpg.), 5-11 senior guard Kiki Rice (12.8 ppg., 5.0 apg.) and 6-0 senior guard Gabriela Jaquez (9.6 ppg., 5.3 rpg.). The Bruins also added the No. 12 prep class to that mix, including 6-4 forward Sienna Betts, the younger sister of Lauren and the nation’s No. 2-ranked recruit, as well as the No. 4-ranked transfer in 6-0 graduate guard Gianna Kneepkens of Utah (19.3 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 3.0 apg.).
