The Tennessee women's basketball team's final regular-season home game could help solidify the Lady Volunteers' chances of giving their three seniors two bonus opportunities to play at Thompson-Boling Arena.
No. 15 Tennessee (22-6, 10-5 Southeastern Conference) hosts No. 7 South Carolina (23-5, 12-3) at 4 p.m. today. The senior day game will include a ceremony honoring Kortney Dunbar, Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell for their collegiate careers, and it will provide them a chance for one more marquee win.
Entering the week, Tennessee was projected by ESPN to be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. As long as the Lady Vols are seeded fourth or better when the tourney field is revealed March 12 - their showing at the SEC tournament, which starts Wednesday in Nashville, might also play a part in their NCAA seed - their home court will be a host site for the first two rounds.
"There are going to be some emotions in the beginning since it is the last guaranteed home game," Nared said. "It's still going to be a good game. South Carolina is a good team. We have to make sure we put our emotions aside and just focus on the game."
Dunbar and Nared enter with career records of 94-38. Russell is a senior who received a medical redshirt for the 2014-15 season after having foot surgeries, and on Saturday she explained to reporters why she elected to return for a fifth season.
"Obviously last season was something that we want to forget, so I didn't want to leave on a note like that," Russell said. "Obviously it was for the better, because the team is way different. It's been an awesome, really fun senior year. College is something that you won't get back, so spending another year here has just been awesome."
Tennessee coach Holly Warlick told the Lady Vol Network after Thursday's 70-42 win at Florida that she hopes fans turn out to send the seniors "out with a bang."
"They've meant so much to this program," Warlick said. "They have a tremendous love for Tennessee, and I think they've represented our program with so much grace and class. Come out and watch them.
"It's going to be South Carolina, obviously it's going to be a great game. We just need to show these seniors how much they (the fans) appreciate what they've done for this program before we go into the SEC tournament."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.