What makes Lady Vols' Samara Spencer ideal point guard for Kim Caldwell at March Madness

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Samara Spencer's voice pierced through the noise of the Lady Vols' first NCAA tournament game at at Schottenstein Center on Friday.

"Shoot it, Jewel!" the senior point guard yelled from the bench.

It was a simple but important reminder for Jewel Spear, giving her a spark of confidence during No. 5 seed Tennessee's 101-66 win over No. 12 seed South Florida. Spear knows Spencer gives the same confidence to all their teammates, and she has been crucial as a leader for Lady Vols basketball during coach Kim Caldwell's first season.

Tennessee (23-9) will face No. 4 seed Ohio State (26-6) on Sunday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) in the second round.

Spencer is the perfect fit as a point guard in Caldwell's system. She's an excellent ball handler who pushes the pace, and she's one of the best 3-point shooters on the team. Spencer is shooting 38% on 63 made 3-pointers, and averages a career-high 4.7 assists along with 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.

When Spencer transferred to Tennessee from Arkansas last summer, she told Caldwell she didn't rebound. But Caldwell's system required rebounding from guards so they could get up the floor immediately.

In SEC play this season, Spencer logged two double-doubles with rebounds.

"She's sneaky, she's smart, she can track the ball, she can go get it," Caldwell said after Tennessee's win over Ole Miss earlier this season. "There are some plays in the first quarter I will vividly remember that she just soars in there and goes and gets it with one arm and then starts our offense for us, which was huge."

But it's not just what has shown up on the stat sheet, it's Spencer's personality. Senior guard Kaiya Wynn said Spencer does a good job walking the line of knowing basketball is just a game and keeping it light, but also wanting to win and keeping everyone in line.

Spencer is always laughing and making jokes, and she keeps practices light-hearted, which was important during the last two weeks as Tennessee experienced its worst stretch of the season.

She hasn't necessarily had that role in the past – but she's also never had practices as hard as Caldwell's.

"Our practices are competitive, our practices are hard. We run a lot, and she always finds a way to make the people around her laugh," Caldwell said in January. "And so she's a special, one of a kind player."

Spencer's relationship with Caldwell has grown a lot from their conversation about rebounding.

Spencer always gets extra shots up before pregame warmups. But before that, she sits with Caldwell on the bench for a bit. It became a routine because Spencer is superstitious – after she did it once, she had to keep it up. She enjoys watching the other team warm up with Caldwell, analyzing everything, going over the game plan again.

Spencer has gotten better as a player under Caldwell, but she's also become a better teammate.

"Having someone like her, who's a strong female figure, I feel like that’s really a good example for me," Spencer said. "Especially at this time of my life where I’m about to be in the real world. So it’s just been great to have somebody like that."

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on X @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: Kim Caldwell: Tennessee coach has ideal point guard in Samara Spencer

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What makes Lady Vols' Samara Spencer ideal point guard for Kim Caldwell at March Madness

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