Tennessee's Key comes full circle with NCAA Tournament second-round game close to home vs. NC State

Updated Mar. 24, 2024 4:42 p.m. ET

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tamari Key wasn’t sure how this season might pan out after missing most of 2022-23 with Tennessee because of blood clots in her lungs.

It turns out, it has led her back to her home state.

“It’s definitely full circle for me,” Key said Sunday. “To come home, play in front of people that I haven’t seen in a while that haven’t been able to get out to Knoxville to see me play.”

Key and the sixth-seeded Lady Vols (20-12) take on third-seeded North Carolina State (28-6) on Monday in the NCAA Tournament's second round, with a spot in the Sweet 16 in Portland, Oregon, at stake.

Key, who is from the Raleigh suburb of Cary, is the starting center for the Lady Vols.

Her matchup with N.C. State’s River Baldwin and Mimi Collins in the lane figures to be something to watch as these teams vie to keep their seasons going.

“That’s a great story, Tamari being able to play here, at home for her,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. “What she’s been through medically and to be able to fight through and come back and help lift this team throughout this season and now in the NCAA Tournament. Just really proud of her.”

N.C. State coach Wes Moore said the Wolfpack recruited Key, but there wasn’t a sustained connection.

“I don’t think she ever came on an official visit,” he said. “She’s an unbelievable presence on both ends of the floor and a big challenge when you’re trying to have an interior scoring game, things like that. She definitely impacts the game on both ends."

Key played nine games last season before she was sidelined. Her return was a process once this season began, with Key logging more than eight minutes in only two of Tennessee’s first 10 games.

“It was just the unknown of what my next steps were, once I got diagnosed,” she said. “But just knowing I had a good crew with us, my teammates were really supportive.”

Key isn’t the only link between these teams; Moore had better success recruiting Harper on the coaching level than he did luring Key.

Harper and her husband, assistant coach Jon Harper, are former assistant coaches under Moore, who hired them for his staff at Chattanooga.

“Kellie and Jon are two of my dearest friends in the coaching profession,” Moore said.

Later, Kellie Harper spent four seasons as N.C. State’s head coach before Moore took over in 2013.

TIES THAT BIND

On the court, there are numerous roster crossovers.

Mimi Collins began her career at Tennessee before heading to Maryland and eventually to N.C. State.

“Being able to play my old team, I think it’s just a blessing,” Collins said. “I’m very excited to play them.”

Collins said she’s taking it all in, knowing this will be her final home game regardless of the outcome.

“This is my last rodeo,” she said. “So I just want to soak in everything. I think I’m cherishing more my teammates as my sisters more than anything. As an adult, you know you don’t get that back. You get to come to alumni and see your old college teammates, but I just want to cherish this as much as I can.”

Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson and N.C. State’s Madison Hayes were Mississippi State teammates before taking different paths. They’re key starters now for their respective teams.

HISTORY LESSONS

Tennessee is 30-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament second-round games. Those three defeats have come across the past six tournaments. Overall in second-round road games, the Lady Vols are 4-1.

N.C. State has won 17 consecutive home games in the NCAA Tournament, without a loss in NCAA play in Raleigh since 1983. The Wolfpack have reached the Sweet 16 in four of the past five tournaments.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket/ and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

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