Kellie Harper is fully aware of the challenge her Tennessee women's basketball team is up against on Thursday night.

The Lady Vols (10-6, 2-0 SEC) have reversed their fortunes over the last two weeks after struggling against a daunting non-conference schedule to start the season, but standing in the way of a fourth-straight win is a Mississippi State team that has been one of the league's best defensive teams, averaging 11.5 steals, 5.9 blocks and 43.8 rebounds per game.

"This is the SEC. It's tough each and every night," Harper said on Wednesday. "You have to be consistent. While we've loved the consistency with our shooting percentage, consistency comes with the other things. Consistency to be able to handle the physicality. There's no doubt that this is a tough team and gritty team coming in here on Thursday. Hopefully our team understands that and is prepared."

Tennessee has seemingly hit its stride since conference play began last week versus Florida. The Lady Vols beat both the Gators and Alabama by double digits and shot more than 48% from the field in each outing, including 53.7% against the Crimson Tide.

Part of that success is due to the play of 6-foot-2 forward Rickea Jackson.

Jackson has combined for 50 points in her last two outings. She tallied a game-high 28 points in the Florida game and scored 22 against Alabama behind 10-of-14 shooting from the field.

"I think Rickea trusts us to help her and put her in position to be successful," Harper said. "I think what we've been able to do to really help us is we've moved her around quite a bit. We've played her on the perimeter, we play her on the post. We're taking advantage of the versatility of not just Rickea, but of her teammates and putting her in a position that is either attracting other defenders or giving her one-on-one opportunities.

"I think our team has played well recently in that regard in terms of looking for those opportunities for her and her other teammates."

Jackson is very familiar with Mississippi State. The Detroit, Michigan native spent the previous three seasons playing for the Bulldogs before transferring to Tennessee this offseason.

In Starkville, Jackson started 58 games and was the team's leading scorer for three seasons.

"In terms of (Mississippi State) being Rickea's old school, I think you have to acknowledge the emotion and you have to be able to handle that as a team," Harper said. "Again, everyone on our roster has the focus on the present and what we need to be doing each and every possession. I think once you start doing that, you take some of that emotion out of it."

Jackson was one of several key additions for the Lady Vols out of the transfer portal in the offseason. She joined former Minnesota guard Jasmine Powell and Missouri State grad transfer Jasmine Franklin as experienced transfers and the expectation was that those players, along with an impressive recruiting class would mold into a team that could make a serious run at an SEC title and the NCAA Tournament.

A 4-5 start that included games against current top 20 teams Ohio State, UCLA, Indiana, Gonzaga and Virginia Tech tampered expectations, but according to Harper, Tennessee's latest surge is a result of the team beginning to gel despite the absences of Tamari Key and Marta Suarez.

."I think what we've seen is some buy-in from the team with how we want to play, with our system and they've seen the correlation on the court," Harper said. "Not always wins, but definitely some wins and our performances being better. I think that has given them a lot of motivation.

"When you buy in and you're playing the way you think you need to play and you cans see success and that success that comes with wins, I think that makes a group happy."

The compatibility that Tennessee has benefitted from recently will be put to the test by Mississippi State (11-3, 1-1).

The Bulldogs are coming off of a slugfest against Ole Miss that resulted in a 61-50 loss last Sunday, but Harper sees a team that can be multiple on both ends of the floor.

In scoring production, Mississippi State is paced by forward Jessika Carter, who is averaging 14.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while guard JerKaila Jordan averages 11.2 points per game.

"We're trying to stay consistent with our preparation and not treat this team any different than we treated Alabama or Florida so that our players feel confident in our preparation," Harper said. "The challenge that we will have is this team is multifaceted in a lot of areas. On their offensive end, they've got a post player that can score. They've got players that can drive, they've got players that can shoot. You're going to have to guard a lot of different things to be able to slow them down.

"On their defensive end as well, they've shown multiple defenses. Being prepared for everything that we could possible see is also a challenge. They're athletic, they're aggressive. They're going to play hard."

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