No. 880 makes Summitt No. 1 all-time in victories

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Pat Summitt stands alone at the top of NCAA basketball.

The Tennessee coach broke Dean Smith's career victory record Tuesday night, getting No. 880 in the Lady Vols' 75-54 win over Purdue in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Summitt tied Smith at 879 with an easy win over Western Carolina in the first round Sunday night and passed the former North Carolina men's coach with another convincing victory. Summitt improved to 880- 171, while Smith was 879-254 when he retired in 1997 after 36 years with the Tar Heels.

"Obviously, to be in the company with Coach Smith, to think about all the people that were a part of these wins, I never thought I'd live this long," Summitt said.

After the game, NCAA officials presented Summitt with the game ball and a plaque. And the university announced the court at Thompson-Boling Arena will be named "The Summitt."

The 52-year-old Summitt waved to the crowd and hugged family members, who came down to the court to celebrate with her. The team posed for a picture with the players holding up newspaper pages with a huge 880 in orange on the front.

"That's what it's all about," Summitt said. "We talk about the wins and the trophies, but it's all about the people. The players have influenced me more than I have influenced them."

Top-seeded Tennessee (28-4), seeking its seventh national title under Summitt, advanced to face fourth-seeded Texas Tech in the semifinals of the Philadelphia Regional on Sunday.

Ninth-seeded Purdue (17-13) tried its best to stall Summitt's chase, hanging tough with the Lady Vols in the first half.

But Tennessee's defense was too much for Purdue in the second half. The Boilermakers didn't have a field goal in the first 6:35 of the second half, while the Lady Vols pushed their lead to 20 with a 19-6 run.

Tye'sha Fluker tied a career high with 18 points and had 10 rebounds while Shyra Ely added 16 points, Shanna Zolman 15 and Nicky Anosike 11.

Sharika Webb had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Katie Gearlds added 13 for the Boilermakers, who made only four field goals in the second half.

An amazing chunk of Summitt's wins have come against ranked teams. In her 1,051 games, 494 of those were against ranked opponents and she won 353 of them. She has never lost to an unranked team in Thompson-Boling, which opened in 1987.

Summitt took over the women's program at Tennessee in 1974 at age 22 when there were no scholarships and she had to wash the uniforms and drive the team van. The Lady Vols nickname didn't even exist.

A mere 53 fans watched Summitt win her first game, a 69-32 victory over Middle Tennessee on Jan. 10, 1975.

Thousands of orange-clad supporters came to see Summitt reach 880 on Tuesday, creating an atmosphere even more electric than usual.

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