Standing on the floor at Thompson-Boling Arena, Pat Summitt put her hands together and looked to the rafters.

A reporter was asking about her Lady Vols' improvement on the road, noting that Tennessee comes back home with three road wins in conference play already when last year they'd only had two all season long.

"Thank you," Summitt said, smiling.

There's reason to be happy.

When Tennessee tips off against Auburn on Thursday night (TV: CSS, 7 p.m.), it does so with a 5-1 SEC record, tied with Ole Miss for the best in the league.

What's more, all six of those games have been against teams picked to finish in the top seven by league coaches at the beginning of the season.

"I think we've learned a lot this season, but at the same time we have a long ways to go," junior Angie Bjorklund said. "I think if we just focus on one day at a time, every day in practice getting better, we'll be right where we need to be come tournament time."

There's still a long way to go - including a pair of games against Ole Miss - but the Lady Vols took a major step with Sunday's win over LSU.

Fresh off its only SEC loss so far at Georgia last Thursday, Tennessee regrouped and pulled away down the stretch on the road against the Lady Tigers, who happened to be the coaches' pick to finish second in the league.

It's the kind of quick recovery Tennessee had a hard time making last year, when it finished 2-5 on the road in SEC play.

"It's a sense of urgency," Bjorklund said. "We lost at Georgia, obviously, but we took everything that we learned. We had the maturity to take everything we learned and have a sense of urgency that we need to improve and need to get better for LSU."

Not only did they realize what had to happen. They made it happen, too.

"We just realized how important every game is," Bjorklund said. "Especially from last year to this year, I see that a lot with our team. If we make a mistake, we bounce back a lot quicker. Even when it comes to games. Just in games, we don't let a team go on a long run as much as we did last year. If they're making a run, we're going to cut them off immediately."

The early returns have been good. And the early schedule hasn't been easy, either.

Thursday's game against Auburn (11-9, 2-5 SEC) is UT's first at home since edging Vanderbilt on Jan. 17. In fact, Tennessee will play seven of its first 11 games away from Thompson-Boling Arena before closing with four of its last five at home.

"When you have tough games on the road and you have tough games to begin with in the conference," Bjorklund said, "it just gives you a lot of time to improve and tells you exactly where you're at."

Right now, at least, it's a place worth being thankful for.