Facing raucous crowds on the road is nothing new for the Lady Vols basketball program. But for the players, it takes a little getting used to.

Sophomore Glory Johnson has vivid memories of her second career road game. The Lady Vols played at George Washington last December, and the Colonials' pep band in particular was getting a little crazy.

"We had nicknames," Johnson said. "The band gave us nicknames. I wish I remembered what they were."

Her performance, at least, was memorable.

Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in UT's victory. But the rest of the season was a struggle on the road for Tennessee and a roster loaded with freshmen and sophomores.

After starting 5-1 on the road last season, the Lady Vols finished 2-6 away from Thompson-Boling Arena. In fairness, four of UT's seven road losses came against ranked teams. And the road environment for the Lady Vols is different than almost every other program in women's basketball.

The average crowd for UT's 14 road games last season? Try 7,372 fans.

"To be honest, I'd rather have a lot of people in the gym, even if they're cheering against us," UT coach Pat Summitt said. "I think we respond better in that type of environment. If we go somewhere and there's 200 people, I feel like I'm motivating all the time. As sophomores and with our juniors, they've started to figure it out."

So far this season, the Lady Vols are 4-1 on the road with a pair of neutral court wins as well. Their lone loss away from Thompson-Boling Arena came at No. 2 Stanford.

Summitt said her team has benefitted from playing so many games at home.

"We're still pretty much a sophomore dominated team," she said. "That said, us being here it's strictly to our advantage early. And then take the road and hopefully feel like you're a little more seasoned."

The early returns have been good.

The Lady Vols dominated a good Mississippi State team in Starkville on Sunday in their conference opener. They'll be tested again Thursday night at Florida (TV: CSS, 7 p.m.). They return home to face Vanderbilt on Sunday before heading out again to face No. 6 Georgia and No. 12 LSU on the road.

After that stretch, Tennessee will have a much better idea of how far it's come since last year.

"I think road play is where you learn probably the most about your team as opposed to being at home," Summitt said. "I think we're going to continue to learn, because we haven't been out there as much as some others. We'll find out a lot more. We'll find out how many players we can play that can go on the road and handle the noise and the distractions. That's yet to be determined from this team."

Johnson, for one, feels the Lady Vols have gotten better on the road.

"I think we're used to it, having a year under our belt," she said. "We know sometimes crowds are going to be rough and sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're supportive and sometimes there's more orange than the other color."