Jordan Bone

Tennessee 77, Georgia Tech 70: Vols move to 6-1

The Tennessee hoops team continued its winning ways this evening with a solid 77-70 win over ACC foe Georgia Tech. Three players — Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, and Jordan Bowden — were all in double figures in points, and Kyle Alexander led the way on the boards with 11.

Tennessee seemed to have control of the game, but things got a bit dicey about midway through the second half when fouls relegated Williams, Schofield, and Alexander to the bench for extended minutes. Williams and Alexander both ended up fouling out, Wiliams with 2:57 remaining and Alexander with 1:21 left in the game. At that point, the situation was dire, as the team was scheming around the big men to take the advantage and now both of them were done.

But head coach Rick Barnes then just put the game in the hands of his guards, who drove the rest of the way home. The team was up 64-57 when Alexander left for good, and Bowden and Lamonte Turner hit 11 of their next 13 free throws as the Yellow Jackets had to resort to fouling in an attempt to catch up.

The Vols are now 6-1 with their only loss coming against No 4 Villanova. They have wins over then No. 18 Purdue and NC State, teams with a combined record of 15-4. Tennessee moves up to an RPI of 14, according to RPIForecast.com. KenPom has the Vols at No. 24 but has not yet updated with the result of today’s game.

Tennessee is off until next Saturday, when they take on Lipscomb. After that, it’s at home against North Carolina, currently ranked No. 13 with an RPI of 7 and a KenPom of 9.

 

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Harley
Harley
6 years ago

Foul shooting was excellent down the stretch… much improved versus last year. Great team to watch… lot of hustle and much better shooting. I think this year is going to be fun… Go Vols!

RockyTop5
RockyTop5
6 years ago

This team is getting some solid pre-conference wins. If they can achieve a winning record in conference this year, they should have a solid RPI.

Go Vols. Nice to have some good news coming out of Rocky Top (or Atlanta).

Pete
Pete
6 years ago

The zebras were horribly one-sided. It’s why Grant and Alexander fouled out. Before the last 3 min, Georgia Tech was 19-27 (35% of points scored – 55) vs. Tennessee’s 6-8 (10% of points scored – 58) from the line. Normally unbalanced foul totals are reflective of one team driving versus the other not or one team pressing hard on defense vs the other playing more passively – in this case, both were equally aggressive about going to the rim, pressuring on D and hitting the boards. The game had absolutely no flow to it at all. Contrary to the announcers’… Read more »

Dawn
Dawn
6 years ago
Reply to  Pete

The officiating was interesting to say the least. I was at the game and it really appeared at times that the refs were intimidated by the crowd, or at least swayed in some situations. I am amused that in the game recap on the Georgia Tech blog on SBNation, the author, while admitting it’s a “cop-out” to blame a loss on the refs, “they certainly factored into the outcome”. Well, duh, don’t they always? I wanted to point out that we were the team with two players fouling out, and almost a third, but didn’t want to take the time… Read more »

HT
HT
6 years ago

I keep saying it over and over but I REALLY like this team. Alexander is still somewhat raw but I think he could really be a star if he reaches his potential. And it is like night and day comparing Lamonte Turner last year to Lamonte Turner this year. I’m beginning to not just HOPE for a tourney bid but EXPECT one, and I realize it is still very early for that, particularly with how much better the conference looks this year than recent years. But with the youth on this team (we only lose Daniel next year, correct?) I… Read more »

Will Shelton
Admin
Will Shelton
6 years ago
Reply to  HT

Yep, everyone is back next year unless Grant Williams decides to grow a couple more inches and turn pro.

Isaac Bishop
Isaac Bishop
6 years ago

Finally got some respect. 24th in AP.

Isaac Bishop
Isaac Bishop
6 years ago

So I don’t know how serious this is, but Mel Tucker is getting a second interview. Why would they pick him over Tee Martin?