Surprise blowouts are delightful, but perhaps we forgot how much fun one of these can be too.
Florida was 22nd in overall KenPom and fifth in defensive efficiency. The Vols were favored by only a deuce. And to the finish, the Gators lived up to all of that, even if differently than we thought.
The Gators take a lot of threes…but 22 of them in the first half compared to seven attempts from inside the arc? Not sure I’ve seen that ratio against the Vols before. But…it worked. Florida splashed enough of them for a 38-35 halftime advantage, due in large part to their ability to defend well without fouling. Tennessee had just three tries at the free throw line in the first half, and still finished -7 in attempts to the Gators for the game.
Florida was good defensively…but in the end, just not quite good enough.
Tennessee answered a KeVauhgn Allen three to open the second half with an 8-0 run to take the lead. The Vols pushed the lead to five a couple of times around the ten minute mark, but Florida didn’t fold. With eight minutes to play, a wild sequence saw eight consecutive possessions end with points: each time Florida took the lead first, then the Vols immediately tied it up. And by “the Vols”, I mean Jordan Bowden: 12 straight Tennessee points, capped off with a three, a steal, and a slam to give Tennessee the lead.
The Vols held the lead into the final minute, up two. Points came easiest on this night for Grant Williams, who followed up a 23-point performance against Florida last year with 20 tonight. He got the ball near the top of the key, took a step or two…and found Admiral Schofield in the corner. And if you’re looking for a big shot this year, look no further: a three with three on the shot clock put the Vols up five with 45 seconds to play. A couple free throws and a couple steal-and-scores from there, and we got this:
Again, Florida was good. But “good” simply isn’t enough to beat Tennessee right now.
I feel like we’ve been on the other side of this game plenty of times against a top-five Kentucky or Florida squad: played hard, played well, had our chances, couldn’t finish. If you like that comparison, consider this: the Vols go to +28.60 in KenPom, fourth nationally and, insanely, second nationally in offense. Only two of John Calipari’s Kentucky teams finished a year better than +28.60. One won the title with Anthony Davis, the other was undefeated until it lost in the Final Four. Only two of Billy Donovan’s Florida teams finished a year better than that (KenPom goes back to 2002). One won the title in 2007, the other made the Elite Eight in 2013.
There’s a ton of basketball left to play, and plenty of chances for the Vols to go up or down. But right now, the Vols are playing among or above elite company in both Tennessee and recent SEC history.
A week on the road leads to a week at home: Arkansas on Tuesday, Alabama on Saturday. Kermit Davis and Ole Miss inserting themselves into the SEC title race has done nothing to change the back-ended nature of Tennessee’s schedule: the Vols will finish the season with at LSU, at Ole Miss, vs Kentucky, vs Mississippi State, at Auburn. We get the Cats twice, of course, but otherwise those are the only meetings on the calendar with the rest of that list. Florida returns to Knoxville on February 9.
Long way to go. But so far, lots of fun along the way.
Go Vols.
Peanut Butter. Jelly. Money.
This game taught me more than Georgia or Mizzou. On the road, crowd and refs against them, and a borderline impossible 9 3’s against them in the first half…and they fought through it and pulled it out.
There will likely be a hiccup or two somewhere along the way, but these guys are special.
Before the FLA game, KenPom had us going 14-4 with the next best in the SEC at 12-7. Means that even a slip up or two has us projected to comfortably win the league’s regular season. (The nice thing is that we already have a game up on Auburn and Kentucky in the L column and two on Florida.) KP also didn’t think as much of us until we destroyed Georgia at TBA & Missouri/FLA on the road. Now we deserve our press/coach rankings statistically. As for optics, we are ahead of undefeated Michigan, which I think is a great… Read more »
Virginia is the team that I’d least like to face. I think if we make the Final Four, you take whatever you find there. But to me that team is every bit as good as anyone, if not better, with none of the extra get-em-up you get from playing Duke. They play each other Saturday, so maybe the Blue Devils will prove me wrong. But if I had a vote, I’d rank Virginia ahead of everyone right now.
Their uneven conference start nothwithstanding, it’s probably worth including the Starkville Bulldogs in that 2nd tier (28th in KenPom). KenPom was “down” on our defense through the end of the non-conference (was 30-ish after the Memphis game). I think it ties neatly to what Barnes has said about getting Turner back and being able to crank up the full-court and getting into guards in a way they couldn’t in his absence. There were rough patches in the first halves against Mizzou and Florida, but we were up 11 in the former and only down 3 despite giving up 9 3’s… Read more »
And Duke loses to Syracuse. Wish it hadn’t been Jim Boeheim but not sad that Coach K lost. More importantly, Tre Jones, Duke’s best defender and one of the 5 best PGs in America, is out with a dislocated AC joint. Grade 1 is 2 wks; grade 2 is 6 wks; grade 3 is 12 weeks. Grade 3 puts him out thru March… As Lamonte can attest, those shooting shoulder injuries are hard to overcome – especially when the little PGs have to run thru all those screens. Hope Tre Jones heals just in time for the NBA Draft and… Read more »