Gameday on Rocky Top

This team wants to make sure you keep the media guide handy.

When Admiral Schofield put 30 on #1 Gonzaga, we called it the best performance of the post-Chris Lofton era. We mentioned Grant Williams’ 37 points in Memorial Gymnasium last season – the most for any Vol since Ron Slay’s 38 in 2003 – as a footnote. In his two games against Vanderbilt last year, Williams attempted 15 free throws each time.

I feel like any attempt to say something clever about what happened tonight is a disservice to its greatness. Here it is:

Grant Williams: 10-of-15 FG, 23-of-23 FT, 43 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks.

The school record for points at Tennessee is 51 by Tony White vs Auburn in 1987. White also had 49 against Florida State the same year. Ron Widby scored 50 against LSU in 1967. Carl Widseth scored 47 against Auburn in 1956.

Next on the list is 43 points, which is the career high of Allan Houston, Reggie Johnson, Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld…and now, Grant Williams.

The NCAA record for most free throw attempts without a miss is 24

— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) January 24, 2019

And #1 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 88-83 in overtime.

Teams Won’t Lay Down For Tennessee

The Vols jumped Alabama 16-4 in the first eight minutes, Vanderbilt 15-2 in the first five minutes. Perhaps you, like me, were kicking back to enjoy another beat down.

It didn’t happen Saturday, and certainly didn’t happen tonight. Credit Vanderbilt; Alabama is on the bubble, but the Commodores were 0-5 in SEC play and staring swiftly down the barrel of 0-6 after those first five minutes. But what a difference being hot from three makes.

Vanderbilt was shooting 33% on the year from the arc coming in. In SEC play:

• 6-of-20 (30%) vs Ole Miss
• 6-of-25 (24%) at Georgia
• 7-of-25 (28%) at Kentucky
• 7-of-21 (33%) vs South Carolina
• 5-of-19 (26%) vs Mississippi State

Tonight: 10-of-21 (48%). Aaron Nesmith, Saben Lee, Matt Ryan, and Joe Toye went 10-of-18.

It made a huge difference, and the Vols had no answer on the other end: 5-of-20 (25%) from the arc, including 0-for-6 from Admiral Schofield. It’s the same percentage the Vols shot against Alabama. Yet the Vols walked away winners both times.

There was some reffin’ going on in both games, no doubt. Tennessee benefitted from a lightning-fast travel call on John Petty against Bama, and a hook-but-maybe-not-a-hold, letter-of-the-law flagrant foul in the final minutes of regulation tonight. But if you’re looking for why Tennessee won, look to the guy who knocked down both those free throws, then immediately scored on the ensuing inbounds.

Also, before that sequence, with the Vols down five and in need of a spark, this happened:

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1088268365720944640

When Bone threw that ball, I swear I thought it was meant for Alexander. I’m glad we won to preserve a number one ranking, and I’m glad for Williams’ 43 points. But also, this dunk could not happen in a game Tennessee lost.

This game got bananas in the final minute, then again in overtime. But with the game on the line after a Saben Lee free throw put Vandy up one with 20 seconds to play, Grant Williams had one more and-one in him, then a great close out in the corner without fouling on a Vanderbilt three.

Vanderbilt shot way above their average, to their credit, and found ways to disrupt what Tennessee wanted to do. The Vols got nothing from Schofield offensively and stayed cold from the arc.

But Grant Williams was enough.

He scored all of Tennessee’s points in overtime (10) until Jordan Bone’s free throws with six seconds left. In the last ten minutes of regulation, he scored all of Tennessee’s points except Bowden’s dunk and Schofield’s runner. That’s 27 of Tennessee’s last 33 points in 15 minutes of game time.

That dude is going in the rafters. Tennessee plays on as number one.

If you’re looking for the best single performance from the last Tennessee team to reach number one, may I suggest the first meeting between the Vols and Commodores.

#6 Tennessee and #16 Vanderbilt met in Knoxville on January 17, 2008, more than a month before the Vols would eventually go to number one. The win that got them there was of obvious merit, beating #1 Memphis 66-62. But if you really wanted to see what the 2008 Vols could do, look to that first Vanderbilt game: an 80-60 blowout, featuring 18 points and 18 rebounds from Wayne Chism. It was a level-up game for #4, more proof he could also be the lead dog on a team with plenty of alpha in Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith, and Tyler Smith (who added 14 and 9 just for good measure). Vanderbilt shot 3-of-21 from the arc, missed 10 free throws, and turned it over 22 times.

All of that made it easy to forget they were still a Top 20 team when we ran into them the second time around.

The Vols won at Memphis in a 9:00 PM Saturday night tip, then played at #18 Vanderbilt in a 9:00 PM Tuesday tip. The Commodores raced to a 23-9 lead, but Tennessee got it back within three at halftime. The shooting made the longest memories – 32 points from Shan Foster, 25 from Chris Lofton – but going back through the box score and recap at ESPN.com, you find 51 total fouls and 69 total free throw attempts. Down the stretch, Tennessee could not defend without fouling, allowing Vanderbilt to always stay two possessions ahead. The Commodores won 72-69, chasing Tennessee off the number one ranking and, more costly, eventually off the number one seed line.

That Vanderbilt team was a four seed in the NCAA Tournament, their 26 wins the most in Kevin Stallings’ 17 years in Nashville. And in the tournament…they lost to Siena in the first round by 21.

Still: this Vanderbilt team is not that Vanderbilt team.

This Vanderbilt Team

Everything has to start with Darius Garland. The five-star freshman point guard was the 14th-highest rated player in the nation coming in from 247, and the second point guard behind Kentucky’s Ashton Hagans (who is playing like it right now). He injured his knee in the fifth game of the year and was lost for the season. The most recent NBA mock draft I can find still has him going seventh overall. It’s a huge loss.

Whatever momentum Vanderbilt gained by an 81-65 win over Arizona State on December 17 has evaporated in an 0-5 start to league play. They lost to Ole Miss by 10, Georgia by 19, Kentucky by nine, South Carolina by three, and Mississippi State by 16. In conference games the ‘Dores rank 13th in offensive efficiency and 11th in defensive efficiency (via KenPom); Tennessee is number one in both.

By the way, is anyone winning the Kevin Stallings-Vanderbilt divorce? Bryce Drew’s first team was the first in history to earn an at-large bid with 15 losses, then lost an 8-9 game to Northwestern by two points. That team graduated Luke Kornet, but brought back Matthew Fisher-Davis, Riley LaChance, and Jeff Roberson for their senior seasons in 2018. Fisher-Davis was lost for the year in mid-January, but Vandy was already 6-11 (1-4) at the time. They finished 12-20 (6-12). His 2018 recruiting class was ranked 13th nationally, but now without Garland they’re headed toward another sub-.500 year. Stallings, of course, went 16-17 (4-14) then 8-24 (0-18) at Pitt and was done.

Also, Vanderbilt’s luck ratings in KenPom since 2015: 345, 346, 292, 336, and currently 316.

If you want to stay on the right side of luck tonight, don’t put this team on the line. The Commodores are ninth in the nation in free throw rate. Their particular strengths here are Saben Lee, who runs the point in Garland’s absence, and Simi Shittu, an even-higher-rated 6’10” freshman who sees the ball a ton.

Vandy defends the three well in conference play, and doesn’t turn it over a ton. An early whistle going against the Vols is the quickest way the Commodores stay in this game. As Tennessee seeks to improve its defense overall, defending without fouling is a good place to start: the Vols are 226th nationally in opponent free throw rate.

But if it doesn’t happen at the line, it’s tough to see it happening for Vanderbilt. They’re giving up 55.7% from inside the arc in league play, and Tennessee’s offense has become a monster in that department. And last year Grant Williams had 37 in Nashville and 18 more in Knoxville, and attempted 15 free throws in each game. They had no answer for him last year, and I’m not sure one has presented itself this year. Vanderbilt should be a welcome match-up for Williams after facing Alabama.

Anybody can get up to play the number one team in the nation, and Vanderbilt can always get up to play Tennessee. And we won’t know exactly how the Vols will play with that #1 next to their name until we see it. But when you’re 0-5 in league play, you can also catch a case of the oh-no’s real quick. The 2008 Vols peaked just before Nashville. Let’s hope the 2019 version is just getting started.

7:00 PM ET, ESPN2. Go Vols.

Almost eight years ago, I sat in a hotel room in Lexington, KY and wrote this:

This marriage is worth saving. We can survive without each other, but it will not be the same. And I do not believe that Bruce Pearl and Tennessee Basketball will ever be as good apart as we are together.

Save Bruce Pearl – Rocky Top Talk, March 18, 2011

Do this for any length of time, and you get to be wrong. And sometimes, you get to be wrong in ways that delight you.

With Tennessee going to number one, I’ve thought about those last few days at the end of Pearl’s tenure, when it felt like we were giving away something we wouldn’t get back. And I’ve also thought about those few days in November of 2017, when a basketball team picked to finish 13th in the SEC upset #18 Purdue in the Bahamas, four days before the football team almost hired Greg Schiano. In a relatively short period of time, we’ve experienced the worst of football – and the potential to stay there had things gone any number of ways with the head coach and athletic director hires – and now the very best of basketball.

Living at the extremes of football and basketball is another reminder of why we do this as fans: for all the moments along the journey, not just the peaks.

I don’t know how many times we’ve thought we were at rock bottom in football in the last decade. Nothing would be harder than saying goodbye to Fulmer. Nothing could be worse than losing your head coach in the middle of the night in January. Whoever followed Dooley would surely help the program ascend. Whoever we hired next would be more well-received than Butch. It can always get worse.

And I do know what Tennessee basketball achieved under Pearl was special, in a way that seemed impossible to duplicate. Yet here we are, back at the top of the polls and playing even better than the 2008 team, at least according to KenPom. It can always get better.

Follow the Vols (or any team) long enough, and you get the relative highs and lows. The whole of it brings us back, the relationship itself. That relationship hasn’t been boring the last ten years, in either sport. We’ve all had our moments, but we’re still here…and right now, here to the tune of 21,000+ at Thompson-Boling for Tennessee Tech, Georgia, and Alabama, with a multitude of sellouts to come.

I don’t know where this is going, or how far. Can the Vols stay healthy? Hungry? As good as we are, KenPom still projects three losses left in the regular season, even before we try to slay a 40-year dragon in the SEC Tournament. We’ve only made the Elite Eight once. We’ve never made the Final Four.

I only know it’s going to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. And I know we’ll keep following.

It’s great. To be.

Tennessee jumped to a 16-4 lead in the first eight minutes, then stretched it out to 44-29 with a minute to play before halftime; a Bama three made the Vol lead a dozen at the break. Jim Chaney and Tee Martin were introduced to the crowd. No. 2 Michigan was already down. A good day in progress.

The first half left us with comparisons that can still make you a little uncomfortable. The Vols shut down everything Bama wanted to do at the rim, affecting shots the way we’re used to seeing it happen to our own when playing Kentucky. Alabama, a solid bubble team, just wasn’t on Tennessee’s level; good game, good effort, etc., the Vols would roll to their 12th straight victory.

In three minutes and 23 seconds, Alabama lit that script on fire.

Here’s how ESPN’s play-by-play data shows the start of the second half:

• Grant Williams miss
• John Petty three
• Admiral Schofield miss
• John Petty two
• Jordan Bone miss, offensive rebound, Admiral Schofield miss
• John Petty three
• Grant Williams miss
• Herbert Jones miss
• Kyle Alexander miss
• Kira Lewis three
• John Petty steal
• Herbert Jones layup, Bama leads 45-44

The Tide didn’t go away, and Petty stayed hot for nearly seven more minutes. With 9:52 to play, he splashed his sixth three. Alabama led 59-58. Petty had 30 points.

He didn’t score again. He attempted only two more shots.

Some of that was Jordan Bowden; the Vols tried Bowden, then Lamonte Turner, then went back to Bowden on Petty. Donta Hall’s presence (16 points, 12 rebounds) meant extended action from Kyle Alexander, preventing the Vols from using their Bone-Bowden-Turner-Williams-Schofield lineup. The Vols instead tried to chase down an Alabama team taking 26 threes with only two true guards on the floor for most of the game.

And some of that was Alabama, with that combination of open looks and perhaps a belief that Petty’s fire could spread. Petty and Kira Lewis were 9-of-16 from the arc. The rest of the team was 1-of-10. Four of those ten attempts came in the last ten minutes, when Petty couldn’t get a look.

But all of that shouldn’t have mattered. Alabama wins this game if it shoots even a little bit better than 8-of-18 at the free throw line. Tennessee, which has looked incredibly unbeatable for most of the year, looked human today.

Beatable, but not beaten.

The Vols got an and-one from Schofield with 10:14 to play, then went almost seven minutes without making another shot. Alabama’s size and physicality were bothersome for Grant Williams, who needed 17 shots to score 21 points. Lots of jump shots that went down in the first half didn’t in the second, and the Vols shot just 3-of-12 (25%) from the arc.

But the Vols helped put Alabama in drought conditions as well, getting only one field goal from a dunk at 9:25 to a layup at 3:15. This wasn’t Tennessee’s best defensive effort, but it was good enough to win. Meanwhile a jumper by Jordan Bowden took the lid off, and the Vols hit four shots in the final four minutes, including two from a previously-cold Admiral Schofield.

The end of the game is getting plenty of press: a quick travel call on Petty with three seconds left and the Vols up one. In super slow-mo it looks right, though I get how frustrating it would be to have that go against you in real time. Grant Williams fouled out on the previous possession, again a victim of a couple of iffy offensive fouls (if not the last one, definitely the one before). This is no doubt a tough loss for Alabama.

Rick Barnes: As much as I hate to say it, we were fortunate to win this game. But we needed this kind of game. We need to learn from it.

— @GrantRamey (@GrantRamey) January 19, 2019

It was a toughness win for Tennessee, who could still go to number one on Monday depending on how voters feel about the outcome of Duke-Virginia. But Barnes will get to sing some of the same song from the second half against Arkansas: those 20 minutes will get you beat in March, and these 20 minutes get you beat today if Alabama hits their free throws.

We already know the Vols can play with the nation’s best from Kansas and Gonzaga. I don’t know how many other teams will present the same combination of on-fire guards and a tough match-up inside like Hall that prevents Tennessee from playing last season’s crunch time lineup. But the Vols get to learn from victory instead of defeat.