Jordan Bowden tweaked his knee pregame and did not play. Kyle Alexander was in foul trouble early and often, finishing with two points. That opened the door for Chris Silva, who had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Columbia was rocking as South Carolina looked to go to 6-1 in league play.
The Vols won by 22.
Tennessee’s nine-point halftime lead was slowly whittled to two with 13 minutes to play. The Vols hit an 11-3 run over the next four minutes, and a Derrick Walker and-one made it 14 at the under eight timeout. With two of Tennessee’s top six players down, guys like Walker and John Fulkerson (six points, three rebounds) stepped up. When South Carolina threatened, Tennessee completely erased it in less than five minutes.
A game that felt like it could expose Tennessee’s weaknesses and become the loss that teaches a lesson…just wasn’t. After the first seven minutes, the Vols led by multiple possessions until the aforementioned South Carolina run, then immediately pushed it back out again. And ultimately, Columbia only rocked for free Chick-fil-A.
This is plenty of fun, but the real goal remains twofold: generally, keep getting better, and specifically, get as far up the bracket as possible. That starts with a one seed and ends with a path to Minneapolis that goes back through Columbia and then Louisville. The Vols are more likely to have some losses left in them than not, and on paper tonight easily could’ve been one without Bowden and Alexander. The fact that it wasn’t, at all, is a testament to the reality of this team’s goals.
Grant Williams scoring 23 points isn’t news these days, but Admiral Schofield’s return to form was. This was a vintage PB&J game: 18-of-32 from the floor, 10-of-13 from the line, 47 points and 18 rebounds combined. Lamonte Turner stayed hot with 13 points and three more threes. And Jordan Bone added 19 points and nine assists.
This is apparently life now, and life is good. It goes to Texas A&M next, where the Vols can set the program record for consecutive wins at 16. They can also get their 20th win of the season. On February 2.
Here’s a list of Tennessee teams that did not win 20 games in the regular season:
- 2003: Ron Slay’s senior year, robbed on Selection Sunday
- 2009: Won the SEC East, came closer to winning the SEC Tournament than any Tennessee team in the last 40 years
- 2011: Made the NCAA Tournament despite Bruce Pearl being suspended like 35 games over BBQ.
- 2012: NIT one seed in Cuonzo Martin’s first year
- 2013: NIT one seed in Cuonzo Martin’s second year
This is life now.
Go Vols.
I take it that list is not all-inclusive?
It’s the, “Hey, these were good years!” list. This season will mess with your memory; Pearl’s first year we only won 22 games. Some of it is playing a few more in the regular season, to be sure. But this team’s ability to rewrite our definition of greatness is continually astounding.
This is the greatest team of my lifetime (I’m 44) and I don’t think it’s close.
It’s the not close part that’s so jarring. I’m 37, and am especially fond of the 2000 team when I was a student. That team was 24-5 in the regular season. Obviously 2008 is up there, and the 2010 team was just playing so well together once Brian Williams came back in the last couple weeks of the year. Cuonzo’s last team had three guys with NBA minutes on it.
And yeah, this team right now seems way better than all of them.
I was in grad school in 2000 and that was a fun team but it had a lot of personalities I didn’t really like. One thing I love about this team is there is none of that. They all have great attitudes and seem to genuinely enjoy playing together. I want to see them succeed for their sake as much as for my own enjoyment, if not more. I loved this team last year, and I love them this year. I am trying to just enjoy the ride, though I have found myself on the edge of my seat the… Read more »
I said yesterday that the team doesn’t have to win every game by 20 or 30, but hey, if they want to…more power to ’em 😛
Props to the 4 players I highlighted yesterday (Fulky, Walker, Pons, and Johnson) for stepping in and giving solid minutes in Alexander’s/Bowden’s absences.
This team is great. I’m having fun. I’m trying to rein in my pessimistic tendencies (No stars! Backloaded schedule! UK and LSU looking really good!) and enjoy the ride.