One of the best, hardest lessons from the last two years: be in the moment. Sometimes you can’t rush ahead. Sometimes the past isn’t helpful. Just be here.
In our orange-colored world, it was one of those things that was hard to internalize because the 2020 football season spiraled so quickly, then led to a month of uncertainty as to who our coach was going to be. It got hard to be grateful somewhere along the way. It was a little easier a year ago this time with basketball, but still less so overall because that team started 10-1 but finished 8-8.
We got little moments of it last fall, a football team with few expectations turning into something competitive…and something fun. There’s a lot of gratitude in what Josh Heupel and those guys did in starting from the bottom.
But there’s a certain kind of gratitude that happens at the top.
Tennessee lost at Kentucky by 28 points one month ago today. Since then, they found their offense, building back to the rematch on a seven-game conference winning streak. The Vols were good. Tonight was a question of greatness.
And tonight was pretty great indeed.
The past can be helpful here:
And the future is still of critical importance in a tournament sport. But you never know what the tournament will bring, what shots will fall, all that good stuff. All you can do is give yourself the best chance possible by moving up the bracket.
The Vols now have wins over Arizona and Kentucky. The only program in the conversation with two better wins is Alabama (Gonzaga and Baylor). So perhaps consider us Alabama, without the baggage.
Tennessee will get north in the next projections in a hurry. They’ll get an extra day’s rest before heading into the mother of all potential letdowns at Fayetteville on Saturday. There is much left out there.
But there’s something special about your team discovering its ever-expanding ceiling against one of its biggest rivals in February. Bruce Pearl found some of this magic with mid-to-late February wins over Florida in 2006 and 2007, then Memphis in 2008. He got the Wall/Cousins Calipari team in 2010.
And Rick Barnes, as noted, has been especially hazardous to the Cats. Got them in Rupp in February of 2018 to solidify the program’s return to the national stage. Got them in Knoxville and in the SEC Tournament in March the following year.
And he got them tonight, in a win we’ll remember for a long time.
Kentucky shot infinity percent in Rupp Arena, and started off much the same way tonight. Tennessee kept pace, and we had a 17-15 game less than seven minutes in.
That’s when Fulky went into the Kentucky bench, and everyone got in their feelings. We’re still there, among many others, at the moment:
He would know: he scored the next eight points. By the time Kentucky made its next bucket, the lead was 15.
When the Vols pushed it to 17 early in the second half, Kentucky hit a 9-0 run. The lead was eight at the under 12. No worries: Jonas Aidoo, of course, would start the next run. Then a Zeigler three. Then Fulky free throws. Rinse, repeat. By the time Kentucky made its next bucket, the lead was 20.
Tennessee’s offense had the same strong shooting from the game in Rupp. Tonight, it was 44.4% from the floor, 47.1% (8-of-17) from the arc, 20-of-23 (87%) from the line. But the biggest difference, by far: turnovers. It’s what leads to Tennessee’s worst basketball, including a season-high 20 of them at Rupp Arena. Tonight: eight. That’s one off the season-low.
Meanwhile, this time the Cats were held to 34.3% from the floor, 31.3% from the arc, and a 13-15 from Oscar Tshiebwe was manageable. That is, in part, because of Aidoo: 18 minutes, five points, seven rebounds, three blocks. If he’s a viable option against these guys, he’s a viable option. The Vols used him in some double-big sets we may not see against other competition. But he also got some run when Josiah-Jordan James was in foul trouble, a potential answer to, “What if that happens in March?”
Tennessee’s greatest strength is its defense, which remains so good that the Vols don’t need much on the other end. But the Vols are also so dangerous because they get what they need from so many different guys. And tonight: 18 for Vescovi, 17 for Chandler, 14 for Fulky, 14 for Zeigler.
We never know what will happen in March. We do know we celebrate wins over Kentucky anytime they come, and we’re on a stretch right now against these guys we’ve never seen before.
But one of the most satisfying things in sports is to go into one of these, “Are we good enough to compete at the highest level,” games against your biggest rival, and leave with the answer being, emphatically, “Yes.”
Appreciate the rivalry. March will come. Be in the moment.
Tonight, the moment is pretty great.
Go Vols.
