Vols-Gators
It wasn’t especially pretty for much of the game, but Tennessee beat the Florida Gators last night 62-57, restoring confidence in the team and its best player.
Grant Williams, having been publicly called out by his coach earlier in the week, responded by refinding himself and putting up 23 points, much of it a beautiful exception to the “wasn’t especially pretty” opener up there.
Jordan Bone, too, responded to Rick Barnes’ pleading for him to be more aggressive by doing just that.
Highlights:
WIN NUMBER TWENTY pic.twitter.com/KeBnNU9Fd9
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 22, 2018
Highlights with commentary from the SEC Network:
Barnes’ surprising post-game press conference. Why surprising? Because he actually spends some time praising his team. Really. Proof:
Grant Williams in the hot seat:
And here’s a link to Grant Williams on the post-game radio show (sorry, it’s not embeddable) with Bob and Bert talking about losing at Catan.
Phillip Fulmer on Paul Finebaum
Paul Finebaum had The Papa on his radio show to discuss Jeremy Pruitt and to further rubber-neck the wreckage of the last decade on Rocky Top. Here’s what Fulmer had to say about the latter:
“It’s just a series of bad decisions that ended up being the issue. We had four presidents in six years. There was no continuity on campus. And all of a sudden, instead of everybody communicating and everybody trusting each other and everybody working together to an end like you see at the programs at the highest level now, it became a program struggle. And then a coach would come in. Kiffin left quick, and Dooley didn’t stay very long. And it was just a constant flow of change.
“You really have to understand the culture of any place that you go, and I don’t think the people that came in for the most part [did]. Butch Jones tried to, but to be at the championship level, you’ve got to communicate, you’ve got to trust each other, and everybody has got to work together. And we didn’t have that for seven, eight or nine years around here. It’s better now. It’s much better now.”
And what did Fulmer say about Pruitt? Video:
Other tidbits
We already knew that Tennessee had hired Chris Weinke as its new running backs coach, but now it’s official.
The Lady Vols travel to Florida tonight to take on the Gators at 7:00 p.m. The game’s on SECN+, meaning online only.
Vince Ferrara’s done a ton of great compilation work on the talent on Tennessee’s 2018 roster.
Really glad to see the guys pull out a great win like that. I feel bad that I missed it. Think it’s a good move on Barnes part to praise the team even though the play wasn’t on par with our great run. It’s more important to restore confidence and hope the team builds off this. With constant negativity the players could feel that nothing they do is right and then what’s the point. Real glad to see Williams and Bone have great nights and hopefully the team keeps boosting their confidence with another win against Ole Miss.
I’ve always viewed great leaders as good jockeys, those who know when to whip and when to lay off because they’ve had enough. May be some of that going on.