Tennessee is capable of throwing up a stinker. We all know that, as evidenced by last weekend’s 47-45 Thank-you-Jesus over LSU on the road.
The thing is, every team, save Memphis, has had at least one this year. And the only reason why Orange Mound U. hasn’t yet is because it plays in a second-rate conference and has a second-rate nonconference schedule.
Last night, the Vols disposed of Arkansas like a wadded piece of paper, outscoring the SEC West leaders 93-71, shooting 48 percent and actually outrebounding the much taller Razorbacks.
The outrebounding opponents thing has become a trend, one that Vols fans wouldn’t have dreamed of a couple of weeks ago. Then, Duke Crews was in street clothes on the sideline, wondering when he would be able to return to the court after being sidelined by a heart condition. UT was consistently getting beaten on the boards and beaten up inside. Wayne Chism stayed in foul trouble, and Brian Williams provided crucial big plays and big boards down the stretch in clutch wins.
Those days are gone. With the return of Crews — generously listed at 6-foot-7, but a tenacious rebounder — the Vols have gone from routinely getting beat on the boards to winning the rebounding battle in the past six games since his return.
That’s outrebounding Georgia (expected), Alabama (much bigger), Mississippi State (much bigger), Florida (about even), LSU (much bigger) and Arkansas (much bigger). Prior to Crews’ return, the Vols were dominated on the boards in a loss at Kentucky and in a narrow win over Ohio State.
Remember when I wrote that the Vols were one big man away from a potential Final Four run? Well, that “big man” came back and has provided more than any Vols fan thought he would. During last night’s win, he provided 11 points and 11 rebounds among the Ozarks trees.
But what about that pesky free-throw shooting problem? That’s a little trickier, I’ll admit. The Vols entered Wednesday’s game 10th in the league in freebies, tossing up players like Chism and J.P. Prince, who look like they’re shooting free-throws with baseball mitts on. It cost us two wins against Ohio State last year, including the heartbreaker in the NCAA tournament. It should have cost us last weekend’s game against LSU when we went an anemic 4-of-15 from the line.
Bruce Pearl joked prior to last night’s game that they’d practiced free throws so much this week he nearly sent the managers to the line, too. It worked wonders. Against the Razorbacks, UT hit 27-of-37 free throws, and the final numbers are misleading. They missed several in garbage time, but with the game close, UT was 15-of-17 from the line. It was refreshing, to say the least to see such an improvement. But I do keep in mind UT was 21-of-30 against Florida. I know consistency is hard to come by, but the optimist in me sees UT has had two good games shooting free tosses out of the past three rather than the abysmal showing in between. I just hope Pearl puts the same emphasis on free-throw shooting down the stretch.
Finally, we’ve addressed this last “weakness” in which teams believe the Vols could be susceptible when the reigning SEC player of the week Chris Lofton gets shut down. Well, it happened again last night as CLo was having an off-night shooting. What happened? We ripped up the SEC West leaders (at home, however) behind JaJuan Smith’s career-high 32 points. Tyler Smith added 15. Chism did the same. We’ve already talked about Crews’ game. So what happens if that happens on the road or in the tourney? Well, that’s in my opinion, the only way anybody will beat the Vols in March. But what do I know?
Anyway, it’s very important for the Vols to get past a pair of “trap” games heading into a Murderer’s Row stretch from Feb. 23-March 5. UT goes to Georgia on Saturday and then should walk all over Auburn at home next Wednesday. The UGA game could be tough down there. Then, I personally don’t see how we get out of the stretch of at Memphis, at Vandy, home against UK and at Florida without one loss. Anything 3-1 or better will guarantee a #2 seed. Sweep there, and the Vols may the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
Anything can happen in the tourney, as we all know. But right now, it doesn’t appear that UT has any glaring weaknesses to speak of. Barring a miserable night, Pearl will always have his team in a position to win.
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Free-throw shooting could still hurt in the tourney, and I still think a guy like Hansborough could give us fits. But my biggest fear at the start of the season is what would happen if the 3-point shooting was off in a tournament game. Feeling better about that now. When Lofton is off, JaJuan steps up and vice versa. If they’re both off, we’ve still got Chism and Tyler inside. And if they’re both on, we’re just about unbeatable.
My favorite moment though was this: Ramar Smith misses a free throw. One second later, Tom Hammond says “Tennessee hasn’t missed a free throw tonight.” I stare at the TV screen in awe. Smith makes the second. Hammond says “They were 12-of-12, now they’re 13-of-13.” Seriously, do the Raycom guys not even go to the games?
Nice wrapup. I’m continuously astounded by how different things are with Bruce Pearl here. Improvement not only from season to season but within a season as well– wait, you can do that in basketball? I’ve never seen such madness.
The rebounding is something that seems to be here to stay. We’re just better than we were a month ago. The paint presence, which was great last night, has to get more consistent, and so do the free throws. You can’t afford off games in tourneys. But progress has been made on both fronts and we’re really moving along. We might just peak at the right time, if we can get JP’s confidence up and break the point guards’ slump.
I’m not saying UT is not a great team, but one night of making your free throws is not an indication that ship has been righted. Bama also had a good night from the stripe, and there’s no doubt in my mind that was more an anomaly than a correction. It might be that they fixed it, but wait and see if it becomes a trend rather than just a great convergence of odds first.
You kind of missed the point, TFIT. I said I thought FT shooting was a little trickier to fix. UT has had two out of three good games, and this one was after focusing on it nearly exclusively this week.
I hope we put as much focus in practice on it down the stretch because the extra work paid off. The only terrible FT shooters on the team are Prince and Williams. I know Chism’s FT% is below 50 percent, but as my dad pointed out last night, he’s got a really nice stroke if he only concentrates.
I’m telling you, if we can go from 63 percent (entering last night) to 70 percent down the stretch, we’ve got a legitimate chance to win in the tourney thanks to as many times as we get to the line (historically).