Tennessee Basketball: Vols Displayed a New Level of Mental Toughness in Ole Miss Win

Tennessee basketball showed a level of mental toughness not seen all year in their win over the Ole Miss Rebels. The Volunteers did it with a strong finish.

Admit that you were in panic mode.It’s perfectly understandable for this young Tennessee basketball team, right?

Jordan Bowden had just missed two free throws. The Ole Miss Rebels got the rebound, holding onto the ball and a 62-57 lead with under five minutes to go in a game with huge NCAA Tournament implications.

The Vols and Rebels are both on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and with so few spots available for SEC bubble teams, it’s unlikely that both would go. And given the fact that Tennessee had already lost to Ole Miss and was in danger of suffering a sweep, that prospect seemed very far away at this point.

It was perfectly understandable to not have faith.

After all, Rick Barnes is dealing with a bunch of unheralded freshman and only one true star. These Vols had just learned how to close out big games and how to deal with success. Dealing with this type of adversity was still new.

Andy Kennedy had exploited the Vols’ youth by switching between a perimeter zone and man-to-man on defense all night to give the Rebels that lead.

But then something happened.

The veteran for the Vols stepped up, as Robert Hubbs III got a steal. He then found one of his freshmen, Lamonte Turner, for a three-pointer to cut it to 62-60.

All of a sudden, this was indeed a game.

And even after Ole Miss extended it back up to 64-60, that three-pointer was the only play the Vols needed to gain momentum. And after proving that they could beat top teams and handle success, they took the final step a team needs to take: proving they could perform with everything on the line.

Coming out of a TV timeout with under four minutes to go, Tennessee basketball dominated the rest of the way.

In a stroke of poetic justice, Bowden, another freshman by the way, cut it to 64-62 with two free throws, making up for his two earlier misses.

Then Tennessee forced a turnover. Grant Williams, a third freshman involved, tied the game with a layup thanks to an offensive rebound and pass by Hubbs, the senior.

Hubbs then took the lead with a layup, and the Vols got another defensive stop. Eventually, they took complete control of the game.

This was a huge step for the Vols, make no mistake. Down late, they showed they could handle the pressure and close the deal.

Hubbs led the group as a senior, but the freshmen responded. And they all responded to Barnes’s coaching.

It took patience, crisp passes and efficiency to beat Kennedy’s defense, but the Vols scored 15 points doing just that in the final three and a half minutes.

Meanwhile, after being down 64-60, they did not allow a field goal the rest of the game.

And at the free throw line, they went 8-for-10 after those two Bowden misses, all of which were crunch time free throws.

You can’t undersell how important this was for the mental toughness of this team. With the NCAA Tournament on the line, a group of scrappy freshman and one veteran who is injured, according to his head coach, stepped up their play.

Skip Bayless may call it the clutch gene.

But whatever it is, Tennessee is in much stronger position for an NCAA Tournament berth Thursday than it was Wednesday.

Now, if the Vols beat Georgia at home on Saturday, they will have knocked of their two closest competitors for the tournament on the bubble in the same week.

With their work halfway done, they are in great position to do just that.

But it took a level of mental toughness that we have not seen from them all year against Ole Miss. For that, they deserve praise.