Tennessee basketball: Guard play is key to Vols NCAA Tournament success
By Ian McBride
The Tennessee basketball guards will be key to any sort of run the Volunteers hope to make when March Madness comes along.
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It’s almost a tired cliche at this point. You know, the one about consistent guard play and how Tennessee basketball can’t find it. An objective observer might believe that this Tennessee team is more likely to ride unicorns down the floor than they are to find consistency at the guard position.
We are, of course, almost to mid-February and probably have had more Sasquatch sightings in east Tennessee than sightings of consistent play from the Vols 1 and 2 spots. Against Alabama, five of Tennessee basketball’s guards combined to go 5-of-29 from the floor with four rebounds, and seven turnovers. They had just four assists.
That is not counting the stat line of Jalen Johnson. He gets a pass because he has just recently begun entering the rotation in the past two or three weeks. Defensively, the guards allowed their Crimson Tide counterparts to go 16-of-33 shooting, grabbed 13 boards, and dished out 13 assists. That’s not a good look for the Volunteers guards at this time of the year.
It is certainly not a hopeless situation on Rocky Top-far from it. The Vols have shown flashes of great play from the guard positions many times throughout the season. In some instances, the guards even lifted and carried the team. With the exception of Jordan Bowden, who is consistent in what he delivers on defense, no one has really put together a string of consistency more than three or four contests long.
Even when the guard play is good, you never know who it is going to come from. The good news is that almost every guard on this team has had at least a few of those flashes. As a result, the ceiling, in truth, could be fairly high for this group.
However, the bottom line remains the same as it has all season. Guard play doesn’t have to be flawless or even great. But it does need to be, at least, consistently decent if this team wants to make it past the first weekend in the NCAA tournament. So, the same two questions that have existed all season remain. Will Tennessee basketball get a grip on the backcourt? And who will step up and take the reins?
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The Vols’ backcourt will have the opportunity to regroup and take a step forward in the comfort of their own home, playing South Carolina on Tuesday at 9:00 PM. The Gamecocks will be seeking revenge for their 70-63 home loss to the Volunteers on January 20th.