Tennessee basketball rallies to beat Georgia: 3 takeaways from Vols win
Tennessee basketball came back from 11 points down to defeat the Bulldogs. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers victory against the UGA Dawgs.
It was a bittersweet night for Tennessee basketball. On Senior Night in one of the most exciting seasons of the year for Rocky Top, the Vols came rallied from an 11-point first half deficit in front of a sellout crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena to beat the Georgia Bulldogs 66-61.
The win was the Vols’ first against Georgia since the Cuonzo Martin era and came two weeks after a 73-62 loss to Georgia, their last loss of the regular season. And it assured them a tie for the best record in the SEC to close out the year. The No. 16 Vols finish the regular season at 23-7 and 13-5 in the conference and clinched the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.
That No. 2 seed is where the bittersweet part comes in. Just before tipoff, it was confirmed that Tennessee basketball would not be able to win the SEC regular season championship outright. The Auburn Tigers came back in the second half to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks to also clinch a 13-5 record. And they have the head-to-head advantage over Rick Barnes’s team.
However, this is still Tennessee’s best regular season since certainly 2009-2010 and arguably since 2009-2010. Georgia fell to 16-14 and 7-11 in the conference. Here are three takeaways from the Vols’ win on Saturday.
1. Admiral Schofield’s hot streak continued.
Apparently, the state of Mississippi is not the only place where Admiral Schofield likes to go off. He was named SEC player of the week last week and then scored over 20 points in both games this week, a streak that’s now at three.
Schofield scored 23 points against the Dawgs and led the team in scoring. He shot 50 percent from the field and nailed two threes, and he was over 5-of-6 from the free throw line. The guy was diverse and flawless offensively all night. But it was part of an overall trend, which leads to our next point.
2. The inside game was a mixed bag.
Schofield was part of the inside game’s dominance under the basket, but he wasn’t alone. Remember when Barnes called out Grant Williams for his poor play against the Dawgs two weeks ago? Well, he responded and played as aggressively as possible. So aggressive, in fact, that he fouled out. But that wasn’t before scoring 22 points and nailing 8-of-8 free throws. But his and Schofield’s scoring aren’t the only reasons the inside game was amazing.
Kyle Alexander only scored two points. But he continued his hustle with nine rebounds and blocking another shot. However, it wasn’t all good. The Vols didn’t have much help off the bench inside. At the same time, they were outrebounded 38-28. So they weren’t always great on the hustle plays. However, they still managed to be effective.
3. Ball movement was great.
Tennessee basketball did not have a great shooting night. That’s why none of the guards scored in double-figures. They only shot 38.9 percent from the field overall. However, they did all the other right things to win the game: making the right passes, avoiding turnovers, and hitting their free throws.
The Vols shot 94 percent from the free throw line. They also still shot 38.9 percent from three, hitting them when they were open. And here’s the real kicker: they had 15 assists and four turnovers. FOUR! As the only senior on the roster, James Daniel III got the start, but he was still unselfish and focused on the team, only taking one shot and but picking up four assists. Jordan Bowden had seven assists and no turnovers. Altogether, Tennessee basketball worked the inside out game to perfection. And that’s why they won.