Tennessee basketball: Jordan Bowden off the bench was the right call by Rick Barnes

It appears Rick Barnes made the right call asking Jordan Bowden to come off the bench. Could Tennessee basketball have back-to-back SEC Sixth Man of the Year winners?

If it’s broke don’t fix it, or at least that’s what they all say. In the case of Tennessee basketball, you could make a pretty convincing argument that the Vols weren’t broken and didn’t need fixing.

In fact, you could argue that Tennessee is the best team in college basketball this season even with a loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Championship Game of the NIT Season Tip-Off Challenge.

That didn’t stop head coach Rick Barnes from changing the starting lineup. A lineup that has been the same for almost an entire year. As the Eastern Kentucky game drew closer, Barnes hinted that Yves Pons could crack the starting lineup.

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Pons, the four-star sophomore you endless athletic ability is a tireless worker in the gym and brings a different game than Bowden. I’m not suggesting that the changed how to do with Pons effort and Bowden’s struggle to get going offensively.

I believe Lamonte Turner’s injury was a bit more serious than most thought. And, it’s no secret that Bowden has a dangerous offensive game, something that Pons can’t bring to the table, at least not yet.

Bowden exploded for 15 double-digit scoring games last season. A couple of games included perfect shooting from either the three-point line and or free throw line. His best game came against Furman where he scored 21 points on 3-of-7 from deep.

However, as good as Bowden was, he did have his fair share of scoring slumps. One of his biggest ruts came at the end of the season where he had seven games in a row without scoring over eight points. Bowden started the year with back-to-back games in double digits with ten assists and only one turnover. Then came another slump.

In the three-game span starting with Georiga Tech and ending with Kansas, Bowden only scored a combined 13 points. His first game coming off the bench against Eastern Kentucky he only scored seven points. However, that was in a blowout win and with playing just 20 minutes.

Since then, Bowden has played exceptionally well as the first man off the bench. In fact, he is playing close to the level as Lamonte Turner played last season to win SEC Sixth Man of the Year honors.

Bowden has had three back-to-back-to-back double-digit scoring games with 14 against Texas A&M-CC, 11 against Gonzaga, and 12 against Memphis. The last time he was able to have a three-game scoring output was starting with North Carolina.

The scoring is impressive and is exactly what Tennessee needs in the second rotation but Bowden is rebounding better than ever, and he is even dishing out assists.

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I’ve always said it doesn’t matter who starts the games. It only matters what you do with your time on the court. If Bowden continues to play on this level, Tennessee got even better as a team, if that is even possible.

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