Tennessee basketball: Vols move the winning streak to five with win over Samford

With the win over Samford, the Vols advance their winning streak to five in a row. Tennessee basketball improves to 9-1 on the season.

Unfortunately, the SEC Network executes didn’t think it made sense to make the Tennessee basketball game easily accessible. Despite playing Samford, who by the way was 10-2 coming into the game, the Vols were demoted to SECN+ and what a shame that was.

With 6:19 left in the first half Samford held a seven-point lead before Jordan Bowden hit a big three-point shot to get the Vols going. Tennessee went on a 13-0 run which helped them take a nine-point lead into halftime.

Samford continued to put a lot of pressure on the Vols but could never get close enough to put the game in question. In the end, Tennessee was too tough and held a double-digit lead, again another game without Lamonte Turner. Here are three takeaways from the game.

1. Jordan was bad to the BONE

We talked about the potential last season. Jordan Bone has the talent to be one of the best point guards in the entire nation. We kept asking when he was going to put it together. It appears that he has found his groove.

We arguably just watched or listened to his best game in a Tennessee uniform. Bone finished with a career-high in points (24) and assists (11). It also marks the first career double-double of his career.

You can take away the stats and still see that Bone is playing much better this season. He is playing within himself and running the offense better than it has been ran since CJ Watson was wearing the orange and white.

2. Assists/Turnover ratio was impressive

Yes, Tennessee had nine turnovers against Samford, but three or four of them were absolutely bone-headed plays. Coming into the game, Tennessee ranked ninth in the nation (first in the SEC) with a 1.68 assists-to-turnover ratio.

Against the Bulldogs, Tennessee had 22 assists with just nine turnovers. The Vols are valuing the basketball, and that can’t go understated how important that will be throughout the season.

3. Fouling could be a problem, and it’s already shown this season

If I have to find a negative, it would have to be all the fouls. As we have pointed out in previous post, college basketball referees are some of the worst and try to make the game about them rather than the players.

However, it seems like the Vols are in foul trouble every single game. Grant Williams fouled out against Kansas and Gonzaga. We can discuss “the Memphis flop” all night, but a handful of Vols found themselves in foul trouble.

The same could be said against Samford. With already a limited lineup with Lamonte Turner still nursing a shoulder injury and John Fulkerson sitting out, the Vols couldn’t afford foul trouble. However, Bowden, Williams, and Walker all had two fouls early in the game.

The Vols will be back in action on Saturday at noon as Wake Forest heads to Knoxville for what seems like their yearly matchup.