Tennessee basketball: Vols had the right spell to prevent Vanderbilt’s Memorial magic
The No.1 Tennessee basketball team went to Nashville looking to extend their 12-game winning streak. It was a tight game, but the Vols got it done.
History has a way of repeating itself. Honestly, it’s quite scary once you think about it. 11 years ago a newly ranked No.1 Tennessee basketball team was riding high with their win over a highly talented Memphis Tigers team.
The very next game after receiving the No.1 ranking the Vols traveled to Nashville to take on the Commodores. As we all know, Shan Foster dropped over 30 points and willed Vanderbilt to an upset victory.
Fast forward to this season and the same scenario was at play, well kind of. The newly ranked No.1 Volunteers went into Nashville on Wednesday night to take on the Commodores. But, this time Vanderbilt didn’t have enough Memorial magic to pull the upset.
The game started out all Tennessee as they went up 15-2 early. However, credit is due to Bryce Drew and the crew. They fought all the way back and quite honestly should have won the game.
With just 1:32 left to play in regulation, the Vols were down 76-70 when Grant Williams took over. He made two free throws and had one block with one steal.
In overtime, it was more Grant Williams (more on him later) as he scored a career-high 43 points. It wasn’t the best game the Vols have played this season, but a win is a win. Here are three takeaways from the game.
1. Vols struggle to guard the three-point shot…AGAIN
There isn’t a lot to knock this Tennessee basketball team on. They are undefeated in SEC play at 6-0. They are riding a 13-game winning streak that dates back to before Thanksgiving. However, as good as they are, they continue to struggle to guard the three-point shot, and it’s shown the past few games.
It started down in Gainesville when the Florida Gators hit nine three-point shots in the first half. Again, they hot shooting calmed down, but the Gators were still shooting wide open shots in the second half.
Against Alabama, we saw many of the same defensive breakdowns when it came to the guarding the three-point shot. John Petty scored 30 points by shooting 6-of-10 from deep. Again, most of his shots were wide open.
And tonight, Vanderbilt went off from deep shooting nearly 50 percent from deep. Some will call it luck, but Bryce Drew was continually calling plays to get wide open shots, especially from the corner.
It took overtime for the Vols to understand how to guard that play when Grant Williams had a fantastic block to seal the game. Which brings us perfectly to our next takeaway.
2. Winner’s win
We’ve seen this before. The Vols play an ugly looking game while the other team is playing their best and it almost leads to a loss. But, almost isn’t a loss. At the end of the day if the Vols keep finding a way to win it doesn’t matter.
They have won the past two games by a combined eight points while shooting just 25 percent from the three-point line. And, Admiral Schofield hasn’t played particularly well.
We understand opposing teams are going to bring it every single night especially now the Vols are No.1 in the nation. However, when you’re a winner things just go your way. But, it does help having the reigning SEC Player of the Year in Grant Williams.
3. Grant Williams is on another planet
I don’t know if we can say enough good things about Grant Williams. The guy is on another planet, and somehow he just keeps getting better.
Last season, Williams scored a career-high 37 points against the Commodores in Nashville. Wednesday night, Williams had to one-up himself scoring 43 points on 10-of-15 from the field. What’s more impressive is that Williams went perfect from the free throw line and he shot 23 of them.
Williams opened up overtime with an and-one, and that basically sealed the deal. Without Williams’ outstanding performance there was no way Tennessee was going to win the game.
There is one thing that did surprise me to see. When the game was on the line, all the players wanted to play “hero” instead of playing unselfish like that have all season. Before it was too late, it appeared Rick Barnes gave them no other choice and Williams won the game.
Next. 5 OC changes that worked out for Vols. dark
Tennessee escapes with a win and moves on to take on West Virginia on Saturday for the Big 12/SEC Challenge.