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Tennessee basketball: Grant Williams’ career night overshadowed Bone’s performance

By Billy Williford

NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 23: Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts in the second half of the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gym on January 23, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee won 88-83 in overtime. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 23: Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts in the second half of the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gym on January 23, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee won 88-83 in overtime. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The No.1 Tennessee basketball team escaped a scare from Vanderbilt thanks to 43 points from Grant Williams. But, we can’t forget about Jordan Bone’s performance.

New flash, Grant Williams is really good at basketball. On Wednesday night he led the No.1 Tennessee basketball team to an 88-83 OT victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Vanderbilt came into the game winless in the SEC and was struggling to find ways to score the basketball. However, one thing they were great at was low post defense. That would make anyone think it could be a long night for the Vols inside game.

But, the reigning SEC Player of the Year scored a career-high 43 points on 10-0f-15 from the field. Only missing five shots in a game with as much pressure as this one had was more than impressive. Yet, that wasn’t enough, Williams attempted 23 free throws and made every single one of them.

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As good as he was, and believe me, we could write 1,000 posts on how much Williams meant to the victory Wednesday night, this is about Jordan Bone.

No, he didn’t score 23 points. And, no he didn’t have a game-sealing block on the defensive end with just seconds remaining. But, Bone’s performance shouldn’t go unnoticed.

The Nashville native scored 14 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. That’s what a lot of people will focus on, and 14 points should be considered a good game, but it is nothing compared to the 43 from Williams.

The Vols opened with a 15-2 run, and Vanderbilt answered, but for the most part, Bone controlled the game. He pushed the ball when appropriate and backed off when the team needed a slowdown. What will go underappreciated and undiscussed is how Bone accounted for seven assists with zero turnovers. Again, ZERO turnovers.

That marked just the second time this season Bone finished with zero turnovers; the other came against Missouri when he added 17 points and five assists. There have been eight other games where he accounted for just one turnover.

Bone has been on an absolute tear this season. He has the third most assists in the SEC with 115 only trailing Jared Harper from Auburn (118) and Jalen Harris from Arkansas (116). Bone ranks tied for second with 6.4 assists per game only behind Jared Harper at 6.6.

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There is a strong argument to be made that Bone’s 14 points, seven assists with zero turnovers performance was just as important as any other. I think it is safe to say that Bone is on his way to being the best point guard in the SEC as well as in the nation and without him, the Vanderbilt outcome could have been much different.

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