Tennessee basketball: How recent close games have all worked against Vols

Tennessee basketball is doing everything right. But a collection of close games have worked against the Volunteers since Saturday.

At 22-1, 10-0 in the SEC and four straight weeks at No. 1, there’s not much for Tennessee basketball to complain about. As they get set to host the South Carolina Gamecocks Wednesday night, they have a chance to get to 11-0 in the league and 23-1.

Then the Vols travel to Rupp Arena Saturday to take on the Kentucky Wildcats as they begin the brutal stretch run of their schedule. But Kentucky has done absolutely nothing to help UT over the past two games.

In fact, Kentucky, the LSU Tigers and the Duke Blue Devils have all had recent results work against Tennessee basketball. Let’s start with SEC play and UT’s goal of winning the conference regular season championship.

On Saturday, Kentucky and LSU both held on to beat their respective teams, the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Auburn Tigers. That was rough for the Vols, who were clinging to a one-game lead over both teams in the conference standings and are about to play both teams on the road in a matter of three games.

At that point, it was clear that the Vols would have to win the SEC the old-fashioned way: by getting through the difficult stretch of their schedule. Well, they didn’t get anymore help on Tuesday night.

LSU managed to shock the ‘Cats on the road 73-71. That was brutal because Tennessee has to face the Tigers on the road, and they at least get a home and road game against Kentucky. Meanwhile, the Vols and Alabama Crimson Tide are the only top 100 RPI teams remaining on LSU’s schedule in the SEC. Simply put, UT has to win in Baton Rouge to win the SEC outright.

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But worse than that, the game took a ton of luster out of Saturday’s match-up between the Vols and Wildcats. That was supposed to be the hyped up game between two top 5 teams vying for the SEC regular season crown. It would’ve been the biggest game in the history of the rivalry. And the win would’ve helped to boost UT’s status. It still will but just not as much.

Things would have been much better for Tennessee basketball if Kentucky managed to beat LSU and lose to Mississippi State. At that point, they would have had breathing room. Had both things happened and Auburn beat LSU, the Vols would be in prime position to win the SEC, only needing to split one of two against Kentucky.

As it is, they just have to keep winning. And to make matters worse, the Blue Devils keep building a resume to creep up on them for that No. 1 overall seed after two more quality wins. Duke took out the Virginia Cavaliers Saturday again. To be fair, that was probably better for the Vols because it allowed them to quell UVA’s case to be No. 1, as they have a stronger case against the Devils.

But on Tuesday, Tennessee basketball had a chance for more breathing room. The Louisville Cardinals, a team the Vols beat early in the year, were up by 23 on the Devils at home. But Duke led a gigantic second-half comeback to win.

That did two things. It added to Duke’s resume and hurt UT’s a bit. Had Louisville held on, the Vols’ two biggest quality wins on the season would have been against teams that beat the Blue Devils, and they still haven’t lost to a team the Blue Devils beat. As a result, they would have had a stronger case for No. 1 and would be playing for such this week.

Instead, Duke’s comeback and Kentucky’s collapse ruined golden opportunities for the Vols in February. But the good news is that the Vols still control their own destiny for everything. So if they keep winning, none of this matters. Beating Kentucky and LSU themselves will quell any rumors, and all that matters is what happens in March anyway.

Before any of this happens, though, Rick Barnes’s team has to get past the South Carolina Gamecocks Wednesday. If they do that, they can afford a loss to the Kentucky Wildcats Saturday provided they beat the Vanderbilt Commodores next week. That’ll mean they beat all the low-level teams the conference and built a strong cushion to play for the big things.