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Tennessee basketball: 5 things we learned about Vols from SEC Tournament

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 16: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team during the 82-78 win over the Kentucky Wildcats during the semifinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 16, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 16: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team during the 82-78 win over the Kentucky Wildcats during the semifinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 16, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images /

1. Tennessee basketball is capable of very fast runs. 

One bit of good news for Tennessee basketball in all of this is that, although they may struggle with tempo and can dig deep holes, they can go on very fast runs. It’s also clear they can go on them against great teams.

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Don’t let the Auburn Tigers loss cloud your judgment of what happened against the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday. There’s no way to understate what it meant for them to be able to come back from eight points down with two and a half minutes to go.

After missing every three-point attempt in the second half and having Kyle Alexander out of the game, the Vols managed to get threes from Admiral Schofield, Lamonte Turner and even Grant Williams. They then turned up the defense and got stop after stop.

It was an epic game and an incredible win over a very good Kentucky team. Sure, it may have taken too much out of them for Auburn, and that’s a concern on its own. But it also showed that this team can get very hot at any moment.

In spite of everything we’ve seen from the Vols in the regular season, including a hot run at the Florida Gators to put the game out of reach in early January, we haven’t yet seen that. What they did was incredible.

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As a result, Tennessee basketball has something to look forward to in the NCAA Tournament. They know that they won’t be out of any game because of how quickly they can turn things on. However, depending on whom they play, they will not want to be in that situation. It’s still a good quality to have, though.

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