Tennessee basketball: Vols seniors Lamonte Turner, Jordan Bowden reached milestone with unselfishness
Senior Volunteers guards Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner both reached 1,000 career points on the same night with Tennessee basketball.
As the two senior leaders for Tennessee basketball, Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden earned their place in Vols history Wednesday night as they each reached the 1,000-point club in the program en route to the team’s dominant victory over the Alabama State Hornets. It was fitting for these two to reach it on the same night.
Turner and Bowden have had to deal with similar issues since they arrived on Rocky Top. But for both of them, one thing is a constant: they reached this rare club by being unselfish the entire time. And that’s a major tribute to them.
Take Turner, for instance. He was recruited as a combo guard. Then he missed his first season on campus and took a redshirt due to injury. Since then, he has gotten better every year. But as a sophomore, he was relegated to the bench. He accepted his role as a backup guard and still managed to average double-figures off the bench.
A year later, Bowden was the one moved to the bench in favor of Turner despite Turner being hurt early in the year. Rick Barnes preferred to players who could run the point on the court at the same time. Bowden accepted his role and provided the necessary scoring punch off the bench.
This year, Bowden is still transitioning to the go-to scorer, and Turner is transitioning to the full-time point guard. Both will get help when Josiah-Jordan James develops this year, but they’re the focus of Tennessee basketball right now. And that has something they have earned.
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If you’ve followed them throughout their careers, Bowden is the better scorer but super-unselfish while Turner has had more of an instinct to score. So to make the transitions they have made in these new roles is incredible.
While being the leading scorer now, Bowden is shooting 48 percent from the field and over 57 percent from the three-point line. He’s averaging 17.5 points while barely taking 15 shots a game when you account for free throws.
While he’s a little bit of a different story, Turner has struggled with his efficiency early on this year because of a shoulder injury. But he has fully embraced his role as a true point guard now, which is why he is averaging eight and a half assists a game and just under 13 points. If he gets healthy and stays patient, his shot will eventually come, and he appears to know that.
Both players have played multiple roles as guards for Tennessee basketball over the years, and they both bring a ton of experience to the program. As the only holdovers from the big six in the rotation over the last two years, this is now their team. They have been pitted against each other in the past. But they’re working together great. And they have earned the respect they get.
Joining the 1,000-point club was because of them always being willing to put the team first. It’s why they are where they are, but it’s also why the Vols are where they are under Rick Barnes. The program would not have reached this level and maintained it without these two guys.