Tennessee basketball: Vols 2019-2020 top 10 individual game performances

6. Lamonte Turner vs. No. 20 VCU Rams (Niceville, Fla.)

12 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals

Tennessee wins 72-69

As we said earlier, clutch performances against teams count as major bonus points in the final minutes of games, and they can make up for a few inefficient things that took place throughout the rest of the game. Such is the case for Lamonte Turner in Tennessee basketball’s win over the VCU Rams, who were at the time a top 25 team.

UT had just lost to the Florida State Seminoles by three the night before, and this was the consolation game in the Emerald Coast Classic. Turner, who had taken responsibility for his turnovers as the point guard against FSU, struggled to shoot the ball in this one. Up until the final second, he only had nine points and was four-of-13 from the field.

However, Turner did have seven assists and trimmed his turnovers to five against a very aggressive VCU team. He was aggressive himself, coming away with three steals. In the game itself, UT had blown an 11-point halftime lead that was at one point 13 points in the second half. VCU tied it up with a three-pointer with five seconds to go.

That’s when Turner’s number was called. In a work of art similar to what Chris Lofton did in the first round of the NCAA Tournament way back in 2006, Turner caught the in-bounds pass and took a fadeaway corner three as time expired. The shot went in, and he secured a huge early win for Rick Barnes’ team. Buzzer beaters earn major points, and that puts this high on the list.