Tennessee basketball tops Georgia 89-81: Three takeaways

No Yves Pons? No problem. With its best post player out due to a sore knee, Tennessee basketball topped the Georgia Bulldogs 89-81 at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. Wednesday night. The Vols fell behind 2-0 and then went on a tear, going up 44-26 at halftime and then crossing the 20-point lead mark off a monster dunk by Keon Johnson to put them up 49-28.

After expanding that lead to 67-45, however, UGA went on a run and made a furious comeback. There was a 9-0 run that extended to a 13-2 run and helped the Dawgs cut the lead to single digits in the final couple minutes. Rocky Top had to clinch the game from the foul line after that, which they did.

With the win, UT improves to 14-4 and 7-4 in the SEC. They will visit the LSU Tigers Saturday. The Dawgs fall to 12-7 and 5-7 in the SEC as they get set to visit the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s win.

1. Guard play was almost perfect.

Without Pons, Barnes had to go small and turn up the tempo. That decision worked to perfection. All four starting guards hit double-figures. This was helped by a flawless shooting night, as the team went 10-of-24 from the three-point line. The starters actually went 9-of-16. Also, as we mentioned, they had to clinch the game from the line. They went 25-of-29 from there.

Jaden Springer was a star, scoring 30 points and going 3-of-4 from three. Santiago Vescovi went 3-of-7 from three with 19 points. Josiah-Jordan James added 18 points, going 2-of-4 from three and Johnson scored 11 while going 1-for-1 from three. Only Victor Bailey Jr. struggled, going 1-of-8 from three with seven points, but he hit late free throws, which was crucial.

2. John Fulkerson didn’t dominate but was key.

There have been calls for John Fulkerson to get more aggressive down low, and without Pons, this seemed to be the night to do it. However, he didn’t have a dominant performance. In fact, he only scored four points. Still, he did a lot of key things for Tennessee basketball that helped facilitate the tempo Barnes was trying to run.

Fulkerson only took three shots and made two of them. He also had eight rebounds and a block, but what was key was him having four assists. Johnson’s monster dunk wouldn’t have happened without a beautiful pass from Fulkerson to set it up. Look at the replay above to see that. Fulky was efficient and unselfish and deserves credit for that.

3. Turnovers were a problem.

Whenever you go small and play tempo, this is going to happen. However, it’s still a problem when you lead by over 20 in the second half and only win by single digits. The Vols let UGA back in the game with turnovers, as they had 17 on the night to only 16 assists. Springer and Vescovi each had five, and Johnson had four. That’s an issue that has to be corrected.

To be fair, Tennessee basketball was elite with its perimeter defense as well to match that. The Vols had 10 steals and four blocks forcing 18 turnovers. James had two blocks and two steals, and E.J. Anosike and Davonte Gaines, of all people each had two steals off the bench. Springer led in steals with three. Overall, these guys thrived in the up-tempo system.