Tennessee basketball in another dangerous situation vs. Memphis
The worst situation any college team can ever be in is when they have to play another team that’s really good but hasn’t played like it’s really good on paper. Tennessee basketball will be in that situation when they face the Memphis Tigers at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Saturday.
Penny Hardaway has a team loaded with talent. It proved on Tuesday, with a dominating win over the Alabama Crimson Tide, that it can beat anybody. However, before Tuesday, the Tigers were on a four-game losing streak, playing way below their standards.
As a result, they come into this game unranked and 6-4 despite having top 10 talent. That means if Tennessee basketball wins this game, they’ll get no credit. They could easily lose, though, just as easily as they could playing a top 10 team, but they’ll get no slack if that happens.
This is an ultimate test for Barnes. How can he have his kids ready to play in such a situation? The Vols have played some good teams already, and at 8-2 and ranked No. 18 nationally, they have already been in tricky situations like these.
After losing to the Villanova Wildcats, they had to face a North Carolina Tar Heels team that was ranked, that has talent but that had also lost the day before. UT responded by dominating and being ready to play from jump.
Nearly two weeks ago, they had to visit the Colorado Buffaloes in a dangerous matchup. Despite not shooting well that day, they managed to dominate, pulling away with a 69-54 victory thanks to Kennedy Chandler going off.
Three days later, though, they were in a similar situation against a Texas Tech Red Raiders team that was clearly good but hadn’t been in a situation to prove it yet. The Vols lost thanks to a historically bad shooting night that likely won’t be repeated.
Now, after all of those games, UT is in another such situation. Win, and they just survive with no accolades. Lose, and they will be put under a microscope as if they suffered a bad loss. What’s indisputable, though, is that this won’t be a bad loss.
Memphis just beat a top 10 team pretty convincingly. They are dangerous and just haven’t put it all together for a strong period of time yet. Given the fact that they are about to begin their American Athletic Conference schedule, they may not have enough time to prove themselves if they have put it all together, which means this could never look good for UT.
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Beyond all of this, though, Tennessee basketball has to refocus and get set to host the Arizona Wildcats next Wednesday. Arizona is actually ranked as top 10 team, so the Vols somehow have to avoid looking ahead of Memphis to that game. It’s all very tricky, and if they aren’t careful, they could suffer a costly loss.