Tennessee picked up another big win on Saturday night, and it’s becoming clear this team has turned a corner. This isn’t the same group that dropped three straight in early December. The maturity and depth of the Vols have grown immensely over the past eight weeks.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie picked up three quick fouls against Auburn, and early in the second half, Tennessee had to pivot. When Rick Barnes was asked if the Vols could have handled a seven-minute stretch without Gillespie a month ago, he said, “That’s a good question. Maybe not. But we’re more prepared now than ever to do that. If it happens. Even Troy, I mean, Troy hasn’t been able to practice or do much in the last week, and we have confidence in him. We thought Troy was really headed in the right direction."
Tennessee survived two extended stretches without its star player, never surrendering the sizable halftime lead it had built. This is a sign of just how different this team is. A few months back, without Gllespie, this team wouldn't have stood a chance.
This Tennessee team is deep
Not to mention, the Vols were missing Felix Okpara, who had a calf injury all of a sudden and was unable to go. Jaylen Carey stepped up, scoring 13, along with Dewayne Brown, who had 10 points, as Tennessee didn't skip a beat in the paint, a real sign of this team's growth.
Barnes was asked about this team's maturity, and he said, “Well, I would say one of them is the communication. I think that we got a group of guys that are talking. We still can get better coming out of timeouts, listening, those type things, but a great example, the other night against Georgia. We had come out of a timeout, and I wanted to make sure they understood exactly what, when I walked into the (huddle), Nate was telling them, ‘hey, this is what we’re doing if they’re in a zone. This is what we’re doing if they’re in man.’ And more of that happened tonight. When you start getting those guys, talking like that, and seeing it, is everybody at that level yet? No, but we’re getting closer.”
Even the freshman star, Nate Ament, is picking up on the little things that need to get done after timeouts. Time and time again, multiple Vols stepped up in what felt like a game this team would have dropped just a few weeks ago. The loss to Kentucky clearly lit a fire under Rick Barnes and his group. This is no longer a team that can afford to coast or play around, and they ever since every punch throw at them since.
On Tuesday night, Ole Miss comes to Knoxville, where the Vols will look to add another win to the streak.