SEC Notepad - January 28 - Rocky Top Report

Photo by Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

It was an eventful week for Tennessee. Their first week in 11 years as the No. 1 team in the nation was full of adversity. It appeared as if the Vols might repeat history and be upset by Vanderbilt as the nation’s top team, but they showed grit and emerged victorious. Tennessee jumped out to a 15-2 lead, but it was a tight battle after that. The Vols won the thriller in Nashville on Wednesday night, 88-83 in overtime. Grant Williams scored 43 points, after going 23-23 from the free throw line.

The Vols returned home for a matchup with West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday. Tennessee faced their largest of the season, trailing 19-7 after 9 minutes. With a 20th consecutive home win on the line, they finished the half on a 24-2 run over the final 11 minutes and held a 10-point halftime lead over the Mountaineers. They ended up winning by 17 points.

Let’s take a look at how the rest of the SEC fared this week.

POWER RANKINGS

1. Tennessee (—): After garnering the No. 1 spot in the national rankings last Monday, the Vols went 2-0 this past week. They fended off Vanderbilt, winning 88-83 in overtime, before taking care of business in an 83-66 home win over West Virginia. The Vols are now 18-1 (6-0 in the SEC), after winning their 14th consecutive game on Saturday

2. Kentucky (—): The Wildcats picked up 2 big home wins this week, defeating Mississippi State 76–55 and beating a top-10 Kansas team, 71-63.

3. LSU (—): LSU beat Georgia by 10, before their 86-80 overtime victory at Missouri. It was quite the comeback, as Missouri led by 14 with under 3 minutes remaining. LSU scored 32 points in the final 3:00 of regulation and overtime to complete the comeback.

4. Alabama (up 3): Alabama crushed Ole Miss by a score of 74-53 on Tuesday, before narrowing losing on the road at Baylor, 73-68. The Bears are currently third in the Big 12.

5. Ole Miss (—): The Rebels surprised many by getting dominated by 21 points at Alabama and then losing by 14 at home against No. 24 Iowa State.

6. Mississippi State (—): The Bulldogs lost to Kentucky on the road, but responded by beating Auburn at home, 92-84.

7. South Carolina (up 2): Auburn began the week with an upset win over Auburn, before losing to Oklahoma State, 74-70.

8. Auburn (down 4): The Tigers are struggling, having lost their last 3 games. This week, they fell on the road to South Carolina and Mississippi State.

9. Florida (down 1 ): The Gators had an unimpressive 81-72 win over Texas A&M, after trailing by 13 at halftime, before losing to TCU by 5 points on Saturday.

10. Arkansas (up 1 ): Overall, Arkansas had a fairly good week. They defeated Missouri on Wednesday and narrowly lost at No. 14 Texas Tech, 67-64.

11. Texas A&M (up 1 ): After surrendering a 13-point halftime lead in their loss to Florida early in the week, the Aggies beat a good Kansas State team by 12 points. The Wildcats are currently tied-for-first in the Big 12.

12. Missouri (down 2): The Tigers may have had the worst week among all SEC teams this week. They suffered a 12-point loss to Arkansas, before blowing a 14-point lead in the final 3:00 of regulation to lose to LSU in overtime.

13. Georgia (—): The Bulldogs lost to LSU by 10 points, before beating Texas by 10.

14. Vanderbilt (—): The Commodores are the only SEC team without a conference win, losing to Tennessee and Oklahoma this week.

Jotting down some notes…

Positive Aspects for the Vols: Grant Williams was named the SEC Player of the Week after his stellar performance against Vanderbilt. Tennessee’s philosophy has been to feed the ball to the post and then break the game open from 3-point range. The Vols got out of rhythm and were not knocking down their jump shots, so they went back to feeding Grant in the post. It was a great decision. In the second half, especially towards the end of regulation, it seemed as if Grant was getting a touch on every possession. Tennessee avoided an upset by allowing Grant to dictate what happened on offense. His free throw shooting was stellar, as he made all 23 of his attempts.

As for the West Virginia game, Lamonté Turner started for the seventh time in his career and led the team with a 23-point effort. Rick Barnes spoke on why he chose to start Lamonté, saying, “We felt like they might start the game trying to take Jordan Bone out to where we couldn’t get the ball to him, and we didn’t want to put the pressure on Admiral and Yves trying to think they had to handle the ball. That’s the only reason we did it. It was for him to have the ball longer and to start the game with another guard in, basically. It kind of helped us with the rotation between the guards a little bit better. It helped us fight back. I’ve said before, we feel like we’ve got seven guys that can score at any point in time. We’ll look at it and think of what we need to do to get ready for our opponents.”

Lamonté said that the team is continuing to stay focused on the present, stating, “Every day is a battle. We have two tough road games coming up. We have to focus on that. We have to get back into lab, into the gym and into the film room and correct our mistakes and get ready to go.”

Need to Improve On: Tennessee allowed Vanderbilt to work their way back from an early 15-2 deficit and then got off to a sluggish start against West Virginia. With a road test at South Carolina looming, the Vols will need to show consistency. A flat start could lead to an upset in a sold-out game in Columbia. If the Vols dominate the game in the first minutes, they can eliminate the effect of the hostile environment and establish their game. A fast start will be key on Tuesday night.

Up Next for the Vols: Tennessee goes on the road to face South Carolina on Tuesday. The Gamecocks are 10-9 (5-1 in the SEC). They have won 6 of their last 8 games, after a 4-7 start to the season included losses to Stony Brook, Wofford, and Wyoming. They are clearly a different team now that SEC play has begun. Then, the Vols will travel to College Station to play Texas A&M on Saturday. The Aggies are 8-10 overall, with a 1-5 conference record. The No. 1 Vols are getting every team’s best shot, but they are ready for the challenge.