Vols’ Chism is a 3 threat when needed

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The NCAA tournament is about opportunity. At some point in almost every game, the underdog has an opportunity to step up, to surprise, to shock. At roughly that same moment, the favorite has the opportunity to say no.

Belmont had its moment as a No. 15 seed against second-seeded Duke but couldn’t pull it off Thursday night.

But if that missed opportunity denied the 2008 tourney its early signature moment, it nevertheless inspired fellow No. 15 seed American in its East Regional opener against second-seeded Tennessee.

In fact, American coach Jeff Jones repeatedly referred to the Belmont game before the Eagles took the court Friday afternoon against the Volunteers.

“Coach mentioned it in our meeting last night,” Eagles guard Brian Gilmore said. “He said if we did the things we were capable of, that we would give ourselves an opportunity to be right there with them, just as Belmont was.”

And so they did. The Eagles led early. They tied Tennessee at 40 with 11:22 to play, much to the delight of everyone in the BJCC Arena stands not wearing Tennessee orange.

Then, after the Vols recovered enough to lead 50-40, American again pulled within one, running off nine straight points.

“At that moment, we had the opportunity to control the game,” said Garrison Carr, who scored a game-high 26 points.

But Tennessee took the opportunity to say no. Their lead down to 50-49 with exactly six minutes to play, the Vols found JaJuan Smith 15 seconds later for a 3-pointer. Swish. Lead back to 53-49. Lead secure from that point forward, that bucket signaling the start of a 14-4 run over the next 4:22. The Vols won 72-57.

Finishing his thought, Carr added, “But Tennessee came right back and knocked a 3 down. While we were making our run, they played just like a No. 2 seed and like a No. 1 team in the nation. They made their runs right back.”

With apologies to former McMinn County standout JaJuan Smith, who led the Vols with 19 points, including four 3s in eight attempts, no one in Orange had more to do with those runs than sophomore pivot Wayne Chism.

Twice in the second half Chism delivered the kind of titanic triples that UT fans have long associated with senior All-American Chris Lofton. The first came out of a media timeout with 10:12 to go and the Vols on top 42-40. Chism’s deep bomb off a staggered screen from J.P. Prince and Ramar Smith pushed the advantage to 45-40.

“Yeah, well, everyone pretty much knows that J.P. and Ramar can’t shoot the ball,” Chism said later. “But they’re great penetrators so (American) was backing off them. I came off a screen and I was wide open.”

His second big 3 came with 4:19 left. It increased a nervous 54-51 UT advantage to a more comfortable 57-51 cushion. The Eagles never flew closer than four points the rest of the way.

Then, of course, there was Chism’s three-point play the old-fashioned way with 1:52 left that moved the lead to 63-53.

“I got two fouls in the first half,” said Chism, who played just 10 minutes in the opening period. “So I had to come out in the second half and make up for it. Coach (Bruce Pearl) came out with a quick play for me (the first 3-point shot) and I hit that one, and then I hit another one. So I picked my team up on offense big-time.”

Chism has done this before. Repeatedly. He scored 23 points to help the Vols avoid an upset loss to South Carolina in the opening round of the SEC tournament. He scored 13 points and hauled down seven rebounds at Memphis. He scored 12 points at Florida and 16 at Georgia.

“Wayne was my most important recruit early on,” Pearl said. “He can just do so many things. And he’s not afraid to fail. Wayne’s a confident guy. I’ve just always thought he was special.”

Maybe this will become a special win for UT, and maybe it won’t. Butler awaits Sunday afternoon, and the Vols will probably have to play better if they expect to advance to next week’s regional semifinals in Charlotte.

As Pearl noted late Friday afternoon after watching the Bulldogs dismantle South Alabama 81-61, “They’re an absolute nightmare to match up against.”

But perhaps no more so than UT when the 6-foot-9 Chism is knocking down 3-pointers.

“We had a couple of opportunities,” Jones said. “We had our moment in the sun ... (but) the biggest baskets of the game were those two 3s that Chism hit.”

Two 3s that gave the No. 2 seed the opportunity to stay alive for at least two more days.