Tennessee: Maze rallies to lead UT

KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team lost two double-digit leads in five days before its new point guard got an old-fashioned tongue-lashing.

And assistant coach Steve Forbes’ forceful words to Bobby Maze helped keep UT’s losing streak at one.

The 15th-ranked Volunteers scored 42 points in the last 12 minutes, 4 seconds Saturday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum, giving them an 86-77 victory over Georgia.

Junior forward Tyler Smith’s 24 points, 11 rebounds and six assists had plenty to do with that, but Maze’s big second half didn’t hurt.

Maze scored 11 of his 16 points in the final 12 minutes on 4-for-7 shooting. Both of his assists (to just one turnover) and three of his six rebounds also came in the Vols’ final flurry.

“Bobby Maze stepped it up big time,” UT coach Bruce Pearl said. “Steve put it on him and challenged Bobby, and he really did respond well to the challenge. I think this was an important win for Tennessee, but this was a big win for Bobby, too, because he did better.

“This is how he could be playing.

Forbes felt the same way. That’s why he confronted the struggling junior college transfer just before the second half.

“I can’t repeat what I said ... but I meant it,” said Forbes, who played a pivotal role in signing Maze out of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College.

“I expect more from Bobby, and he knows that,” Forbes continued. “He’s the kind of kid who could handle it. He’s tough.”

Maze didn’t repeat many specifics of Forbes “pep talk,” either, but the gist is that it started with a grabbed jersey and ended with a Southeastern Conference road victory.

And with rival Kentucky (12-4, 1-0 SEC) arriving in town today for a Tuesday night showdown, it might have given the Vols (10-4, 1-0) a better chance of getting an early leg up in the Eastern Division race.

“Coach Forbes ... grabbed me before the second half and said, ‘This is what you’re here for,’” Maze said. “I hadn’t been playing well, and in order for us to win, I’m going to have to play well. He grabbed my chest, and that meant a lot to me, because he could have easily just not said anything to me.

“By him getting on me, that put a lot of pride in me and led me to a good second half.”

Maze and backup Josh Tabb looked to be an upgrade from last season’s point guard tandem of Ramar Smith and Jordan Howell, but the duo’s mini-slump reached its lowest point in Wednesday’s 89-79, overtime loss to Gonzaga. They combined to shoot 1-for-10 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range in 45 minutes that night, collecting a combined four points, six rebounds, one assist and two turnovers.

Tabb called Wednesday “one of the toughest losses I can remember” in his three seasons at UT. Maze has played just 14 games for the Vols, but it stung him, too.

“I know what all is at stake here, and I’ve never felt like I felt after the loss to Gonzaga,” Maze said. “I was nearly in tears. I couldn’t even eat after the game, because it was a big game for us, and I’ll always be remembered as one of the players on the team that lost that home winning streak.

“So we had to do whatever it took to win this game.”

Smith plays as a “point forward” for UT’s offense, but poor play at the point guard position can still stunt any team’s growth. Players like Kansas’s Sherron Collins, Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo and Belmont’s Alex Renfroe gave the Vols fits, but UT has been able to contain solid point guards such as Georgetown’s Chris Wright and Marquette’s Dominic James.

How UT fares against Kentucky’s Michael Porter and DeAndre Liggins might indicate whether the Vols start a new Thompson-Boling winning streak or drop two home games in a row — something that’s happened just once in Pearl’s three-plus seasons.

Ironically, though, Kentucky was responsible for that streak, dropping the Vols in Knoxville on March 1, 2006.

“Bobby did some things that we know he can do (at Georgia),” Smith said. “He penetrated and got guys shots. He made open shots himself, made tough twos, a couple of kick-back threes.

“He made some big plays for us, and we know Bobby can do that all the time.