Lamonte Turner could have offered a diplomatic response proclaiming he and his Tennessee basketball teammates had no interest in a game occurring elsewhere.
Instead, the sophomore guard addressed the matter head-on when the topic of Auburn's game at Arkansas came up Tuesday night as the Volunteers prepared to board a plane back to Knoxville after their 76-54 win at Mississippi State.
"We will be tuned in," Turner said. "It would be big for Arkansas to beat them tonight and us have a chance to win a championship. That's been our goal. That's been our goal since the summer. We are sticking to it."
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes calls out to guard Lamonte Turner (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. Tennessee won 73-65. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)The 16th-ranked Vols (22-7, 12-5 Southeastern Conference) are not shying away from their championship aspirations, and Arkansas did its part to help by beating No. 14 Auburn 91-82. That gives Tennessee a chance to win at least a share of the regular-season championship if it beats Georgia this weekend at Thompson-Boling Arena.
With the regular season set to wrap up Saturday for all SEC men's basketball teams, the race for No. 1 in the league standings is down to Tennessee and Auburn (24-6, 12-5). A Vols win over the Bulldogs and an Auburn loss to South Carolina would make Tennessee the outright regular-season champion.
"We are definitely playing for a championship," Turner said after scoring 12 points at Mississippi State. "That's big. Coming into this game, we knew it was a must-win if we wanted to even have a chance at winning a regular-season championship. Yeah, it's big for us."
Saturday's game against Georgia is sold out. The Bulldogs beat Tennessee 73-62 earlier this month in Athens, Ga., so there is pride at stake in addition to a championship.
"It's a rivalry for me when we play the Georgias, the Kentuckys and those guys," junior wing Admiral Schofield said. "I want to win. We play Vandy and I want to win. That's just the biggest thing, is it's a competitive thing. There's a lot of jawing on the floor, because that's how it is, Georgia-Tennessee, just like in football. We take pride in that."
Tennessee had trailed Auburn in the league standings for nearly two months since losing to the Tigers on Jan. 2. The idea of Tennessee coming back from an 0-2 start in league play to win the conference seemed far-fetched as recently as the beginning of last week.
But as the Tigers have struggled with injuries, Tennessee has found a groove. The team picked to finish 13th in the SEC by media before the season never let go of its championship aspirations.
"We want to put ourselves in great position, especially seeding-wise, and also we just want to be on a streak going into the tournament," Schofield said. "Right now we're just focused on one game at a time and doing it every night."
The SEC tournament starts next Wednesday in St. Louis, but the Vols are assured of a double-bye and won't play until the quarterfinals on the third day of the tournament.
Saturday's regular-season finales could have implications in the SEC coach of the year race, too. Tennessee's Rick Barnes and Auburn's Bruce Pearl are the clear front-runners because both have taken teams predicted to finish in the lower half of the league to the top of the standings.
Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said Barnes "has done a great job, and I think he'd be very deserving."
"You look at our league this year, you look at him and Bruce," Howland added. "Those would be the top choices for coach of the year, and I'd feel good about them both winning, to be honest."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.