KNOXVILLE - Grant Williams could have run the other way Wednesday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena.
Ole Miss had already secured the defensive rebound off his missed 3-pointer. His Tennessee teammates probably needed the freshman forward's defense and shot-blocking skills on the other end of the court more than they needed him to gamble on a steal and possibly commit a foul.
Then again, the Vols were down four points inside the final 10 minutes of a game that was pretty much holding their NCAA tournament hopes by a thread.
So Williams did what players blessed with great instincts and quick reflexes do. He knocked the ball away from the Rebels' Breein Tyree, then dove for it as it was sailing out of bounds, somehow throwing it over his head and back into play, right to teammate Robert Hubbs III, who was immediately fouled.
Asked later why he hadn't already headed down the court to play defense, Williams smiled a sheepish smile and said, "Probably me being young."
After a long pause, his grin widened and he added, "It worked, though."
Everything worked down the stretch for the Vols in their 75-66 comeback victory over Ole Miss. Down 64-58 with 3:56 to go, Tennessee went on a stunning 15-2 run to close out its 14th win of the season against 10 defeats and its sixth Southeastern Conference win in 11 league games.
But it was the way the Big Orange won, not only coming from behind, but in the words of winning coach Rick Barnes, "we played to win tonight," that may have once more thrust the Vols onto the NCAA tourney bubble heading into Saturday's 4 p.m. visit from Georgia.
"We're starting to do a better job of staying together, staying composed," said Williams, who tied Hubbs for game scoring honors with 18 points.
He also tied fellow freshman Jordan Bowman for rebounding honors with seven and blocked a game-high four shots, including three in the final 82 seconds as the Rebels kept driving to the basket, hoping for foul calls that never came.
"He's smart, he uses his body well and he has great instincts, especially blocking shots," Hubbs said of Williams. "You can't teach that."
Added Barnes of the Charlotte, N.C., native's shot-blocking instincts: "Grant obviously has great timing. But he also has a 6-10 1/2 wingspan. You say he's 6-5, but you don't block a shot with your head. He's long, and when he's engaged, he's very alert, very active defensively."
This doesn't mean the second-year coach of the Vols is always happy with Williams, who was bright enough to be recruited by both Harvard and Yale before choosing Tennessee.
"Grant still makes too many mistakes," Barnes said. "Even tonight he missed two rim shots and he still misses too many free throws."
But he also said of Williams, who made six of 11 free throws, "There's so much more for Grant. He can be so much better."
It is scary, given the fact he's already averaging 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while hitting 53 percent from the floor - and that his six best blocked shots games (six at Texas A&M, four each against North Carolina, East Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Ole Miss on Wednesday) have come in the Vols' biggest contests, when his skills were needed most.
"Grant's playing like he's already a junior or a senior," said Hubbs, the Vols' most important senior. "He really understands the game."
And later in this game, the Vols again down four with 2:58 to go, Hubbs understood that anything a freshman phenom could do, a savvy senior could do better, so he dove out of bounds to save a ball, throwing it over his shoulder at least 15 feet to Williams, who scored under the basket to pull Tennessee within two.
Asked afterward about copying the freshman's big save, Hubbs smiled and said, "Grant thinks he can compete with me, but he can't."
But 24 games into the season, February's arrival slowly but steadily weeding out the best from the rest as the madness of March approaches, Williams is also proving to be better each succeeding game.
"He's just so active, always around the ball," said Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy - the dean of SEC coaches in his 11th season in Oxford - of Williams. "He's a terrific player."
For a guy Barnes insists can be so much better, Williams figures to be a terrific problem for Big Orange opponents for some time to come.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.