Vols T logoKNOXVILLE – At a very slender 6-foot-5 and 181 pounds, Darius Thompson is fairly unassuming when he steps out onto a basketball floor.
Yet the Tennessee freshman was hard to miss during some key stretches of the Volunteers’ win Friday night.
Though the Murfreesboro product scored just five points, he recorded five steals and seven assists and sparked a scoring spurt in each half as Tennessee defeated Tennessee State 88-67 at Thompson-Boling Arena for its third straight win since the season-opening loss at Xavier.
“In high school I had problems with defense, and in college, when I first got here, I was really bad,” Thompson said after playing a productive 24 mintues. “Defense was really harder to me, but then I just keep practicing and get better.
“I’ve got some ways to go to be a lockdown defender. I think I’m good, the best right now, at playing the passing lanes. I think I’ve got to work on when my man has the ball and guarding him, but off the ball I think I’m pretty good at it.”