Iowa’s Isaiah Moss, top, shoots over Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield during their NCAA tournament game Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tennessee wears Nike warmup T-shirts with the word “FAMILY” printed on them.
Sometimes, tough decisions have to be made between family members with best interests in mind.
On Sunday afternoon, members of the Volunteers basketball family made tough decisions – and the team benefited and is moving on in the NCAA tournament as a result.
It started with an Admiral Schofield 3-point attempt with 41 seconds remaining in the second half and the Vols up 71-69 on Iowa in their second-round game at Nationwide Arena.
After the game, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said the ball was supposed to go inside, but Schofield was so wide open that he planted and took the shot. The miss led to a defensive rebound, which ended up with Iowa’s Joe Wieskamp getting an offensive rebound and getting fouled. Wieskamp hit both free throws to make it a tie game. Schofield was replaced by Kyle Alexander with 14 seconds to play, and the game went to overtime after the Vols’ Jordan Bone missed a 3-point attempt.
Overtime started, and Schofield wasn’t in the game. It didn’t matter as the sixth-ranked, second-seeded Vols went on a 7-0 run to assume control, ultimately winning 83-77 over the 10th-seeded Hawkeyes to advance to the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in program history.
There was a question after the game about Schofield not returning, but both Barnes and Tennessee players said that was by design.
“He didn’t want to play,” Barnes said of Schofield, who had four fouls at the time. “He kept saying to leave Kyle in the game. Kyle is important. With four fouls, he knew they would come right at him. He said, ‘Coach, I can’t guard the way I can guard. I’m going to foul, so you have to leave Kyle in.’ That was his decision.”
Schofield entered Sunday’s game averaging 16.3 points per game and shooting 41 percent from 3-point range. He had 19 points at the time of his exit, but he had shot 1-for-6 in the second half and felt in that moment that Alexander was a better option.
And it appeared he was right.
“At that time, I just felt that the flow of the game, the way the guys were playing, the energy they had, that the group that was in needed to stay in, no matter what,” Schofield said. “I thought Kyle made a great impact, so I just sacrificed me being out there for Kyle.
“At the end of the day I trust them, they trust me. I was advocating for Kyle to be in the game, and he did a great job.”
It was Alexander and Schofield who were thrust into action as freshman in 2015, the first season of this rebuild under Barnes. They’ve been a part of 88 wins, 57 coming in the past two seasons, and it was Alexander who had to miss Tennessee’s second-round loss to Loyola-Chicago last year due to injury.
With another season on the line, it was Schofield who took a step back in deference to Alexander, who finished with eight points, nine rebounds and a block while patrolling the interior.
“It means so much,” Alexander said. “Me and Admiral have been through so much together, and we’ve battled so many different things together these last four years, earning the coaches’ trust and everything else.
“For him to trust me enough to take himself out of the game to put me in, to say we need rebounding and stops and extra possessions on offense, which I can go get, I mean, that just shows his trust in me.”
The rest of the players noticed. That unselfish nature led to a share of the 2018 Southeastern Conference regular-season title and a pair of runner-up finishes in the SEC tournament this season and last. That team mentality will be needed again as the Vols (31-5) prepare to face third-seeded Purdue (25-9) in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky. Tipoff is set for 7:29 p.m.
“AD is an unselfish guy,” junior guard Lamonte Turner said of Schofield. “AD told Coach that Kyle needed to be in. AD put himself on his bench. That speaks about AD’s character. He’s a great guy. We respect AD, he’s our leader of this team.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.