Tennessee forward Jeronne Maymon (34) rebounds over South Carolina’s Duane Notice (10) and Mindaugas Kacinas (25) Saturday in Knoxville.KNOXVILLE – Will the real Tennessee men’s basketball team please stand up? And for more than one or two games at a time?
The good Volunteers inhabited Thompson-Boling Arena against South Carolina on Saturday afternoon. UT led the worst team in the Southeastern Conference by 23 points at halftime and coasted to a 72-53 victory.
When the Big Orange plays like this, it’s easy to envision Cuonzo Martin’s third UT team upsetting No. 3 Florida inside this same building Tuesday night. And earning its first NCAA tournament bid under the Conz. And maybe even winning a game or two in the Big Dance.
Trouble is, 23 games into this 15-8 Vols season (6-4 in SEC play), no one yet knows if the Tennessee team that took the court against the Gamecocks is the real deal or if that distinction goes to the befuddlingly bad bunch that lost at home to Texas A&M, got shellacked at Florida 15 days ago and was stunned at Vanderbilt last week.
When you’re a third of the way through February and you’ve yet to win more than four games in a row all season, it’s tough to know whether your team is good, bad or somewhere in between, which usually spells N-I-T instead of N-C-A-A.