NASHVILLE – There was one Tennessee basketball player in tears in the locker room after the Volunteers lost at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.
It was the one who could do nothing about that outcome.
The absence of Kevin Punter Jr. undoubtedly has been tough on the Vols, who have lost by a combined 53 points three of the four games the senior point guard has missed due to a stress fracture in his right foot.
The injury has been more difficult, however, for the Vols’ leading scorer.
“It’s tough,” Tennessee freshman Shembari Phillips said after scoring 23 points in Tuesday’s 86-69 loss to the Commodores. “K.P. is probably the most dedicated player I’ve ever seen in my life. It hurts him. It hurts all of us seeing him down like this, and he can’t do anything about it. It’s tough, seeing a guy like that who puts so much time in and seeing him get hurt, it’s tough. It’s really bad.”
It seems unfair a player as popular with teammates as Punter is having his final college season end this way.
With just the regular-season finale against Ole Miss on Saturday and the Southeastern Conference tournament remaining, it’s a longshot at this point that Punter will return to complete what had been a special season where his performance is concerned.
Punter’s current 22.2-point scoring average would be the 13th-best total in program history, and he’s in line to become just the third Vol (joining Ron Slay in 2003 and Chris Lofton in 2006) to average 20 points in a season since Allan Houston’s senior season in 1993.
The story Barnes told after Tuesday’s loss is perhaps more telling than any statistic.
On Sunday, Punter came to Barnes to ask his advice about what he should do.
“‘K.P., I think you ought to shut it down and get on through the surgery and get done with it,'” Barnes told Punter.
“He’s going to have to do that eventually.”
Barnes could not have predicted what he’d see the following morning.
“I walk in Monday morning early,” he said, “and the music’s blasting in the gym. I walk in and I’m shocked. He’s in there shooting shots on the (rebounding) gun.”
Upon seeing the one-legged Punter taking shots, Barnes asked him what he was doing.
“Coach, I’ve thought about it,” Punter told Barnes. “If there’s any way possible, anything I can do to help these guys win another game, I’ve got to do it for them.”
Barnes was taken aback.
“That speaks volumes for him as a person and the kind of kid he is,” the coach said. “He’s the one that teared up after this game tonight, because it’s killing him not being out there to be able to play. I was totally shocked Monday when I saw that, and for him to say that to me – he said there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to have a chance to help these guys win another game.”
In many ways, the final weeks of this season have been about the development of Tennessee’s freshmen, the group that will form the core of the program Barnes is trying to rebuild. But it has also been about Punter and Armani Moore, the two seniors who have been so valuable to this team.
“We could be down by 50, and we’re still going to keep fighting,” Phillips said. “I hope everybody’s behind us and behind me and Armani.
“Armani’s playing his butt off and showing everything he can, and I respect that, so I just try to fight with him.”
Punter would do anything he could to have another chance to fight.
“He was emotional,” Phillips said, “but I just went up to him and gave him a hug and tried to comfort him a little bit, because it’s a tough time for him.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.