KNOXVILLE – Admiral Schofield had a special guest in the building for Tennessee’s basketball game against Florida on Wednesday night.
With his older brother watching from the Thompson-Boling Arena seats, the freshman made sure he played well.
O’Brien Schofield is an Atlanta Falcons defensive end who won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, but Admiral said there’s no extra pressure when big bro is in the house.
“I get more pressure when my dad comes to games, because I always want to play good for him,” he said after the Volunteers won 83-69. “Me as a person, I don’t really feel pressure because of my older brother. He’s always taught me to really be humble and always play your game.
“Him being in the NFL, I’ve always gone to a lot of big events that he’s played in, Super Bowls and things like that. I’ve been around big and intense environments. I’m kind of used to it now.”
The Vols certainly would like to get used to performances like the one Schofield had in his first two Southeastern Conference basketball games.
The 6-foot-5 forward from Illinois scored a season-high 22 points with eight rebounds in Saturday’s loss at Auburn and followed with a 17-point performance (and eight more rebounds) against Florida. In those two games, he shot 51.5 percent (17-of-33) from the field with a trio of 3-pointers.
Those amounted to bounce-back performances. After scoring in double digits against Nebraska and Butler, Schofield contributed a total of 14 points in the four games leading up to the start conference play.
“I think it’s his confidence level,” said senior guard Kevin Punter Jr., Tennessee’s leading scorer. “Coach (Rick Barnes) gets on him a lot. But with him, he never loses confidence.
“I stay in his ear about continuing to do what you need to do to stay in the starting lineup, and there should be no reason why he should lose it if he’s working his butt off and doing everything Coach says.”
Barnes praised Schofield’s work ethic earlier in the week and hinted it was rare for a freshman.
“He’s in here all the time,” he reiterated after Wednesday’s victory. “He wants to be a good player. I don’t think there’s any secret to it. The more you put into anything, the better you’re going to be at it.”
Teammates have noticed Schofield’s effort as well, so they’re less surprised than some observers might have been at his mini-breakout.
“I knew it was coming,” junior guard Robert Hubbs III said. “I just didn’t know when. He’s really stepped up, been putting extra time in in the gym, and it’s really paying off.”
Playing center in Tennessee’s undersized starting five against Florida, Schofield drew the assignment of guarding 6-foot-11 Gators center John Egbunu in the post.
His approach was to use his broad-shouldered 240-pound frame on Egbunu, stick his arms straight up and hope for the best while his teammates crashed into the post to help him.
It worked.
“I thought he did a good job,” Barnes said, “of walling up and trying to get where we could get down and dig it out a little bit and get some back-side help and try to come over and try to block shots.”
Schofield’s impressive start to SEC play may be a surprise to most, but it isn’t to him.
“Like I’ve always said, I think I can play with the best of the best,” he said.
“I just go out and I just attack where I can and play my game and play within my role in the offense and provide my teammates with what I can provide them. That’s that physicality, rebounding, trying to guard their best player or biggest guy, and going in and trying to be effective in the game.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.