Tennessee’s Jalen Johnson shoots against West Virginia Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
Tennessee’s Derrick Walker is fouled by Arkansas defenders during the Vols’ home win on Jan. 15.COLUMBIA, S.C. – As Tennessee has settled on an eight-player rotation during the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball season, players such as guard Jalen Johnson and forward Derrick Walker have struggled to get in the door.
Provided opportunities on the floor Tuesday night, they put together some solid performances in the top-ranked Volunteers’ 92-70 win over South Carolina.
Statistically, not much stood out for either. Walker had three points, three rebounds and a steal in 13 minutes while subbing in both halves for a foul-ridden Kyle Alexander. The main contribution from Johnson – who played extra minutes due to junior guard Jordan Bowden missing the game with a knee injury – was a jumper from the foul line that banked in during the first half. Another bench player, John Fulkerson – who is a part of the normal rotation – had six points and three rebounds for the Vols (19-1, 7-0).
But in terms of advanced stats, Walker rated plus-16 in his 13 minutes (meaning Tennessee was 16 points better than South Carolina during his time on the court). Compare that to four of Tennessee’s starters against the Gamecocks: Admiral Schofield was plus-20, while Jordan Bone, Grant Williams and Lamonte Turner each were plus-19.
“I think a lot of that goes back to last offseason,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said afterward. “Because we went through a period in the summer that we wouldn’t let Grant and Admiral play inside. We made those (other) guys do it. We put those guys on the team, and we said you guys are going to learn together. The fact is, they’ve continued to work. We’ve had different lineups.
“It goes back to what I say about starting. We’ve had different starting lineups. Tonight what Jalen (Johnson did), Derrick (Walker), he came in and made some big plays. He came up with some big plays for us. It was really a great team effort for us.”
Barnes said Tennessee players didn’t know ahead of time that Bowden would be out.
“And they didn’t flinch,” he said. “They said, OK, let’s go. We’ve got guys. We’ve had to finish games without Grant, without AD (Schofield), without Kyle. We’ve been through some situations like that where someone else was ready to play and did some good things for us.”
The 6-foot-6 Johnson didn’t play in four of the team’s six games prior to Tuesday night. His greatest contributions in a game this season have been a pair of 3-pointers he hit against Wake Forest on Dec. 22 – in fact, seven of his nine made shots this season prior to Tuesday were 3s – and his minutes decreased when Turner returned from injury on Jan. 5.
Walker has played in all but two games in 2018-19, but he had averaged only 6.2 minutes, 1.2 points and 1.3 rebounds in those contests ahead of Tuesday. While his averages didn’t go up much because of what he did at South Carolina, he showed he could be effective in key moments.
“We walked in the locker room and went crazy for those guys,” Williams said. “Jalen hasn’t played in the last five, six games, and he came in tonight and gave us huge minutes. He’s been a guy in the locker room that’s never down, never upset.
“It’s the same with Derrick. He came in tonight, gave us huge minutes, had a big ‘and-1’ (three-point play). It’s why we’re thankful for those guys.”
Johnson played a season-high 14 minutes in the win, and while his lack of defense has been the biggest thing keeping him off the floor this season, he was solid on that end of the court against the Gamecocks.
“Derrick and Jalen gave us some great minutes,” Schofield said. “Jalen is a guy that hasn’t played most of the season, or really hasn’t gotten much over 10 minutes, and he made a big shot for us when we were going back and forth. He played great defense – crashed the boards, running the lanes, opening lanes for guys to drive the ball, and that was big-time for us. You’ve got to appreciate guys like that that’s on your team who could easily be a starter or play heavy minutes for us.
“Kudos to him. It shows what we have in this team.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.
Tennessee’s John Fulkerson gets tied up trying to defend against Arkansas during the Vols’ home win on Jan. 15. Fulkerson is a regular part of Tennessee’s playing rotation, but other substitutes who have had less playing time also proved effective during Tuesday night’s win at South Carolina.