A losing month? Who had that on their Tennessee basketball bingo card?
Tuesday night’s 68-63 loss at No. 25 Texas A&M saddled the No. 11 Volunteers with a 2-5 February record with remaining games this month against South Carolina on Saturday and Arkansas next Tuesday. It’s a staggering predicament given that Tennessee entered February coming off an 82-71 shellacking of Texas in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll.
This is the first losing month for the Vols since February of 2020, when they went 4-5 during a 17-14 season that was halted at the Southeastern Conference tournament due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“We’re going to find a way,” Vols eighth-year coach Rick Barnes said on a Zoom call from College Station. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my career. I’ve seen teams struggle like we have here, but the guys we’re playing with here have great character. They’re going to fight.
“We’re not going to be perfect, but we just need everybody.”