Tennessee forward Grant Williams shoots over Texas A&M guard Brandon Mahan (13) and forward Josh Nebo during the first half of Saturday night’s game.KNOXVILLE – After any game, there will always be things a coach can point to as concerns for his team.
Tennessee’s Rick Barnes is good at finding them.
His top-ranked Volunteers’ offensive performance Saturday night wasn’t going to be one, though.
Already coming off what had been their best shooting performance of the season Tuesday at South Carolina, the Vols built on that in a 93-76 win at Texas A&M. Tennessee (20-1, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) shot 65 percent from the floor against the Aggies (8-12, 1-7), including a season-high 74 percent inside the 3-point line. The Vols turned the ball over only eight times, tied for their fewest in a conference game this season.
Two Tennessee players had a double-double, Grant Williams with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Jordan Bone with 18 points (on 7-for-7 shooting, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range) and 10 assists. Lamonte Turner added 19 points and seven assists, Admiral Schofield scored 14 points and Jordan Bowden had 16 off the bench.
“That’s amazing,” Bone said on the Vol Network after the game regarding the offensive stats. “The main thing, when you come into an atmosphere like this, you have to create your own energy and execute on defense; that’s where you have to get your energy from. We started off the game super lax on defense and tried to match their intensity, but we have to have a consistent energy about us. That was the challenge going into the second half; we have to attack defensively.
“We’ll be able to get what we want offensively.”
The Vols scored at will to the point it didn’t matter that they shot only four free throws (all makes). They had the ball 68 times and scored on 42 of those possessions for a 62 percent success rate, their second-best this season, behind only 63 percent in a 96-53 win over Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29.
Tennessee averaged 92.5 points the past two games while shooting 60 percent from the field and totaling 45 assists to only 18 turnovers. Williams averaged 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds and Bone averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 assists, with both shooting 67 percent from the field. Schofield averaged 19 points and shot 52 percent, while Turner averaged 16 points and was 6-for-12 from 3-point range.
From an offensive standpoint, the Vols are clicking. It has helped them win a program-record 16 games in a row, and they will try to extend that Tuesday night when they face Missouri (11-9, 2-6) at 9 for their first of three consecutive home games.
“We’ve been with each other for three years now,” Bone said. “We all understand our offense at a great level, understand where each guy is comfortable at, understand our teammates. We just have to execute and we’ll be able to get what we want.”
Barnes noted Saturday that while when it came to the Vols’ offense, he “wasn’t sure they could be much better,” he’s going to continue to work toward team improvement on defense. The Aggies made 12 3-pointers, three more than their previous season high, after going into the game having averaged 6.1 per contest.
“I’ve always thought we were a good offensive team,” Barnes said. “I know we are a better defensive team than how we played tonight.”
But if the Vols can continue to play offense the way they did Saturday night, it may not matter.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.