NASHVILLE – A little more than two weeks ago, Tennessee basketball players Detrick Mostella and Robert Hubbs III were benched for the second half of a lopsided loss at South Carolina.
Yet there those two were Friday afternoon at the Southeastern Conference tournament, nearly extending their team’s season one more game.
The mercurial Mostella and enigmatic Hubbs led the Volunteers in scoring with 19 points each in an 84-75 quarterfinal loss to LSU at Bridgestone Arena.
“We’ve just got to build on that,” Hubbs said after his highest-scoring game since the Volunteers upset LSU on Feb. 20 in Knoxville. “Me and Detrick are probably (two) of the most athletic people on the team when we’re driving the ball. We’ve got to attack the space and continue to get better at it.”
As the final few weeks of Tennessee’s season became mostly about the development of a trio of freshmen and the dwindling careers of four seniors, Mostella and Hubbs became forgotten figures.