KNOXVILLE – Both Tennessee’s and Vanderbilt’s men’s basketball teams have as many wins as losses this season, but the mediocre records won’t change the intensity when the two rivals face off tonight in Nashville.
Multiple-game losing streaks for both the Volunteers and Commodores add to the stakes, too.
“Besides the records, it’s a big game because it’s the battle for the state of Tennessee,” Vols forward Admiral Schofield said before Friday afternoon’s practice. “We know how important that is to our fans and our boosters and the coaching staff. One thing we talked about this week is having pride.
“We haven’t played with much pride on the court in representing that Power ‘T’ as best we can. This week we’re going to try to change the culture and go out and play with a little bit of swagger and be more aggressive and stop being so passive on the court.”
The pride and energy have been absent for the Vols in consecutive losses to Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina, and it’s important for Tennessee to re-establish those intangibles with games at Vanderbilt and Ole Miss and a visit from Mississippi State visit preceding a home game with Southeastern Conference favorite Kentucky.
Schofield stopped short of saying the Vols are in backs-against-the-wall position, but he conceded the outcome of the game with the Commodores could be a “turning point” with two-thirds of the league schedule remaining.
He also said Tennessee is “two different teams” in practices and games.
“We cut harder in practice,” he explained. “We execute to a ‘T’ in practice, and sometimes in games we just seem kind of sluggish. We’re not running as fast. We’re not getting to our break spots and being consistent on rebounding and boxing out and defending as well.
“The biggest thing is just translating what we do in practice into the game and having a high energy coming from the bench and also the guys coming in off the bench as well.”
Coach Rick Barnes attributed the disconnect to his team’s lack of on-floor leadership.
“They know I’m not going to let them not bring energy (in practice),” he said, “but I can’t stop games like I can stop it in practice. That’s where we’ve talked about as a young group of guys that are learning a lot of things right now, and one of it being the level you’ve got to play with every single day. That’s what it gets down to, because we do practice hard.”
Barnes and the players continue to downplay their youth – Tennessee starts three freshmen – but Schofield admitted the Vols’ lack of maturity is particularly evident when they begin to struggle and their energy level drops.
“That’s the immaturity factor,” Schofield said. “When things are getting tough, we get in a shell. That’s the immaturity, but I think our ability and our athleticism and the way we play the game, it’s nothing youthful about it. I think we can compete with the best teams in the country, which we’ve shown, and the biggest thing is we’ve got to finish.
“We’ve got to finish when it gets tough.”
Barnes also wants the Vols to rediscover the kind of interpersonal communication they displayed in the road win at East Tennessee State and often see from their opponents.
“There’s always maybe one or two guys on the (other) team that really is doing on the floor for their team what I might do in practice,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got to get. We’ve got to get our guys a little bit more emotional and little bit more involved with each other, not being afraid to say something to their teammate and their teammate accept it and vice versa.
“The best teams are the ones that really talk and communicate and the ones that hold each other to a really high standard on the court.”
If the Vols come out flat against their in-state rival, there may be deeper issues at hand.
“The intensity, the atmosphere is different,” Schofield said. “The fans are going at it with each other. The biggest thing is the pride thing. The University of Tennessee, we take pride in that Power ‘T’ and representing our state, and we don’t really like Vandy that much anyway. We need to go out there and really execute and get things done on Saturday.”