KNOXVILLE – The adjustment Tennessee senior guard Jordan Bowden was asked to make this basketball season is unique among the current Volunteers.
Largely viewed as a complementary player during the early stages of his collegiate career, the 6-foot-5, 193-pounder known for his jump shot was thrust into an unfamiliar role this year. He was expected to be a leader and a primary scorer for the Vols, who had four players move on to NBA opportunities from last season’s 31-win team that reached the Sweet 16.
Bowden and Lamonte Turner were no longer only part of opponents’ game plans – stopping them was the game plan. Opponents this season have stuck their best defenders on Turner, the team’s best creator, and Bowden, the team’s best shooter, then dared the rest of the Vols to beat them.
“You’ve got to be ready for that,” Bowden said recently. “Lamonte and I are getting game-planned a lot, and it’s not something we’re used to coming from last year, so we’ve got to be ready for that and take advantage of the slip-ups.”
Tennessee senior guard Lamonte Turner shoots as Jacksonville State’s Ty Hudson tries to defend the basket during the second half of last Saturday’s game in Knoxville. After the game, Turner said he would have season-ending surgery to address a lingering shoulder problem. / AP photo by Wade PayneNow, with Turner announcing after the Vols’ most recent game that he has elected to have season-ending surgery to treat a lingering condition, all eyes will turn to Bowden, the team’s leading scorer at 13.5 points per game.