Tennessee’s Lamonte Turner looks to pass around South Carolina guard Hassani Gravett during Tuesday night’s game in Columbia, S.C. The Vols will go for a program-record 16th straight win Saturday night at Texas A&M.
Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes shouts at guard Lamonte Turner during the first half of Tuesday night’s SEC matchup in Columbia, S.C. The top-ranked Vols defeated the host Gamecocks 92-70.KNOXVILLE – After some recent struggles, the Tennessee men’s basketball team looked more back to normal in Tuesday’s win at South Carolina.
The road continues Saturday night with another Southeastern Conference game at Texas A&M (8-11, 1-6). It is the third away from Knoxville in four games since the Volunteers (19-1, 7-0) moved up to No. 1 in the nation.
Tennessee has won 15 straight for the first time in more than 100 years, and a win Saturday would give the program its longest streak ever. The last time the Vols won 15 in a row spanned from 1915 to 1917.
This season’s streak has been impressive, but it has not been easy.
In each of its four games from Jan. 12 to Jan. 23, Tennessee was outscored in one of the halves. The following game, West Virginia jumped out to a 19-7 lead before the Vols assumed control, using a solid defensive performance and some balanced scoring to win by 17 points.
Tuesday, in a tough road environment, the Vols seemed to regain some of their swagger from early in the season. They shot 56 percent from the field. They led for more than 36 minutes of game time. Four players reached double figures in points, while defensively they held the Gamecocks to 40 percent shooting from the field and forced 14 turnovers.
It was the best overall performance in quite some time, and it happened against a team that was one game behind them in the league standings entering the day.
“I think it has been a while since we have put two halves together,” coach Rick Barnes said Thursday. “There were a lot of good things with Jalen Johnson and Derrick Walker coming in and giving us good minutes and good moments. From the beginning, the demeanor we played with (showed) the respect that we had for South Carolina, Frank Martin and his program. We knew that it was going to be the battle that it would be. We just stayed poised and did what we had to do over 40 minutes.”
Tennessee players admitted after Tuesday’s game that playing as the top-ranked team had been a new experience. Admiral Schofield was one who had pressed as a result, which kept him and the team from being at full potential.
“Everything is new for us here, new for me as well,” Schofield said after contributing 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists Tuesday night. “Like Coach said, I’m one of the guys that helped build this. Never been No. 1 in the country, never been really ranked my first two years. Something new for me.”
But as games keep being played, the Vols are starting to settle into being the top-ranked team. They know Saturday night’s game at Reed Arena will have a pronounced Texas A&M feel, as the Aggies have started to turn a corner in their season. They won on the road last week against a Kansas State team that was tied for first in the Big 12 standings and that Barnes thought was playing “as well as anybody at the country” at the time.
After Saturday, Tennessee’s final full month of the regular season will include games at Kentucky, Ole Miss, LSU and Auburn as well as a home contest with Kentucky, one of the hottest teams in the country. So if the struggles are behind the Vols, that is none too soon.
“I have said it before, when you have a number in front of your name, people know that you are a ranked team,” Barnes said. “I think you have to expect people to play their best basketball, and I think our guys understand that. I also think now more than ever that they think more about what we do.
“We have to make sure we focus on what we do and what we are about – our preparation, not just the day of the game, but the day before. I really felt that was the case when we went into South Carolina. I think those guys knew that it did not matter if we were ranked or not. If you are playing South Carolina you know you are going to have to be ready to play, and I said that to them. You can put a ranking in front of them, or in front of us, but they were able to focus on what they needed to do.
“That’s what we need to do going forward.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.