KNOXVILLE – Whatever the problem was with Jordan Bowden’s knee, there still isn’t a clear-cut solution.
Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes said Thursday that team doctors were “still working” on the 6-foot-5 junior guard, who missed Tuesday’s 92-70 win at South Carolina with a knee injury that flared up just before game time.
Barnes said in the postgame news conference and reiterated Thursday that he didn’t know of Bowden’s knee trouble until “10 minutes before tipoff” on Tuesday. The coach said he expects Bowden to play Saturday at Texas A&M.
“We’ll probably know more tomorrow,” Barnes said Thursday. “He’ll be fine. I’ll be surprised if he’s not ready to play, because he’s one that’s hard to keep out.”
The top-ranked Volunteers (19-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) face the Aggies (8-11, 1-6) at 8 p.m. EST at Reed Arena in College Station. A Tennessee win would be the team’s 16th consecutive, setting a program record.
Bowden is fifth on the team in scoring this season with an average of 10.9 points per game. Despite logging only five starts, he’s fourth on the team in minutes (27.2) and has made 26 3-pointers, second on the team to Admiral Schofield’s 39.
Showing their depth, the Vols had no problem with the Gamecocks even without one of their top scorers. Schofield scored 24 points, with 20 coming in the second half. Grant Williams had 23 and matched Schofield with a team-high nine rebounds. Jordan Bone had 19 points with nine assists, while Lamonte Turner scored 13, including a trio of 3-point baskets.
The Vols also got quality playing time off the bench from guard Jalen Johnson – who received a bulk of what would have been Bowden’s minutes – and forwards John Fulkerson and Derrick Walker.
“We know Bowden gives us a lot, but some guys have to step up and make plays,” Bone said after Tuesday’s win. “There are going to be guys off the bench playing more minutes, because Bowden plays a lot for us. It’s about adjusting to somebody that comes off the bench and can give us production off the bench.”
Like Barnes, Bone didn’t know Bowden wasn’t going to play. But he was also pleased with how, as they’ve done all season as Turner has missed time with injuries and players have been limited in games due to foul trouble, the Vols managed without a key player.
“For us to come in – again, the guys didn’t know Bowden wasn’t going to play, either,” Barnes said. “And they didn’t flinch. They said, ‘OK, let’s go. We’ve got guys.’ We’ve had to finish games without Grant, without AD (Schofield), without Kyle (Alexander). We’ve been through some situations like that where some other guys were ready to play and did some good things for us.”
Supporting Kyle
After fouling out of three of his first 116 games as a Vol, the 6-foot-11 Alexander has succumbed to fouls in each of the past two, wins over West Virginia and South Carolina.
This season he has averaged 25.7 minutes, 9.0 points on 67 percent shooting and 7.2 rebounds with a total of 37 blocked shots, but in the last two games he played a total of 22 minutes and was 2-for-6 from the floor for four points with seven rebounds.
“It goes back to being on edge a little more,” Barnes said Thursday. “Kyle is always his best in the post when he does the work early and dictates how he’s getting around. When he plays catch-up, plays from behind or leaves his feet, every one of his fouls has been on those plays. I could say some of those were close plays, but all those in there are close.
“He’s got to get back to that, and he will. He will do that.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.