Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes kept senior Jordan Bowden in the starting lineup this season even when the 6-foot-5 guard struggled with his shot.
The good news for the Volunteers is that for the past two games, Bowden has bounced back by scoring a combined 47 points on 16-of-28 shooting.
The bad news is that Bowden’s breakthrough has come in back-to-back losses for the Vols (15-13, 7-8 Southeastern Conference), 73-66 last Saturday at Auburn and 86-69 on Wednesday at Arkansas.
Even when he was struggling, Bowden was the team’s best perimeter defender. He upped his per-game average for assists and rebounds, too. The shots just weren’t falling.
Now it seems they are.
“He’s pressed at times trying to score the ball, as opposed to just playing and letting it happen,” Barnes told reporters after the loss at Auburn, which was ranked 13th in The Associated Press Top 25 at the time.
“But I think Jordan, he knows what he has to do. He played, I think, by far his best all-around game that he’s played all year long. But like I said, he’s been good defensively all year. And we need some other guys. I wish I could say that about other guys right now. I wish, but I can’t.”
The Vols return to competition when they host Florida (18-10, 10-5) at 2 p.m. Saturday, with ESPN televising the game. After that Tennessee is at Kentucky on Tuesday night before closing the regular season with a visit from Auburn on March 7.
AP photo by Julie Bennett / Tennessee senior guard Jordan Bowden scores during last Saturday’s loss at Auburn. Bowden had 28 points on 9-for-12 shooting as he broke out of a slump.But first, here are three next-day observations from Wednesday’s loss:
1. Point of emphasis: The play of Tennessee’s point guards has been a glaring weakness all season. Sure, Santiago Vescovi has had some flashy moments and fellow freshman Josiah-Jordan James has shown potential, but neither provided highlights Wednesday. Vescovi was the worst player on the court statistically against the Razorbacks’ pressure, finishing with five turnovers and zero assists while also doing a poor job when he was on defense. James missed all six of his shots and was scoreless for the second time this season.
2. Defensive letdown: Most of the Vols’ problems this season have been on offense. Their defense has kept them competitive in a lot of games, but they struggled on that end of the court at Arkansas. That was especially true in the second half, when the Razorbacks used a lot of isolation and pick-and-roll plays to get looks for Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones, who combined to score 39 of their team’s 46 second-half points.
3. No stopping the bleeding: One of the main things Tennessee has lacked this season is a guy capable of getting his own shot on a consistent basis. Why is that important? Because what the Vols have needed in the past two games is a player who could go make a basket to stop the bleeding during game-changing runs for the opposition in the second half. The Vols couldn’t do it during an 18-0 blitz by Auburn, and they failed to answer twice when Arkansas made runs. There’s no easy fix this late in the season (play better defense, maybe?), but at this point Barnes would be willing to try anything he hasn’t already – which may be nothing.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.