The Tennessee Volunteers have managed to enter late February without letting one loss this season turn into two.
They can carry that trait into March by prevailing Tuesday night at Missouri (7 on the SEC Network). Tennessee had won five consecutive games and eight straight Southeastern Conference contests until stumbling 58-48 at Arkansas this past Saturday.
“I think our mindset has been in the right place,” Vols junior guard Santiago Vescovi said Monday in a news conference. “There really are no perfect teams this year. It’s hard to have no losses, and our mindset is where it needs to be.
“We’ve learned from our mistakes, and we’ve learned from our losses and bounced back to come back even stronger.”
Tennessee’s five-game streak that included last Tuesday’s 76-63 thumping of Kentucky in Knoxville served as its longest of the season. The Vols, who slipped a spot to No. 17 in Monday’s latest Associated Press poll, also have a pair of four-game victory runs in their 19-7 season that includes a 10-4 mark in SEC play.
Mizzou, which lost to Mississippi State this past Friday and Sunday in a schedule that was adjusted due to a COVID-19 related postponement, is just 10-17 overall and 4-10 within the league.
“We can’t overlook anybody,” Vescovi said. “They lost to Auburn by one when Auburn was No. 1 in the country.”
The Vols had stellar inside play in last Tuesday’s triumph, getting a combined 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots from sixth-year senior forward John Fulkerson and freshman forward Jonas Aidoo. Against the Razorbacks, however, the quartet of Fulkerson, Aidoo, Uros Plavsic and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield combined for just nine points in 61 minutes.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Monday that more balance and consistency is needed inside and that Aidoo is certainly a key piece to a successful stretch run.
“When we have to play zone, we do think he’s the best guy in the middle,” Barnes said. “He gives us someone around the rim who can affect shots, and he does have a talent for blocking shots, which gives us a different dimension there.
“We need him to understand more of what we’re doing on the offensive end. If he can get more physical on offense, he can help us down there, too.”
A win at Mizzou would give the Vols their first 20-win season since the 2018-19 team prevailed 31 times and reached the Sweet 16. Tennessee had its 2019-20 season cut short at 17 victories due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, with the pandemic also affecting last season’s 18-9 mark – Tennessee’s 24 regular-season games a year ago were the fewest since the 1972-73 campaign.
A win also would keep the Vols from knowing what a losing streak feels like.
“I hope we can continue with that,” Barnes said. “I think our guys understand the urgency of each game. With our schedule coming down the stretch – this time of year, you don’t want those back-to-back losses. You obviously don’t want them at any time, but it’s important we stay focused.”
Odds and ends
Tennessee is 10-8 lifetime against Missouri but 4-5 against the Tigers in Columbia. … The Vols are 9-0 this season on the SEC Network. … Barnes on SEC officiating: “I don’t think there’s a conference in the country that has made more of a commitment to continue to improve our officials from top to bottom. When I came into this league seven years ago, it was about as bad as you can imagine, and to where we’ve grown to today, you know it’s going to get there.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.