If the Tennessee Volunteers can be as effective with quick turnarounds in March as they were last November, this could indeed be a memorable month.
Second-seeded Tennessee will open its time at the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday evening (6 on the SEC Network) against 10th-seeded Mississippi State, which advanced Thursday night by whipping seventh-seeded South Carolina 73-51 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Vols coach Rick Barnes had a walk-through scheduled Thursday night for his 23-7 team once the opponent was known.
“We all know each other, but it will be a quick turnaround,” Barnes said Wednesday in a news conference before the team left Knoxville. “This is what we try to do even more later in the year. We talk about being able to get ready on a one-day prep.
“Knowing it is a lot like where we started the season up in Connecticut when we played Villanova and had a quick turnaround to play North Carolina.”
The Vols had their worst nonconference performance of the season in a 71-53 loss to Villanova on Nov. 20, falling behind 35-15 at halftime. They came back the next day, however, to rout North Carolina 89-72 in a contest that had a 20-point spread on multiple occasions.