Tennessee is moving on from its most impressive victory of the young basketball season, having downed Illinois 86-79 Saturday afternoon in the Food City Center.
The weeks and months ahead will reveal whether topping the respected Big Ten foe will remain as a nice win for Volunteers or lead to something more.
“I definitely feel like we’re scratching the surface as a team,” Vols junior guard Jahmai Mashack said following Saturday’s game, which took place before a sellout crowd of 21,678. “I don’t think this is anywhere near as good as we can be. There were some little things we could have done better in this game, and the fact that we played this well and are just now scratching the surface means that there is a lot of room to grow.
“I think that just makes us even more excited. When it’s time to really win when we get to March and the big games start to become bigger, I think that’s when you’re really going to see how much our team has improved.”
Tennessee improved to 6-3 by downing the Fighting Illini and moved up Monday from No. 17 to No. 12 in the latest Associated Press poll. The Vols will take a break from their taxing nonconference schedule that also has contained Kansas, North Carolina, Purdue, Syracuse and Wisconsin with Tuesday night’s home date (7 on the SEC Network) against Georgia Southern.