It will be a battle of Southeastern Conference players of the week when Tennessee (21-7, 11-5) plays basketball Tuesday night at Mississippi State (21-8, 9-7).
Tennessee junior wing Admiral Schofield and Bulldogs guard Lamar Peters were named co-players of the week today for helping their teams to 2-0 weeks.
When they square off in a 6 p.m. EST game at Humphrey Coliseum, there will be plenty at stake for both squads.
With two games remaining before next week's SEC tournament, the Volunteers still have a shot at winning the regular-season conference crown, and Mississippi State is striving for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2009.
Tennessee moved from 19th to 16th in this week's Associated Press poll and is just a game behind first-place Auburn in the conference standings. Schofield's honor came after he scored a career-high 25 points in Tennessee's win at Ole Miss on Saturday.
"He has improved, and we need him to keep doing it," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Monday, highlighting rebounding as a specific area where the Vols need Schofield to be better.
When Mississippi State outscored the Vols by 17 points in the second half during a 64-59 win in Starkville last February, the Bulldogs had 21 offensive rebounds compared to just nine for Tennessee.
Schofield, then a sophomore, had seven rebounds in the game. He is averaging a career-high 6.2 rebounds per game this year and had seven against Ole Miss. But Barnes wants more from the versatile junior.
"He gets rebounds, but he gives up three or four every game that he should have," Barnes said. "He's a guy that really could be a double-double guy every night if he would finish the rebounds that he gets his hands on but doesn't come up with."
Schofield's career-high rebounding average has come in his transition to the wing, which has required him to be intentional about seeking rebounds.
The challenge to rebound is nothing new for Schofield, who recalled Barnes pushing him to improve in that area at the beginning of the season.
"The game is starting to slow down a lot more for me on the wing," Schofield said. "I'm able to get into the post a little bit more, so that's really helping. I've got to come up with some double-digit rebound games. A lot of close ones since I've been here, man. A lot of close ones."
Bracket projection 3s
ESPN's latest NCAA tournament projection, released Monday, had Tennessee as the No. 3 seed in the West Regional playing an opening-round game against Northern Kentucky in Wichita, Kan. CBS Sports listed the Vols as the No. 3 seed in the East Regional, opening against Rider in Dallas.
NBC Sports projected Tennessee as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional with an opening game against Bucknell in Dallas.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.