NASHVILLE - At some point during Saturday night's basketball game at Memorial Gymnasium, the Tennessee Volunteers decided that if they weren't going to have success from long range, neither would the home team.
So while the Vols had their worst 3-point shooting of the season, they also forced Vanderbilt into its least successful showing behind the arc.
Ever.
Tennessee senior Jordan Bowden scored a game-high 21 points, and the Vols took advantage of the Commodores' historically bad showing to win 66-45 in front of 12,693.
The Vols (11-6, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) return to competition when they host Ole Miss at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena. Vanderbilt (8-9, 0-4) has lost 24 SEC games in a row, including league tournament play.
Vanderbilt shot just 24% from the field Saturday, a season low, and missed all 25 of its 3-point tries, ending a streak of 1,081 games with at least one 3-pointer made. Tennessee wasn't much better offensively in the first half, shooting just 40% and turning the ball over 10 times, which helped the Commodores remain in the game.
In the second half, the turnovers were cut down to eight and the Vols scored 26 of their 45 second-half points in the paint, including 12 on fast breaks.
"We were able to get out and run. We've been trying to get our guys to do that," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "I thought defensively we were pretty solid from start to finish, and at the start of the second half we were able to turn those defensive stops into baskets. We want to get some of those; we don't want to have to come down and grind it all the time."
John Fulkerson and Yves Pons finished with 12 points each for the Vols, with Fulkerson also grabbing eight rebounds. Josiah-Jordan James had just six points on 2-for-8 shooting, but the freshman guard had game highs in rebounds (nine) and assists (five). Santiago Vescovi had five points and hit the only 3-pointer of the game - Tennessee took eight shots from behind the arc.
SATURDAY'S STAR
Bowden was 14-for-66 from the field in his past five games, but the Vols' lone senior scored 21 points in an efficient 7-for-11 performance. He was 0-for-2 from 3-point range, but he was really good attacking the basket while also adding three steals and a pair of assists in 29 minutes.
STANDOUT STAT
1,080. That's the number of games Vanderbilt had made a 3-pointer until coming up short Saturday. The Commodores, Princeton and UNLV had been the only teams in the country to make a 3-pointer in every game since the inception of the 3-point line in the 1986-87 season. Their 25 misses included 15 in the second half. Jordan Wright's 3-point try went through at 3:18, but it was waved off because it was taken right after the shot-clock buzzer went off.
TURNING POINT
The first half appeared to set basketball back a few years, but the Vols started the second half on a 16-3 run by making stops and getting out in transition. Pons had a pair of dunks during the run, which ended with the Vols ahead 37-23 five minutes into the half. The offense executed and the defense maintained from then on, with Tennessee's lead growing to 22 points before it was over.
WHAT IT MEANS
There's a lot of reason for optimism after Saturday's win. The Vols defended, they executed and they had 42 points in the paint, their second-most this season (they scored 48 against UNC Asheville in the opener). Tuesday's home game will be another opportunity to gain momentum heading into next Saturday's matchup at sixth-ranked Kansas in the Big 12/SEC challenge.
QUOTABLE
Barnes on how he got the Vols to not shoot as many 3s at Vanderbilt (they took only eight after not shooting fewer than 15 in any game this season and attempting 26 Wednesday at Georgia): "Tape. We watched enough tape with them. We told them it was ridiculous what we did there (at Georgia), not trying to put any pressure on the defense."
Barnes on getting the ball in the paint: "We have to establish an inside presence. That doesn't mean we have to score; it means we've got to work to get the ball into high-percentage areas, if for no other reason to make the other team foul us and have to guard us."
Fulkerson on if he knew the Vols had ended Vanderbilt's 3-point streak: "I was sitting on the bench and I kept hearing fans yelling, and I didn't know if they were Vandy or Tennessee fans. They would yell a weird timing and I didn't know what it was, so I asked our trainer (Chattanooga native) Chad (Newman) - you know, he's been here like 50 years - and he was like, 'They've made a 3-point shot in a lot of games in a row,' so I guess that's why the fans were yelling. At that point, I wasn't aware."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.