Mark WiedmerKNOXVILLE - There was a moment some 11 minutes into Saturday's West Virginia-Tennessee contribution to the Big 12/SEC Challenge when it was fair to wonder if living up to their No. 1 ranking was becoming too big a burden for the Big Orange to bear.
The visiting Mountaineers led 19-7 at that point, and the Volunteers had as many turnovers as West Virginia had field goals. Was this about to become Wednesday night's Tennessee-Vanderbilt game all over again, when the Vols needed a questionable call by an official and overtime to subdue the Commodores in Nashville?
By halftime, however, Tennessee was on top 31-21, which means over the final 11 minutes of the opening half, the Vols vaporized West Virginia 24-2.
"Best we've played on defense all year," said Tennessee's Grant Williams, whose 19 points backed up Lamonte Turner's 23 for game-high honors. "But we bailed them out on offense too much."
Well, for nine minutes the Vols did. Then they began playing the kind of game on both ends of the court that led West Virginia coach Bob Huggins to proclaim, "They're as good as anybody in the country."
And: "You can't let a team that good get on a run like that."
And: "(Williams and Admiral Schofield) are surrounded by guys who can make shots and who are really athletic. That's a good team."
They are better than good. They have now won 14 straight against one of the tougher schedules in the nation and with everybody in the country now itching to take their best shot at the Big Orange.
A different measuring stick of Tennessee's NCAA tournament potential to this point: Tennessee and Duke - almost everyone's favorite to win it all - have faced three common opponents.
The Vols beat Georgia Tech 66-53 early in the season, and Duke beat the Yellow Jackets by the same score Saturday. Tennessee beat Wake Forest 83-64 three days before Christmas; Duke beat the Demon Deacons 87-65 in early January.
Then there's Gonzaga. The Zags beat the Dookies 89-87 in Maui during Thanksgiving week. The Vols beat the Zags 76-73 on a neutral court on the second Sunday of December.
Yes, Duke's really good. Yes, the Blue Devils reportedly may have the top three picks in June's NBA draft in Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. Believe the experts, though, and the Vols might have three picks in the second round in the persons of Schofield, Williams and Jordan Bone.
But that's what makes this magical season unfolding for Tennessee coach Rick Barnes even more special and exciting and almost desperate to never let go of, because this is a team built over time rather than leased for a single season. These guys have been around long enough to truly know and love each other. They really are a team, a sad but increasingly rare phenomenon in men's college basketball.
Yet to look into that past is also to know that Barnes always has instilled a toughness in his teams that can come from behind, even way behind if necessary. For while clawing out of a 19-7 hole to explode on a 24-2 run is pretty impressive, in February 2016 a far less stellar bunch of Vols trailed a ranked Kentucky squad by 21 points inside Thompson-Boling Arena yet won by seven.
The talent's obviously better three years later, but the heart remains the same because the man at the top demands it every game.
This isn't to say he doesn't appreciate what his Vols are going through dealing with this No. 1 ranking.
"It's new to them," Barnes said early Saturday evening. "They've never been here before, but they've earned it. But they can't forget what got them to where they are. Now on defense, we did it (against West Virginia). But we got here by being a terrific team. It's not about individual guys."
He didn't mention Schofield by name. And it's tough to criticize a senior who wound up with 14 points and 10 rebounds. But when Schofield connected on his fourth 3-point attempt of the night after missing 12 straight treys over parts of three games, Barnes almost certainly wanted to send a message to his 6-foot-6, 241-pound guard forward that while Schofield has certainly proven his 3-point chops - he's hitting better 40 percent from treysville this season - it might be best to play inside-out when you're the most impressive and explosive physical specimen on the floor.
Or as Barnes said, "(Admiral) has to understand that he's a better basketball player than just making shots."
But is anyone this season a better basketball coach than the one coaching the Vols?
Matched against the team known as Press Virginia for its relentless full-court defense, Barnes moved Yves Pons to the bench in favor of the redshirt junior sparkplug Lamonte Turner. The coach was rewarded with a 23-point, five-assist, two-steal performance that may wind up costing Turner some sixth-man awards at season's close but could make the Vols almost impossible to guard from this point forward.
Said Williams of that change: "Lamonte gives us another dynamic."
And if you're the rest of college basketball, the Vols adding another dynamic is almost certainly the last thing you want to hear.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.