Mark WiedmerCOLUMBUS, Ohio - Watching a television located just outside the interview room at Nationwide Arena on Saturday afternoon, Tennessee junior forward Grant Williams smiled as LSU's Skylar Mays hit a deep 3-pointer to momentarily push the Tigers ahead of Maryland inside the final minute of a game LSU ultimately would win 69-67. It marked the 11th time this season LSU has prevailed by five points or less.
Said Williams of that shot: "It's not luck if you do it multiple times, right?"
When Tennessee takes the court today against Iowa in the second round of the NCAA South Region, this very veteran Volunteers squad will be playing for a spot in the Sweet 16 for the second time in two years. Last year's attempt came up one point short.
Before that, UT had missed the tournament entirely the previous three years, which means no one on this team can count multiple times it has advanced further than this round of 32.
The good news for the Vols regarding the experience factor is that Fran McCaffery's Hawkeyes haven't advanced further than the round of 32 in the nine years he's been their head coach. In fact, UT's last Sweet 16 run in 2014 began with a First Four overtime win over Iowa.
Nor did McCaffery sound like a coach supremely confident his current team could reverse that trend.
"Some teams are a little more deliberate," he said of the schools Iowa has played to date this season, none of which have come from the Southeastern Conference. "Some play faster. The one thing about Tennessee is they can go either way. They can go fast, but they can also play half-court. They've got a great coach and they've got intelligent players who share the ball."
That has been the Vols' strength all season. Versatility, intelligence and unselfishness. The Vols were fourth nationally in assists per game (18.2) during the regular season. They dished out 13 in Friday's 77-70 first-round victory over Colgate to improve to 30-5 on the season.
"They have really good players with big reputations," McCaffery said of the Vols, "but everybody seems to put winning above everything else and move the ball. And that's why they're still playing."
A quote from Williams to support the Iowa coach: "It's just a matter of who we are and embracing that. We understand that we're doing this for each other and not for anybody else. So that's the motivation that we have."
As Williams spoke, he was seated on a stage that also held four of his Big Orange teammates: Admiral Schofield, Jordan Bone, Lamonte Turner and Kyle Alexander. No other team has brought so many players to the interview room at these Columbus news conferences.
During his turn with the microphone, the senior Alexander said of his teammates: "I love these guys, probably the funniest group of guys I've ever been around in my life. It's always a trip."
This isn't to say chemistry alone will make this trip last until the Final Four or beyond. You need talent. You need smarts. And as Barnes has noted more than once the past few days, luck is also helpful.
But that bonding, that Big Orange brotherhood that seems so evident with these guys should also not be ignored. In both last week's SEC tourney semifinal win over Kentucky and late in Friday's win over Colgate, the Vols passed up good 2-point shots for better 3-pointers, which Turner hit against UK and Schofield buried not once, not twice, but three straight times against Colgate.
Perhaps referring to the last big shot he missed while wearing UT orange - a potential game-winner against Georgia in the 2017 SEC tourney - Schofield said, "From there on, not just me, I think everybody sitting at this table did a great job of just instilling in everybody in our program that we won't be denied anymore."
A quick glance at UT's record the past two seasons strongly supports that premise.
Over last season and this one, the Vols have finished tied for first (2017-18) in the SEC, tied for second (2018-19) and twice a runner-up in the SEC tournament. They've also twice won their opening-round NCAA tournament game, which now leads us to today.
"I feel like moments in the past kind of helped us get to this point," Bone said. "We're ready for this situation. We're prepared."
They seem prepared. So do the Hawkeyes. But until you've advanced to the Sweet 16 multiple times, there has to be more uncertainty than certainty. Neither Tennessee nor Iowa has history to lean on. All that's guaranteed is that both the Hawkeyes and Vols will take the Nationwide Arena court at 10 minutes past noon today looking to go somewhere none of them have gone before.
"They're going to hit their shots," Schofield said. "We're going to hit ours, and we're both going to compete. It's going to be a good game."
Says here it's going to be a 72-61 Big Orange victory.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.