Jackets’ push might help UT men sooner and later
KNOXVILLE — Not that a reminder was necessary, but the Tennessee men’s basketball team received one from Georgia Tech on Tuesday night: This season, the Volunteers will likely have some games in which opponents try to slow down the pace of play. Make things ugly. Do whatever it takes to steal a win.
But on those nights, opponents will likely receive their own friendly reminder: These Vols are solid on defense.
Fifth-ranked Tennessee held the Yellow Jackets to 28 percent shooting in its 66-53 win at Thompson-Boling Arena, remaining undefeated through three games. Georgia Tech (1-1) missed its first 11 shots of the second half, allowing the hosts to build a 15-point lead in the period despite having their own shooting struggles.
The Vols shot 37 percent in the second half and just less than 40 percent for the game, and they also struggled with free throws, making just 24 of 38 (63.2 percent).
Defense minimized the damage caused by their offensive troubles. Sophomore forward John Fulkerson finished with one point, but he had six rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes. Starting guard Jordan Bowden was 1-for-6 from the field, but he had a careerhigh 11 rebounds. Grant Williams was 10-for-16 at the foul line but grabbed eight rebounds.
“You need games like this because we’re going to have some more, I promise you,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said afterward. “We’re going to have some more like that where you’ve got to hang your hat on something. For the last two years, we’ve tried to hang our hat on our defense. When it’s not going in, there’s a tendency for guys to start pressing on the offensive end and trying to get too close to the basket, and that’s where we’re losing the ball.
“But yeah, I thought Fulky’s blocks and his energy really helped. We needed Yves (Pons). There’s no doubt we needed him. I don’t know why he went in the game in the first half. I think he heard his name, but we didn’t want him in there, and he picked up a foul. I guess he Georgia Tech guard Brandon Alston (4) shoots over Tennessee forwards Grant Williams (2) and Kyle Alexander during Tennessee’s 66-53 win on Tuesday night in Knoxville.
doesn’t understand my English, but the fact is that that shouldn’t have happened, but we needed his minutes tonight.”
Pons, a sophomore forward from France, picked up three fouls despite playing just 10 minutes and missed his only shot, a 3-pointer.
Fulkerson said the Vols’ practices follow Barnes’ philosophy.
“The biggest thing that we work on is defense,” Fulkerson said, “because we have scorers on our team that can create offense, so we just have to play defense and hang our hats on defense and shots will start to fall.”
With a tough slate of games next week in the NIT Season TipOff at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, having to work for the win against Georgia Tech may pay off quickly for Tennessee. The Vols face Louisville when the four-team showcase starts next Wednesday and will face either second-ranked Kansas or Marquette two days later, depending on Wednesday’s results.
“It was great to have a competitive game where we truly had to play the entire 40 minutes,” Williams said. “We were really sloppy, we stopped ourselves
at times, and so we need to do a better job with that. That’s something we’ll see on film and have to adjust to in the next couple days.”
Vols sign two
Point guard Josiah-Jordan James and forward Drew Pember signed national letters of intent Wednesday to play for the Vols.
James was rated a five-star prospect by 247Sports.com and listed as the No. 14 high school basketball player in the country. He chose the Vols over offers from Arizona, Auburn, Clemson and Duke, among others.
Pember is a three-star prospect from Knoxville who had offers from Davidson, Florida Atlantic and a number of other mid-major programs.
Davonte Gaines, a three-star small forward who has committed to the Vols, did not sign Wednesday but is expected to before this cycle ends next Wednesday.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.