Vols wary of Gators’ range
KNOXVILLE — With a month of the regular season remaining, there’s still plenty of work for the Tennessee men’s basketball team to do.
The Volunteers’ run to the top of the national rankings may have happened this year, but it was forged through hard times in previous seasons and they’re reaping the benefits now. Game in and game out, they’ve taken opposing teams’ best shots and have found ways to win
17 straight times.
Tennessee (21-1, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) will continue to look to apply the lessons it has learned when it tries to extend its program-record winning streak by hosting
Florida (12-10, 4-5) at 4 p.m. today at Thompson-Boling Arena. It’s the second contest of a three-game homestand against SEC teams the
Vols already have faced this year.
The Vols will be without sophomore guard Yves Pons, who underwent facial surgery Friday afternoon after an injury due to incidental contact with a teammate during a play late in Thursday’s practice at Pratt Pavilion. Pons, who has started 13 games this season but has been coming off the bench recently, has averaged 3.2 points and 2.4 rebounds on 54 percent shooting in 2018-19. His injury was first reported by 247Sports.com.
The Vols completed a season sweep of Missouri with Tuesday’s 72-60 home win, and
“Everybody knows they are a spread, pickand-roll team. They shoot very quick, and transition is a big part of that. Transition defense will be very important. We have to handle and recognize their changing defenses.”
— RICK BARNES
they already have a 78-67 win over the Gators on Jan. 12 in Gainesville, Florida. The Vols trailed Florida 35-30 at halftime after giving up nine 3-pointers, but they clamped down in the second half and held Gators to 3-for-10 shooting from behind the arc in the final 20 minutes, outscoring Florida 48-32 in that span.
“They changes defenses and try to disguise some things where they will show one thing and then go to something else real quick,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Thursday. “Everybody knows they are a spread, pick-and-roll team. They shoot very quick, and transition is a big part of that. Transition defense will be very important. We have to handle and recognize their changing defenses.”
The Gators have been on the cusp of notching a big win all season.
The Vols went on a 9-0 run in the final 44 seconds of last month’s win at Florida, leading to a final score that made the game appear more lopsided than it was. In Florida’s 63-59 loss to then No. 10 Michigan State, the Gators, down by two with 11 seconds to play, knocked away a pass that rolled to a Spartan who finished a dunk with nine seconds to play. Florida led Kentucky by 11 with 13:18 to go, only to be outscored 34-12 over the final span and lose by 11.
Tennessee knows how dangerous the Gators can be if they get hot — something the Vols have seen a lot of this season. SEC opponents have knocked down an average of 8.7 3-pointers a game against Tennessee at a 35 percent rate, which ranks ninth in the league. Only Texas A&M has allowed more 3s per game in SEC play.
Florida is second in the league in 3-pointers per game in SEC play at 8.4, behind Auburn’s 12.0.
“I think some of it is teams making shots, but when we go back and look at it on tape, we always break down why we gave up shots,” Barnes said. “Sometimes it’s because we were slow with our rotation. The fact is that they make them. Some of that may be teams coming out knowing they have a chance to beat a ranked team.
“I would say we have defended most of them well. It’s the ones where we don’t even get a hand up that bother you or the ones you give up when you break down your scouting report. Those are things we can fix. If they just raise up and make shots, there’s not a whole lot you can do.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress. com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com /Vols Update.