Tennessee could spell trouble for others in Sweet 16
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Let others craft the free-flowing masterpieces, scoring 100 points and treating audiences to the beauty of James Naismith’s creation.
Rick Barnes will sign what he authored Saturday night.
“I love that kind of basketball, man,” Barnes told a jubilant Tennessee basketball locker room still celebrating a 62-58 victory over Texas that was more survival than showcase.
I can’t profess to see the aesthetic beauty in Barnes’ preferred brand of ball. But, I do understand, that’s why his team survived this rock fight. It was prepared to find a way to win an NCAA Tournament second-round game that hardly anyone else would – and his Tennessee teams hadn’t in the past – while shooting so terribly.
“In a game like this, we shot 33% from the field,” said guard Jahmai Mashack, laughing at the notion. “That is crazy to think that we came out with a win on this.
“But for us, it’s not a surprise.” I believe Mashack meant that. Just as guard Santiago Vescovi meant it when he talked about Tennessee’s physicality and “great defense” and surmised, “I think that’s the difference between us and other teams. We can also win games when we’re not making shots.”
It’s not bluster from an inexperienced group who hasn’t been here before. These Vols know themselves, and they know this tournament. They have scars.
In the past, they’d have lost a game that played out as sluggishly as this one. Against Texas, Tennessee missed 22 of 25 shots from 3-point range, and all 22 felt critical.
Each another step toward a blown lead and another painful, frustrating NCAA Tournament disappointment for a program forever so good in every month except March.
When it gets to this time of year, hardly anyone around these Vols wants to dig into the past. But after this game, Tennessee’s coach did.
“We struggled to score (last season), but we won these kind of games,” Barnes said. “Actually, the older guys kept saying, ‘We’ve been here before.
We know what we’ve got to do.’”
It took Zakai Zeigler playing all 40 minutes, making only 2-of-12 shots but contributing seven assists and three steals in a heroically tireless performance. It took Vescovi’s three steals to go along with his two points. It took Jonas Aidoo’s two blocks, three assists and a steal. It took Josiah-Jordan James fighting for nine rebounds, four on the offensive end.
The new hope of this Tennessee season, Dalton Knecht, ended up with 18 points. But offensively, this wasn’t his best performance, either. He missed 13 shots. Pulled nine rebounds, though, and went 7-of-8 from the foul line.
Second-seeded Tennessee (26-8) couldn’t throw it in the ocean, but it did a lot that goes unnoticed by most observers. And then it made free throws when it mattered. And, of course, it kept playing spectacular defense to keep No. 7-seed Texas (21-13) at arm’s length until the buzzer arrived to sighs of relief.
This was composure and effort and toughness, the clichéd intangibles that coaches preach about, though their teams don’t often reflect it as Tennessee consistently has on Barnes’ watch.
“Coach gets guys to play really hard and really tough, and that’s a talent,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said of Barnes. “And that’s coaching. If you can get your guys to buy into playing really hard – defense, rebounding, being physical – that’s coaching. Coach has done it for a long time at a very high level.”
The difference is that this Tennessee team, unlike Barnes’ previous ones, has now experienced the value of what that’ll get you in March. The Vols just learned that they are impervious to the whims of bad shooting night on college basketball’s biggest stage. Knowledge like that can make a team very dangerous. Because odds are, shots are going to start falling eventually.
“It seems like the lid has been on the basket for the last two weeks,” Barnes said. “Whether people believe it or not, I think we can shoot the ball.
“And if we can do that, it will give us, obviously, a chance.”
A chance at what? Barnes stopped himself and didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t have to.
Two down, four to go.
On to Detroit.