Tennessee proving to be early surprise

FAYETTEVILLE — Tennessee’s basketball team has done well during the ACC portion of its schedule.

Now, the No. 19 Vols (92) will see how they do in the SEC, starting with Saturday’s conference opener at noon Saturday against the Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2) in Walton Arena.

“We have to make sure we do our due diligence and take care of home,” University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Coach Mike Anderson said. “We’ve got a Tennessee Volunteers team that is playing awfully well right now.”

Tennessee is nationally ranked for the first time in seven years, largely on the strength of a 3-1 record against ACC teams — including 3-0 away from home — and a victory over No. 14 Purdue in the Bahamas.

The Vols’ losses are to No. 1 Villanova 85-76 in the Bahamas and to No. 13 North Carolina 78-73 at home.

Tennessee beat North Carolina State 67-58 in the Bahamas and has won at Georgia Tech 77-70 and at Wake Forest 79-60.

For good measure the Vols won 71-67 at Clemson in an exhibition game to be 4-1 on the court against ACC teams, though that victory over the Tigers doesn’t count on Tennessee’s record.

Not bad for a team picked to finish 13th in the SEC — ahead of only LSU — in a preseason media poll.

“At least we weren’t 14th, that’s how we can look at it,” Tennessee junior forward Admiral Schofield said at SEC media day on Oct. 18. “At the end of the day, all we can do is come out and take the opportunity this season to prove everyone wrong.”

The Vols are doing a pretty good job of that so far using a 10-man rotation that features seven returnees from last season’s 16-16 team — including four starters — mixed with three newcomers.

“You’ve got be able to hit guys and initiate contact when you go to the basketball, and they were just quicker to the basketball than us,” Purdue Coach Matt Painter said after the Vols beat the Boilermakers 78-75 in overtime. “They embraced the physicality of the game more than we did.”

Tennessee outrebounded Purdue 50-41 and had 20 on the offensive end.

“If you can defend and you can rebound at a high level, which they can, then you’re going to give yourself a chance,” Painter said.

Tennessee sophomore guard LaMonte Turner hit a three-point basket with 5.1 seconds left in regulation against Purdue to tie the score and send the game into overtime.

“We really showed the toughness that we’ve been looking for from them, to play for 45 minutes,” Vols Coach Rick Barnes said. “Our guys just kept finding ways to fight back.”

Tennessee is holding opponents to 39.0 percent shooting from the field and has a plus-2.0 rebounding margin despite 6-10 junior Kyle Alexander being the only starter taller than 6-5.

“We still have work to do on our perimeter defense,” Barnes said Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn. “I still think that’s one of the reasons we’re fouling so much.

“We’re having too many fouls too far away from the basket. But that happens sometimes when you’re trying to be aggressive like we are. But overall our defense has helped us more than anything.”