CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Vols rout Cyclones for big road victory
AMES, Iowa — Kyle Alexander remembers all too well.
When a road game meant almost certain defeat for Tennessee’s basketball Volunteers. When confidence waned before they got on the plane.
Alexander was a freshman in 2015-16, and Tennessee again was rebooting its program.
Three years later, the No. 22 Vols are anything but road-weary participants. Buoyed by a commanding 49-31 edge on the backboards and a combined 36 points from guards James Daniel III and Lamonte Turner, Tennessee shredded host Iowa State 68-45 on Saturday before a capacity crowd of 14,383 in Hilton Coliseum in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
In so doing, the Vols (15-5) snapped the Cyclones’ five-game home winning streak against ranked foes. They have home games next week against LSU and Ole Miss.
“I definitely think we’re maturing. My freshman season we went like 1-14 on the road or something crazy like that,” said Alexander, who matched teammate Grant Williams with a game-high 10 rebounds, after the Vols lost 15 times away from Knoxville two years ago. “So to see the progression of our team being able to hold leads and fight through adversity, opposing crowds, it’s amazing to watch. We’re really growing up before our own eyes.
“There’s not one game that we don’t think we can win. We’re just saying it’s like any other game, we have to focus up and focus on the scouting report. Make sure we know our game plan, what we’re doing.”
As they unveiled a new ball-screen defense that had just been installed by third-year coach Rick Barnes and his staff 48 hours before the game, the Vols looked plenty comfortable as they held the Cyclones to 17-for-51 from the field and the home team’s fewest points in the history of the Hilton.
“When these guys are one-and-done, one-and-done on each side,” said Daniel, who scored 14 of his 16 points as Tennessee accelerated to a 31-19 halftime lead,
“it can be demoralizing to a team — to a team that likes to score the ball.”
The Cyclones (11-9), who just one week ago shellacked thenNo. 8 Texas Tech at home, 70-52, failed to score in a drought that spanned the final 3:40 of the opening half and first 2:36 of the second frame. By that point, Tennessee had finished off its game-transforming 31-7 run.
“I do think we’re growing, I don’t think there’s any question about that,” said Barnes, the former Texas coach who called this venue one of the “special” places in college basketball. “I think the fact that we’ve been in a lot of really tough games this year … you go back and look at our nonleague resume, it’s pretty good. And our two losses in nonleague were to North Carolina and Villanova.
“I do think playing a really hard schedule helps you, and we’ve been doing it now for three years when you really think about it. Most of these guys, they’ve been thrown into that situation two years in a row. I do think we’re growing; I think we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Daniel, the NCAA’s second-leading active scorer with 2,068 points, ignited with 14 points in the final eight-plus minutes as the Vols transformed a 12-5 deficit into a 31-19 halftime bulge.
“It’s kind of scary when you get guys like me and James on, when you have Grant Williams who can score in there, Admiral (Schofield) can score in there,” said Turner, who totaled 20 points, five rebounds and two assists against zero turnovers. “Any night, anybody can do it. Sometimes it’s (Jordan) Bone and (Jordan) Bowden, sometimes it’s me and James. It was good. It worked out for us.”
The Vols had little trouble in the second half, when they sped to a 44-21 lead with 14:59 to play and never led by fewer than 15 points the final 17:24.
“We need to play better at home; Hilton’s a special place,” said ISU coach Steve Prohm, the 1992 Northwest Whitfield High School graduate in his third season coaching the Cyclones. “I have great respect for Hilton and what it’s about. I’ll never prepare them in a way to disrespect Hilton, I’ll say that.”
Williams just missed a double-double for the Vols with nine points, while Schofield added 10 points and seven rebounds.