Vols make foul shots, stops to beat Bearcats
Tennessee countered another dismal shooting performance with a superb showing at the free-throw line and continued its stout defensive play Saturday afternoon in a 65-56 downing of Cincinnati inside Thompson-Boiling Arena.
The No. 12 Volunteers improved to 2-0 with their second consecutive nine-point triumph, having topped Colorado 56-47 last Tuesday night to open a season in which five games have been scratched due to coronavirus-related issues. Tennessee captured its latest victory by closing out the Bearcats with a 14-3 run in the final six minutes and 14 seconds.
“We’re a better shooting team than we showed, but I told our team there will be nights where we don’t shoot it but still have a chance to win when we play that kind of defense without fouling,” Tennessee sixth-year coach Rick Barnes said. “This is two games in a row now where we have come down the stretch and defended very well. We really have.
“For two games in a row, our defense has been stellar in terms of getting the kind of stops that we need. The two teams we’ve played run really good offensive sets and can put a bind on your defense.”
Tennessee has forced 40 turnovers through two games, adding 17 on Saturday to the 23 racked up against the Buffaloes. Cincinnati (2-2) shot 37.9% from the floor, making 22 of 58 attempts.
“I feel like we can be one of the best defenses in the nation,” sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James said. “We have the depth. We have the athleticism, and we have the mindset. Our team last year kind of played defense hard, but we were inconsistent, so we took that mindset from last year and really tried to build on it throughout the offseason.
“When you get to go out there and play somebody else, that’s what makes it fun, because we play against it every day in practice.”
A David DeJulius 3-pointer provided Cincinnati a 53-51 lead with 6:14 remaining, but an Yves Pons jumper and a Jared Springer layup capped an 8-0 run that put the Vols up 59-53. John Fulkerson led Tennessee with 15 points, with nearly half of his tally the result of a 7-of-8 showing at the free-throw line.
Springer was next with 11 points, with the freshman going 5-of-6 at the line. The Vols were 25-of-30 overall on free throws, dwarfing the 4-of-7 effort by the Bearcats.
“We always say that we want to make more free throws than the other team attempts,” Fulkerson said. “Getting fouled and being aggressive and attacking the basket is something that we want to do. When you get to the free-throw line, they’re called free for a reason, so you want to be able to knock them down.
“That’s something that every player works on a lot. I know I have. You just have to step up there and knock them down.”
The Vols nearly won by double digits despite making just 19 of 59 field-goal attempts for a 32.2% clip. Tennessee was 2-for-12 from 3-point range for a 16.7% success rate, with Santiago Vescovi and Victor Bailey each 1-for-4.
“We can’t turn down open shots,” Barnes said. “We spend way too much time in the gym working on shooting to be hesitant. With some of that, you have to give credit to Colorado and Cincinnati, but we have spent a total of maybe 15 minutes working against a 1-3-1 (zone). I just like that we were driving the ball hard.
“We got some looks, and we didn’t make them. We’re going to make shots. Again, this just proves that you don’t have to shoot the ball well to win basketball games.”
Tennessee will return to action Tuesday night against visiting Appalachian State, one of four games remaining before the Vols open Southeastern Conference play Dec. 30 at Missouri.