Joe Robbins - Getty Images
A thousand words about this game. Defense is beautiful.
We're in a unique time as Tennessee fans, which is going to make us quick to point out that today was more fun than any day in 2011, and make us wonder how many more games like this might be out there because we're certainly used to winning in basketball.
But the best way to appreciate this one is to let it stand on its own, by itself, for at least a moment.
Florida was the fourth best scoring team in the nation coming in, at 85.4 points per game. They had only scored under 70 once, 68 points at now-#1 Syracuse. They got 56 today. Their lowest shooting percentage was 41.2% against Arizona. They shot 35.7% today.
This wasn't luck. It was everything we wanted to believe about Cuonzo Martin and his style of basketball.
Changing up the starting lineup to put Josh Richardson and Renaldo Woolridge on the floor instead of Jordan McRae and Kenny Hall, the Vols played stellar defense from buzzer to buzzer. At halftime with the Vols up 33-29 and Florida shooting just over 40%, I feared the Gators would shoot better and the Vols would play worse defense away from their bench. Instead, Tennessee played even better on the defensive end in the second half - helped, no doubt, by the dulcet tones of Cuonzo Martin, passionately encouraging his troops from the other end of the floor. The Vols forced 15 turnovers, turning away the Gators every time they threatened.
And on the other end, the team that shoots threes and hopes for the best? Not today: the Vols took only ten, made half of them, and made sure everyone - everyone - was involved. You want balance? Kenny Hall 13, Trae Golden 12, Jeronne Maymon 12, Jordan McRae 10, Cameron Tatum 9, Josh Richardson 7. Add in a deuce from Renaldo Woolridge and Wes Washpun, and the Vols shoot 51.0% from the floor. The Vols got nothing from Skylar McBee...and blew Florida out.
The move to insert Richardson and Woolridge paid on the defensive end, but it also certainly appeared to inspire the guys whose spots they took. While the Vols relied on their best players in the first half, with Trae Golden and Jeronne Maymon each turning in ten, Kenny Hall and Jordan McRae came alive in the second half when Florida adjusted. It was Hall who sparked the key run in the first portion of the second half that allowed the Vols to push the lead from four to sixteen - he scored seven straight points from 13:09 to 10:51 in the second half. With Tennessee banging inside - 13/5 from Hall, 12/7 from Maymon, six rebounds from Swipa - and forcing turnovers, opportunities were also there for the three ball, which Tennessee knocked down at critical moments: following Hall's surge, Cameron Tatum knocked down his only attempt to push the lead to fifteen at 9:14, and then you knew it was real.
Then for the next eight minutes, Tennessee hit only two shots.
But Florida hit none.
It was that span that proved the Vols have what it takes: when the offense dries up, turnovers pop up and panic could set in, the Vols simply manned up and played sensational defense on every single possession. Florida got four free throws in that span, and that was it. As Cuonzo has said before, shots will come and go, but what you can control is your defensive effort. And Tennessee played harder and better today than they have all season, by far.
This is a huge, huge, huge win - not for what it does for any postseason hopes or anything like that, but for right now, for this moment. Tennessee fans have felt sorry for themselves for more than a year. Tennessee's basketball team lost Bruce Pearl and has been through some rough growing pains with Cuonzo Martin through the non-conference schedule.
But this isn't like the football wins over Cincinnati or Vanderbilt. This is a really good win over a really good team, not one the Vols squeaked out or lucked out, but dominated playing their brand of basketball for all forty minutes. If what we saw today is this team's real identity - not shoot threes and hope for the best, but play hard and accept the challenge (more Cuonzospeak) on defense every possession, and play together on the offensive end? We're going to love getting behind this basketball team. And if they play like this, more wins are out there.
We haven't even discussed Jarnell Stokes yet, but how big was it for Cuonzo and these players to get this win before the highly-touted recruit from Memphis suits up? Now all Vols - players, coaches, fans - know they don't have to put it all on a freshman and hope for the best. This team, without Stokes, just dominated an elite Florida team. This team with Stokes? Well, now we have more liberty to go only at the pace he's capable of.
This is one to be very, very proud of. I'm so happy for Cuonzo and I'm so happy for all of our kids. And you bet, I'm happy for us. We're all happy. This one's been a long time coming. I last sang "IT'S GREAT....TO BE...." walking out of Neyland Stadium after the Vanderbilt win. But there was a little sarcasm in there, knowing who it was we had beaten and how we can't really say we've done anything because we beat Vanderbilt again.
But this is real. And it's real good.
Go Vols.
0 recs | 59 comments
Game highlights here
from the fine folks at UTSports.com
I love Bert calling Golden’s shot just before halftime, and Cuonzo’s fist pump in the handshake line.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
See, you should have added the16-0 "Will Shelton" option in your earlier poll.
;-)
David Hooper - January 7, 2012
One at a time!
One at a time to 16-0! Wooooooooooooo!
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
The body language of this team was great today.
They didn’t look jumpy when they got the big second half lead, and even late in the game they looked like people who wanted to prove something.
bobothevol - January 7, 2012
They need to keep that
and I think they will. Only Tatum has any reason to feel like he’s really been here before.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
usually they start solid and get into trouble in the last five minutes of the first half
then let the other team go into the break with momentum.
That didn’t happen today. Kept playing solid D, made buckets here and there, and then Trae was huge at the end. When’s the last time we made a shot to end the first half? The Jerry Green era?
Incipient_Senescence - January 7, 2012
TL;DR
Caban - January 7, 2012
Vanderbilt up 30-13 on Auburn, LSU up 30-12 on Ole Miss
Not much exciting in the second slate of games here.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
LSU is okay this year
kidbourbon - January 7, 2012 via mobile
Auburn scored 35 points.
Lost 65-35. We’re moving up at least one spot in the power poll.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
Cuonzo in the postgame:
“If they were going to beat us, it had to be Young scoring 30 on the block. We couldn’t give them good looks at threes.”
Young had 12. Florida shot 7 of 22 from the arc.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
We finally got photos to upload
and there are some great ones – updated the post with one at the top, but I’m also a fan of these:
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
We didn't really have anyone other than Hall playing exceptionally on offense
which says “not fluke” to me. What we did have is nobody having a howler, and (as you and Cuonzo said), everyone played tough D. We’ve been getting good shots under Cuonzo, but this is the first time we didn’t have half our team missing everything they threw up.
Washpun is a liability though. Teams have realized that they can press whenever he comes in. We might could play him exclusively with Tatum and Maymon (both of whom showed some ability in breaking it), but he hurts us a lot.
Incipient_Senescence - January 7, 2012
What it says to me...
is that as Hall goes, we go. Not because he is the sort of guy to win games singlehandedly, but because we struggle terribly inside when he stinks. Which unfortunately has been a lot of the time. Talk about a feast or famine player.
This is exactly why getting Stokes could be soooooooooo big for this team if he shows up ready to play.
Caban - January 7, 2012
and looking at the stats...
I couldn’t be more wrong.
Ok, scratch that… we’re just super inconsistent, but have the potential to be a good team obviously.
Caban - January 7, 2012
Yeah, let's not go with the 1 to 1 success with Hall correlation
I don’t like that so much.
kidbourbon - January 7, 2012 via mobile
Considering...
Austin Peay was arguably his best game of the season, I got no leg to stand on there.
Caban - January 7, 2012
Trae played 35 minutes today
not sure how long they can keep that up.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
yeah, this worries me
Washpun is an absolute liability, but Trae can’t play the whole game. I think the only solution is probably playing Washpun with the best possible ballhandling lineup we can find at the other four positions. That’s the only way we even give him a chance to break the presses
Incipient_Senescence - January 7, 2012
Uplifting!
What a marvelous game and effort. Cudos to Cuonzo to not be afraid to shake things up a bit to open the conference slate. Paid big dividends.
This is going to get interesting — there will be more ups and some downs for sure.
This squad looks like they truly believe. Happy for them all. Keep working.
NorCalVol - January 7, 2012
and I pray...
that our baseball team will actually be consistently good.
I could really use a UT sports team minus the stress.
Caban - January 7, 2012
/cough
;-)
David Hooper - January 7, 2012
Simmons' middle name is stress.
bobothevol - January 7, 2012
She's been better of late, though.
Her season A/TO is 0.8, but her conference A/TO is 3.7. It’s just two games, but the improvement is obvious in real time.
David Hooper - January 7, 2012
Oh, scratch that.
Conference A/TO of 0.6. She’s still better, but not there. I misread the lines on the stat sheet. Ariel is 3.7.
David Hooper - January 7, 2012
Yeah, I was about to say.
Chris Pendley - January 7, 2012
Isn't it nice?
Chris Pendley - January 7, 2012
Projections...
Massey Ratings
Florida = #16
Tennessee = #173
14% chance of win
Score = 82-71 UF
Ken Pomeroy
Florida = #11
Tennessee = #124
19% chance of win
Score = 79-68 UF
RealTimeRPI
Florida = #42
Tennessee = #278
4% chance of win
Score = 78-59 UF
Jeff Sagarin
Florida = #28
Tennessee = #170
~30% chance of win(hard to calculate)
Score = 82-76 UF
Just putting this up for posterity, and I want to see how much the CPU polls change after this game.
Caban - January 7, 2012
Using RealTimeRPI
we jumped almost 40 spots.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
RPI is a really bad metric
And should be done away with.
I mean, of all the bad metrics, RPI may take the cake.
kidbourbon - January 9, 2012 via mobile
I don't know much about what goes into RPI
but it’s obviously wonky this early in the season if it has us in the mid-200s
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
and I went ahead and paid 20 bucks for Ken Pomery access
in case anyone ever has any questions about it.
I will say that he has us going 5-11 in conference. Only projects probable wins at home vs. #175 Auburn(70-63), #115 Georgia(65-62), #117 South Carolina(65-62), #88 Arkansas(71-70) and #113 Mississippi(66-63).
Extreme low is a 3% chance of winning at Kentucky, 81-58 loss projected.
.05% chance of going winless in the SEC
Unbeaten conference odds
Kentucky = 10.1%
Alabama =.04%
Florida = .03%
Winless conference odds
Auburn = 1%
South Carolina = .06%
Tennessee = .05%
Georgia = .04%
Ole Miss = .01%
All other odds are listed as 0%
Some other interesting numbers…
Undefeated odds
Murray State = 30.4%
Syracuse = 6.3%
Baylor = .03%
Winless odds
Binghamton = 8.2%
I left out A TON of stuff… it has to be the best site out there for numbers geeks.
Seriously, do yourself a favor and sign up for it… the level of information Ken Pomeroy puts out there is simply astounding.
Caban - January 7, 2012
oh yeah...
link
Caban - January 7, 2012
I also paid for it
I’m a little embarassed that I did.
His blog post about Wisconsin is funny. He gets really defensive.
kidbourbon - January 9, 2012 via mobile
Changes...
Ken Pomery
Florida = #15 ↓4
Tennessee = #109 up15
24% chance of win at Mississippi State
Score = 73-65 MSU
RealTimeRPI
Florida = #51 ↓9
Tennessee = #246 up32
15.4% chance of win at Mississippi State
Score = 83-64 Mississippi State
Other updates aren’t up yet.
I can say I’d definitely take Tennessee +19. And whatever moneyline that would end up giving(If I had to guess it’d probably end up being ~12/1 to 15/1).
Apparently our point spread today was UT +8 with an o/u of 146.
Caban - January 8, 2012
ESPN...
had us at 22.9% to win
Score = 80-70
7.7% chance of a 10+ point UT win, 53.1% chance of a 10+ point UF win
Caban - January 8, 2012
W000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
I knew they had it in them.
I don’t know anything about making gifs. Could someone make one of Cuonzo’s fist pump after the handshake? I loved that; it just fits him so well.
yay yay yay yay yay
Happy Dance!
sddbaker - January 7, 2012
or as the Gators will now refer to it as...
the terrorist fist pump
/couldntresist
Caban - January 7, 2012
Okay
was at TBA for the first time since renovations…don’t hate, I’ve got a lot of kids and I’m po’. Anyway, Jeronne Maymon is the key to us, it appears. He looks like the emotional leader for us (even though he’s quiet), and he seems to be in on every play that’s made.
Also, games at TBA are a freaking dog and pony show, man! Fireworks and crap, it was a fantastic atmosphere. Even our dance team does like actual dances, with like ballet shoes and crap…not just glorified pole dancing…which is good to see. Some class on The Hill!
It was good, Will, to get a big win before Stokes plays…for a variety of reasons.
Also, Justin Hunter was recognized for Long Jumping and got a near-standing ovation.
GhostDance - January 7, 2012 via Android app
Doesn't it look so much better?
Whoever put in the original orange seats needs a smack in the head with a wiffle ball bat. Those black seats just look 100x more professional. The whole place just feels much more like a college basketball gym than the old tomb.
Still wish we’d play some non-conference games in Stokely. It’s extremely sad to me that we’re demolishing such a historic building. Wish we could keep the area itself and just build around it somehow.
Apparently UT is selling pieces of Stokely online. Some neat stuff for a man-cave.
Caban - January 7, 2012
geez...
talk about overpriced. I dunno how they think they’ll sell many of these for hundreds of dollars.
I MIGHT pay a hundred for a 2 seat chairback bench, but $129 for a freaking seatback? That is just more evidence that some folks in the AD are completely clueless about the financial situation of the average fan. Reminds me of every time I see a big time politician get tricked into answering a question about the price of milk or something similar.
Caban - January 7, 2012
Playing some non-cons
in Stokely would be neat. That place has a lot of history. They used to play the TN state championships in there…it was freaking 2-Maggitt. At the very minimum, play Carson-Newman or something in there. Also, regarding the black seats, it’s kind of weird because I hate any other combo at UT other than Orange/White…but TBA looks majestic.
GhostDance - January 7, 2012 via Android app
The hype man, or whatever his official term is
is new this year, as is the thing where someone says “It’s basketball time in Tennessee!”, which I love – it was John Ward for the opener, Tobias Harris against Pitt (which is sadly the only game I’ve made so far this year), and I saw Bradshaw in the highlights today.
But yeah, that place is real professional. Seems much less cavernous even when it’s not full.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
I was at the Pitt game as well...
and I loved it when Tobias did the “basketball time” thing.
I have to say I was very impressed with the dance team. As Ghost said above, they were really actually dancing, not just trying to see how many booty shakes they could get in one routine.
Go Big Orange!
VFL
sddbaker - January 7, 2012
If they want a real hype-man to announce the players,
I say go after the hype-man at Austin-East High School. If you’ve ever played or seen a game there…this needs no explanation.
GhostDance - January 7, 2012 via Android app
Tangent: the dance team is one of the two national powerhouses in their category (Minnesota is the other).
They routinely win national championships.
David Hooper - January 7, 2012
That's been going on forever
when I used to go to games as a kid, they’d usually announce them at halftime as “the nationally-ranked dance team!” So then the weeks that they didn’t, my friends and I would speculate on what happened that knocked them out of the Top 25.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
Crooked pollsters...
Particularly the voter from the Athens Daily College Dance Association Review. She’s a real jerk… which is surprising considering how esteemed the ADCDAR is in the world of Dance based periodicals.
Caban - January 7, 2012
It's like Olympic figure skating
with Georgian judges instead of Russian judges.
David Hooper - January 7, 2012
In Soviet Russia
Dance judges You
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
I see what you did there.
kidbourbon - January 9, 2012 via mobile
Happiness wore orange for a day
Great job by Cuonzo and the boys.
Brad Shepard - January 7, 2012
Arkansas beat Mississippi State 98-88
…in regulation. Shot 56.5% from the floor, 40% from three, forced 18 turnovers. Lots of things looking more winnable now.
Will Shelton - January 7, 2012
I suspect...
that the elimination of divisions may be strongly to our benefit come SEC Tournament time.
5th in the East could easily be 6th or 7th in the SEC.
Caban - January 8, 2012
Watched the UTSports highlights
conspicuous in its absence is Jordan McRae’s loljordan shot near the end of the game that he somehow ridiculously made. Is that not on the Internet yet? And if not, why not? I want to see that one again.
Incipient_Senescence - January 8, 2012
McRae
reminds me of a right -handed Stacey Augmon.
GhostDance - January 8, 2012 via Android app
Stacey Augmon was probably the best college defensive player I've ever seen
How does McRae remind you of him?
kidbourbon - January 9, 2012 via mobile
Beautiful performance
Defense, effort, intensity. Higher percentage shots inside on offense. That’s how this team can win. Enjoyed seeing the fist pump from Cuonzo, too. Although more subdued, reminded me a bit of Tony Jones waiving his hands to the student section after last year’s win over Vandy.
Hope they can bring that kind of intensity each week. That was impressive.
Craig T - January 8, 2012
I doubt they will but
This team is finally beginning to show some signs that it may have a ceiling higher than what we’ve seen as they continue to develop in Cuanzo’s system.
phil g - January 9, 2012
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