Crossover: Tennessee 74, Texas 70
No. 1 Tennessee survives on the road in Austin to beat the Longhorns and move to 2-1 in SEC play.
No. 1 Tennessee survived and advanced Saturday night in Austin. After a blowout loss on Tuesday night in Gainesville to the No. 8 Florida Gators, the Vols had to rebound in a hurry but would have to do so on the road again. It wasn’t pretty against the Longhorns, but head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes’ team will leave the Lone Star State with what they needed the most – a victory.
Let’s dive into my initial three key takeaways from the Vols’ 74-70 victory over the Horns to improve to 2-1 in conference play and 15-1 overall.
This was a very strange game for the Vols. It seemed unlikely coming into the ball game that Tennessee would be able to beat the Longhorns if star transfer guard Chaz Lanier only made three shots in the ball game. The Nashville native had another quiet night for the Vols as he finished with 10 points, and just two points for Tennessee in the second half of a very tight ball game. It does not all fall on Lanier, though. Tennessee committed ten turnovers in the first half and fifteen overall – Texas committed just five. Charlotte transfer big Igor Milicic Jr. had another tough night for the Vols and passed up several good looks from deep. Jahmai Mashack had another tough night offensively, too. Still, Tennessee found a way to win on the road in the best conference in college basketball this season. It’s not always going to look pretty, but the most important thing to come out of what was a very strange game in Austin was that the Vols won their first road conference game of the season, something they’ll have to do a few more times this season if they want to earn the school’s first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament this spring.
I’ve wondered aloud on the podcast this week this very question, “Doesn’t it seem like Darlinstone Dubar will benefit from the permanent absence of Cam Carr and a thin roster the rest of the way?” Well, after playing hard in Gainesville on Tuesday night, the Hofstra transfer wing had a huge game for Tennessee. Dubar played 17 minutes and was a team-high +8 in those key minutes. Dubar was confident in his shot and drilled three of his five threes. He was active on the glass, too, as he added six boards, three of which were offensive rebounds. Dubar, along with Felix Okpara, who was second on the team in plus-minus tonight at +6, were the two biggest reasons why the Vols were able to escape tonight’s game with a victory. That’s what Barnes needs from time to time. Sure, Lanier has to get going offensively in a hurry, but Dubar and Okpara showed they can step up when needed, too, in conference play. It’s only going to get harder as conference play rolls on, but Dubar becoming a confident and capable three-point shooter and rebounder is the biggest development coming out of this game.
Tennessee registered a 1.23 points per possession figure on the night, which is a good showing overall, especially on the road. What’s strange, though, is that it didn’t feel like things were humming throughout much of this game. Part of that is the struggles for Milicic Jr. and Mashack in the halfcourt, I suspect. Milicic Jr. took and made his only three-point attempt tonight, but passed up multiple good three-point looks as well. He’s a capable shooter and showed that against Arkansas last Saturday. With how thin the Vols are, Milicic Jr. has to rise and fire the way Dubar did against the Longhorns. This is a team that is going to shoot a lot of threes, as they should, and Milicic Jr. is one of those key shooters that has to get more threes up, especially open ones. In his last five games, Mashack has taken just four threes and made one. He’s hit one of his four free throws in his last four games. Perhaps most surprising, though, is that he has zero steals in his last two games. Consider that the Vols veteran wing registered 10 steals in total against Arkansas, Miami and Illinois. It was a tough road trip for both Milicic Jr. and Mashack, but both have shown and proven they can bounce back from a rocky week like they’ve had in Gainesville and Austin. For Milicic Jr., Tennessee needs the shots to go up. For Mashack, Tennessee needs the steals to come back. Both are both feasible and both are likely to get right sooner rather than later. If Milicic Jr. and Mashack start launching open looks from deep with confidence like Dubar showed on Saturday night in the victory, the Vols are going to be very hard to beat on the road or even at home.