Top-ranked Tennessee had an unexpected scare thrown into them tonight in the first half against MTSU before the Vols regrouped and controlled the second half in an 82-64 win.
After the first 10 minutes of play it felt like Tennessee was putting together a little pre-Christmas blowout, leading 25-14 and cruising.
Suddenly without warning, MTSU put together the best offensive stretch that any opponent has slapped on Tennessee this year, outscoring the Vols 26-9 in the final 9:31 of the first half to lead 40-34 at the break.
It was a wake-up call for the Vols who watched the Blue Raiders’ Camryn Weston put up 17 first half points on 7-of-9 shooting.
“At the start of the game, they did what I thought they would do,” Barnes said of MTSU, who he clearly had some respect for.
“I think we’re up eight, missed a couple of layups that we need to make, and then we turned it over four or five times in a row. Changed the whole momentum of the game in the first half.
MTSU didn’t wilt in the second half, but Tennessee took control of the game the way you’d expect to see from the No. 1 team in the nation.
The Vols didn’t look like the top team in the country for the first 30 minutes of the game, but they did for the last 10.
It was still a tie game at 51-51 with 12:21 left in the game when the Vols hit the turbo button.
Tennessee outscored MTSU 31-13 from there on out and when the smoke had cleared on the second half the visitors had been outscored 48-24 and held to 29% shooting.
The Vols also got a helping hand from the crowd, which turned out in force two days before Christmas for this non-conference affair.
With the Vols down six at the half the crowd cranked it up significantly in the second half, almost creating a big SEC-game like environment.
The energy in the building translated onto the court and Tennessee just completely dominated the final 10 minutes of the game.
“I thought at halftime we were locked in and came out and obviously played a lot better,” Barnes said of his team’s second half. “But I told them, this won’t be the last time we would be behind at halftime. (It’s) Good for us, and let’s see if we can handle it. I thought they did a good job coming out and doing that.”
Chaz Lanier—who led the Vols with 23 points—got that final spurt going with a three pointer that put Tennessee up 55-51.
Zakai Zeigler—who had a double-double with 17 points and 15 assists, found Cade Phillips for back-to-back dunks to make it 59-54 with 10:43 left on the clock.
MTSU would make three more shots the rest of the way and get out-scored 25-10.
It was a master class from Tennessee on locking down on defense and finding your groove on the offensive end.
Zeigler had six of his career high 15 assists in the final 11:55 tonight, and just orchestrated the offense at a crazy high level in the final quarter of the game.
He’s playing the point guard position at a high, high level right now, to say the least.
“He’s starting to really understand his teammates. I think the more that he’s out there, he and Chaz are starting to get a little bit more of a connection to it,” Barnes said of Ziegler’s play.
Thanks to the way they regrouped and just throttled MTSU in the second half, barring an absolute stunner next week against Norfolk State Tennessee will start SEC play as the No. 1 team in the country.
But they’ll also start it with (as of now) nine available scholarship players thanks to a strange development on Monday.
The Vols learned today that sophomore Cam Carr plans to redshirt to maintain a year of eligibility and enter the transfer portal. He is no longer with the team.
Carr has been sidelined since suffering a broken thumb against Austin Peay on Nov. 17. He was expected to be out 4-6 weeks, so would have been returning at or near the start of SEC play in a couple of weeks.
That is obviously no longer the case and the already thin Vols are even more short-handed.
Tennessee began the year with 11 scholarship players and have lost JP Estrella (foot) for the year in addition to Carr.
It was even more extreme tonight against MTSU with freshman point guard Bishop Boswell sidelined with a shoulder injury (he’s day-to-day).
Playing with what will apparently be a nine-man bench is hardly ideal, but Barnes wasn’t playing ‘poor me’ over the Vols’ roster situation.
“We have pretty much played eight or nine guys all year, right? Pretty much,” Barnes said of the situation. “I tell everybody, back when I first got into coaching, you ask questions trying to learn all I could about this game and talking to some of the old legendary guys. They always told me, ‘you want to play six, maybe seven, eight only if you have to.’
Barnes was taking the fact that his roster had shrunk to nine guys with equanimity. But he had some thoughts on Carr’s decision to leave the program, which happens to be ranked No. 1 in the nation, during the middle of the season.
Transfers are very much a part of the game in college athletics. But a midseason basketball transfer from a player who was almost certainly going to be in the rotation on a final four contender checking out?
That’s some next level stuff.
“It’s like Jahmai Mashack and Zakai Zeigler said a year ago when we lost some guys,” Barnes said of Carr’s departure.
“They said plain and clear, ‘if they don’t want to be here then we don’t want them here.’ We want guys that want to be here and guys that really care about being part of the team. They said that. That’s how I think we all feel.”
Tennessee is off now for several days for Christmas. They’ll return to the court on Dec. 31, hosting Norfolk State in the final non-conference game of the year. Make a note, that Tuesday game tips off at 3:00 p.m.
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