Game #113. RTC Live visits Big East country for an interesting showdown with Tennessee and the return of Bruce Pearl.
Tennessee can only be described as an enigma: they’ve beaten Pitt (in Pittsburgh no less), Villanova (on a neutral site), Memphis, Vanderbilt and Georgia; they’ve lost to Oakland, Charlotte, USC, College of Charleston, Arkansas and Florida. Connecticut is better described as a surprise. After last year’s total implosion, Kemba Walker has put Jim Calhoun’s team on his back and led the Huskies to wins over Michigan State, Kentucky and Texas (in Austin). These two teams may sport the best wins in the entire country (at Pitt and at Texas). But all is not well in Storrs or Knoxville: the elephant in the room at every Connecticut game is the fact that they too are waiting to hear from the NCAA how severely they’re to be punished for violations of NCAA rules; and Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl is halfway through an eight game SEC suspension for lying to the NCAA. Connecticut’s spectacular play on the court has upstaged any talk of the potential violations, while the Volunteers look like entirely different teams from night to night. As this is a nonconference game, Pearl will be coaching the Volunteers for the first time since early January. The game also showcases two of the biggest playmakers in the country in Walker and Scotty Hopson; two of the best freshmen in Shabazz Napier and Tobias Harris; two under-appreciated big men in Alex Oriakhi and Brian Williams; and two big-time coaches under fire in Jim Calhoun and Bruce Pearl. Needless to say, this is must-see basketball.
** Apologies to everyone, but the correspondent on site is having Internet access issues. We’ll have a complete recap of the game later.
Connecticut 72, Tennessee 61
Coach Jim Calhoun noted in the post-game that this was “far and away the best team effort against a quality opponent.” With the win over Tennessee, Connecticut moves to 12-0 in nonconference action this season. But Calhoun is right, this was the best his team has played. Four Huskies finished in double figures, most notably freshmen Roscoe Smith and Jeremy Lamb combined for 28 points, including six of nine from beyond the arc.
Tennessee had a very clear defensive game plan: stack the middle, and double Kemba Walker off of all screens (and pretty much anytime he touched the ball). For the first half, Pearl’s strategy worked like a charm: Walker was limited to eight points (most towards the end of the half), and the Volunteer offense looked sharp. Then Tennessee made a couple big miscues (and give Charles Okwandu credit for smothering defense), including letting Connecticut have the last shot. No surprise to anyone who has watched any Connecticut basketball this year, Walker went isolation at the top of the key and drilled a deep three to put the Huskies up one at the break.
The second half was all Connecticut. The Volunteer offense sputtered while the Huskies went on to score a brutally efficient 40 points on only 30 possessions. Part of the trouble was shot selection: Tennessee scored 18 of 31 points in the paint, where they only managed eight (of thirty) in the second half because they fell in love with jump shots. Tennessee got a great game out of Melvin Goins, who finished with fifteen points and five assists, but duds out of Scotty Hopson and Brian Williams. Hopson played lackadaisical defense, only got two rebounds and finished with five turnovers. At critical points, Pearl pulled Hopson for Skylar McBee out of frustration. Williams was a total nonfactor, finishing with four points in 26 minutes. He also flirted with a technical foul for most of the second half and looked more concerned pleading his case to the refs than getting back on defense or even putting the ball in the basket.
A relatively unheralded facet of Lamb’s and Smith’s contributions was their lockdown defense on Tobias Harris. Harris finished with ten points, but was held to three points at the half. Connecticut did a great job of getting in the passing lanes to keep him from getting the ball and staying in front of him when he did get the ball. After the game Pearl stressed that Tennessee didn’t put the ball in Harris’ hands enough.
While he didn’t score thirty, Kemba Walker was still huge in Connecticut’s win. Not only did he hit a couple of critical jumpers to pull the Huskies ahead at the end of the first half, he also finished with seven assists. Walker was mature enough to realize he couldn’t be as efficient shooting over two defenders as his teammates could be wide open. The fact that he can be a facilitator–as well as the best go-to scorer in the country–makes Connecticut that much more dangerous. There had been questions about whether this team could go very deep in postseason play since they rely so heavily on one player. Those questions were answered today. Now consistency is the only question.
As for Tennessee they move to 12-7 on the season. This team is dangerously close to the bubble, despite great wins over Villanova and Pittsburgh. Bruce Pearl still has four league games to watch from home before coming back to finish the season. They need to have a strong showing the rest of conference play to punch their ticket.