Strange: Injury will force Wingate to take on bigger role

His second move was strong. One-handed rebound directed into the bucket. Tennessee up, 4-0. Clearly, the big man came to play.

His third move, unfortunately, was his last.

With only 2 minutes, 6 seconds off the clock, Crump lay writhing in pain on the Freedom Hall baseline. His day was done, his left ankle twisted when he landed on the foot of Louisville's Juan Palacios while contending for a rebound.

Crump's week - the week Kentucky comes to Thompson-Boling Arena - is almost certainly done. Beyond that, it's too early to tell.

An X-ray was negative, at least.

"I'm real happy nothing was broken. It's just swollen up a lot,'' Crump said from a chair in a tunnel from which he could see the scoreboard document the Louisville frenzy that transformed a 53-50 Tennessee lead into a 85-62 Cardinal romp.

But back to the 17:54 mark of the first half.

Appropriately, it was Major Wingate who gave Crump a shoulder to lean on as he hopped on one foot to the bench. Nice metaphor.

Wingate, so naturally inclined to be content in a supporting role, realized he would have to pick up his team on his shoulders and become a leading actor.

Before the roof fell in on the Vols, Wingate scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds, playing a career-high 35 minutes.

"He knows I'm not going to be here,'' said Crump. "It's time for him to be taking over games.''

UT coach Buzz Peterson could scarcely believe his eyes when Wingate pumped in a 17-footer early in the second half.

"If he don't come back, then I think it is my time,'' said Wingate. "But I don't think it's only my time. It's all of our time.''

When does Crump come back? Maybe he should see Ellis Myles' doctor.

Myles, Louisville's glass-eating forward, fractured a thumb on Wednesday and wasn't supposed to play against the Vols. Myles started, played 32 minutes and scored 12 points.

But an ankle is different from a thumb. Florida's Matt Walsh recently came back 15 days after suffering a significant sprain and that was two weeks ahead of schedule.

Crump's timing was rotten. After six generally misspent weeks, the Vols had finally gotten their act together in the past two. As he watched Crump's painful hop to the bench, Peterson couldn't help thinking that on the whole, he'd rather be in Knoxville.

This was the Vols' open weekend in the SEC grind. But for the third consecutive year, instead of getting a breather the Vols were playing Louisville. And playing Louisville, make no mistake about it, is the polar opposite of a breather.

"That's the thing,'' said Peterson. "A non-conference game in the middle of the conference season.

"Playing this game this time of year and having that happen is really frustrating.''

The Vols have 11 regular-season games left. In the immediate no-Crump scenario, Wingate, Andre Patterson and Jemere Hendrix pick up more minutes.

"We've got to go in there tomorrow like he's out and see what we can do with the other guys,'' Peterson said. "We'll just have to identify some different roles for some our players.''

At the moment, Hendrix isn't getting a lot done. Unless he finds a groove, the burden falls to Wingate and Patterson.

Patterson checked in with eight points, seven rebounds against Louisville, about par for the course. But he welcomes a redefined role.

"I've got to score more instead of just getting everybody else involved and getting mine off the boards,'' Patterson said.

Wingate's 46th collegiate game was his first in double figures. His 47th is Tuesday against Kentucky. He can't afford to retreat.

"If we can get that from Major every day,'' said Patterson, "we'd be a heckuva ball team.''

Tennessee has only recently shown signs of becoming a heckuva ball team. Can it continue to develop without Crump?

It'd be a heckuva story.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865 342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.