CINCINNATI - There was a signature win there for the taking Saturday afternoon. The kind of win you wrap in a bow but don't open at Christmas.
You wait until March when the NCAA men's basketball tournament selection committee is huddled in a hotel room with a big chalkboard.
"You play 36 minutes and you win by four,'' Xavier coach Sean Miller noted wistfully.
Ah, but it's a 40-minute game.
And the last four minutes Saturday belonged to Tennessee. No, that's not putting it strongly enough.
The Vols trailed 73-69 with four minutes to play. Usually in these circumstances, the home team prevails. For a visitor, it's difficult to impose your will in a howling, hostile environment like the sold-out Cintas Center.
Furthermore, the Musketeers had all the tools - good guards, big rebounders, dead-eye free-throw shooters - to salt away a marquee win to go with previous triumphs over Indiana and Cincinnati.
But to borrow a phrase from Georgia's Larry Munson, the Vols stomped on Xavier's face with hob-nailed boots in the last four minutes.
Tennessee made every play at both ends of the court and I mean that literally. <I>Every</I> play.
The Vols closed with a 13-2 flourish to win 82-75.
Those two Xavier points were free throws. The Vols got defensive stops on eight of Xavier's final nine possessions. Tennessee scored points on seven of its eight final possessions.
"I never saw any doubt in the players' minds that we were going to win that game,'' said UT coach Bruce Pearl.
"Today's the first time (this year) I've seen that look.''
Here's how the comeback started: Chris Lofton, suffering through an awful shooting day, took a charge under the Xavier basket with 3:47 to play.
Lofton, certainly not UT's best defender, made a huge defensive play. It was a quiet turning point.
On Xavier's next possession, Drew Lavender, the 5-foot-7 waterbug, jetted toward the rim only to have his shot swatted away by Tyler Smith.
The ball ended up with JaJuan Smith, who fired a long bounce pass ahead on the break to Ramar Smith for a streaking dunk.
Pay attention, there's going to be a lot of Smiths here in the stretch run.
Next possession. Ramar Smith steal. Next possession. Tyler Smith steal and layup to put UT ahead 74-73.
Might be a good point to get a timeout, coach.
Miller thought about it. Then he thought about what Tennessee does better than any team in the country:
"It's hard to call a timeout because then you have to inbound the ball again.
"You just have to play through it a little more against them.''
So on to the next possession. Ramar Smith diving for a steal and Tyler Smith rebounding a Lofton miss for a layup and a 76-73 lead.
And, finally, encouraging news on Wayne Chism.
Chism broke out of his shooting slump Saturday, hitting 5 of 8 shots for 12 points. He broke out of his rebounding slump in the final minute.
Chism didn't have a rebound until the 2:41 mark. Xavier was dominating the boards 38-20 at that point. Then Chism got every rebound.
In the final 55 seconds, Xavier's last three shots ended up in his hands.
"Sometimes he don't get in there and try to get it,'' said Tyler Smith, "but when he wants it, he gets it.''
Tennessee wanted this win and it reached out with both hands and got it, and with an ESPN audience watching to boot.
"Their relentlessness at the end, turning us over, beating us to balls, really stands out,'' said Miller.
This is the marquee December win the Vols had lacked this season. In Pearl's first year it was the road romp at Texas. Last year by Christmas, Tennessee had beaten Memphis, Oklahoma State and Texas.
But the true value doesn't lie merely in the fact that it's a road win over a quality opponent.
More encouraging for the months to come is the ruthlessness with which the Vols seized it at the end.
That's what really good teams do.
Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.
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Comments » 20
mj54 writes:
Great win by the Vols. But unless Chism gets off his @#$% and does something, we won't go very far.
Pathetic for someone of Chism's size and athletic ability to have 2 rebounds and for both to come in the last minute of the game.
I like the way everyone is playing. They seem to be playing real hard with good intensity, but Chism looks disinterested and lost if he can't jack up 3's from everywhere with 30 seconds left on the shot clock.
DenmarkVol_aka_Mbumburu writes:
mj54, I agree. Chism needs to get his 6'9" 240 lbs. in THE PAINT and POUND THE GLASS. Enough of this nonsense of drifting out beyond the arc to launch 3s.
nathan_m writes:
OK- I know you guys have been harping on this, but I"m gonna harp some more... Why in the WORLD is it that we see Chris Lofton assisting W. Chism with 3-point attempts??????? I cannot understand why WC is even allowed to take that shot... Where is our power inside? And why doesn't CL CLAIM and TAKE more shots? He gets lost out there for 5-6 minutes at a time. Just kinda hangin out... not working for shots like he did last year. I'm stoked about the win and the way we did it, but... we could be so much more!
jevolball7 writes:
Chism needs to park it in the paint. Back in high school,if we couldn't tell the difference we called it "taint" Any one get that?
AlpharettaVol writes:
I think that if Chism gets farther than 12 away from the basket Bruce Pearl should jerk him out of the game and let him sit until he understands his role -- and it's not shooting 3's. He's our best rebounder and he has to learn the importance of mixing it up underneath.
fjm777 writes:
Exactly nathan_m! Chism has hit 8 of 29 threes this year and I know 3 of the 8 were bank shots. I cannot figure out why in the world, with all the GREAT shooters we have, they want Chism out on the three point line taking shots.
fjm777 writes:
GREAT win though!! GO VOLS!!
fundamentals83 writes:
Let me get this staight. Chism had all four rebounds in the last 2:41? I new he was getting after it at the end but that it tremendous. We need that for the entire 40.
fundamentals83 writes:
oops, Chism had all four of his rebounds in the last 2:41.
DSaVol writes:
Those female doging about Chism taking 3s have NO UNDERSTANDING of this offense or what BP is trying to do. Suffice it to say that if BP didn't want those shots taken, they wouldn't get taken. Funny though how nobody was female doging about them last year when he was making a higher percentage of em. I am not a big Chism fan - he's soft, pouty and generally a baby - but he's out there and doing what he's doing because he's supposed to. Don't like it? Debate it with BP - that should be a short conversation.
Huntingdonvol writes:
Prince won this game and played outstanding!IMO this team hustles better than any UT team i have ever seen!Great game team and MERRY CHRISTMAS!get ready for the sec!
newtonrail writes:
The Designated Sanitation agent of Thompson Bowling rolls out his wisdom from the bowels of said T-B again. DS, I spilled some popcorn during this weeks game. Please clean it up before Jan.9th.
scvols writes:
Hey, where is the box score?
scvols writes:
I found it, never mind.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
aspenvol- amen to the "hobnail boot" post. Poor ole' Munson is as clueless now as we all will be someday. Like some others, he doesn't know when the round lady sang. Go Vols.
murrayvol writes:
This was an outstanding game between 2 good teams. IMO the difference in the last 4 minutes boiled down to Xavier playing only 8 guys w/6 getting a lions share of the minutes. They were gassed and it showed with lazy passes and running a step behind a "relentless" Vol defense.
And not one Xavier basket in the last 4 minutes. Sweet!
1volk-nowi-tall writes:
Chism is probably UT's best percentage 3 point shooter in games. He has hit some big ones in the past year. Two or three against Texas and Ohio State last season. Sure he needs to rebound, but so do all of the Vols. Lofton gets five rebounds to tie JuJuan for most rebounds. We could not have won without those 10 rebounds and Chism's 3 at the end. If he was not going to be allowed to shoot 3's he would be taken out when he shoots one. He made 6 points yesterday that were big for UT on two 3's.
1volk-nowi-tall writes:
Chism is probably UT's best percentage 3 point shooter in games. He has hit some big ones in the past year. Two or three against Texas and Ohio State last season. Sure he needs to rebound, but so do all of the Vols. Lofton gets five rebounds to tie JuJuan for most rebounds. We could not have won without those 10 rebounds and Chism's 3 at the end. If he was not going to be allowed to shoot 3's he would be taken out when he shoots one. He made 6 points yesterday that were big for UT on two 3's.
asleep#212036 writes:
Still, unless Williams is going to make a big splash inside, Chism is much more important in the paint than on the perimeter. Lofton, J Smith, T Smith, etc... shoot plenty well enough to do without Chism's occasional bank shot 3-pointer. Not arguing with BP, just been watching hoops long enough to know that teams without an inside presence don't make it very far in tournaments. Loved the intensity at the end, I think it's what BP has been looking for from this bunch. Forty minutes of that and they will be hard for anyone to beat. Go Vols!!!
ULTIMATEVOLUNTEER writes:
i think Justiscummin got that backwards...but that figures since his reasoning is stupid!
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