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Tennessee forward Ryan Childress shoots over Terry Delany, left, and Beau Brown of Lincoln Memorial University during an exhibition game on Nov. 5
Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has yet to find equilibrium in the Vols' playing rotation, so the experimenting continues tonight.
"You're always tinkering,'' Pearl said. "Given the fact we have tremendous depth, we're still looking at different lineups, combinations and options.''
Pearl's first focus is finding a way to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette (1-3) when the 11th-ranked Vols (6-1) tip off with the Ragin' Cajuns at 7:30 tonight in Thompson-Boling Arena.
"This will be the second most athletic team we've played behind Texas,'' said Pearl, whose team was dealt a 97-78 setback by the Longhorns Saturday night. "They have played us close the past two years, and they have big, athletic guards.''
The Vols, meanwhile, have had spotty guard play.
Senior All-American Chris Lofton only recently broke out of his shooting slump, while sophomore point guard Ramar Smith finally showed positive signs in the last outing, a 93-59 win over North Carolina A&T Tuesday night.
"We're excited about the way Chris got a look at the basket and shot,'' Pearl said. "Ramar made progress (11 points, six assists, one turnover) and played with some purpose.''
Pearl said junior power forward Ryan Childress should return to action after missing the past two outings with an ankle injury.
Childress' return will trigger more changes in the rotation, Pearl said.
"If Childress comes back as we expect, that will move (Wayne) Chism back to the five (center),'' said Pearl, in reference to Chism playing minutes at power forward while Childress was out. "Chism back at the five affects (Duke) Crews and (Brian) Williams.''
Pearl believes Chism can be more productive at center than he has at power forward.
"Part of Wayne's situation was he played some at the four (power forward), which put him on the perimeter more,'' Pearl said when asked why Chism has scored in single digits the past two outings. "I think that made Wayne less effective. We would like a stronger inside presence.''
Childress said he's anxious to aid that cause as the Vols look to extend their home-court win streak to 22.
"I hated missing games, especially the Texas game when I could see we were having trouble on the boards,'' Childress said. "I would have liked to have been in there to mix it up.''
Childress said the UT players are taking Pearl's coaching moves and the changing roles in stride.
"You come to a place like this, you are expected to compete every day,'' Childress said. "You look at playing 10 or 11 guys instead of seven or eight, it takes a little extra time to get things going. In the end, this will all work in our favor.''
Pearl's move to play sophomore wing Josh Tabb more minutes is already working in the team's favor.
Tabb responded to playing a season-high 25 minutes Tuesday night with a sterling all-around performance that included 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals, in addition to Tabb's trademark shutdown defense.
"I don't pay attention to the minutes,'' Tabb said. "I just want to win. Everyone knows their roles and what they need to do. We just need to get it done.''
Tabb will be charged with guarding Louisiana-Lafayette star Elijah Millsap.
Millsap's, older brother, Paul, led the nation in rebounding while at Louisiana Tech en route to becoming a first-round NBA draft pick.
"This Millsap is just like his brother, he's a 6-foot-6 guard, and he's a beast,'' Pearl said. "That's going to be a big-time match-up for us.''
Louisiana-Lafayette, meanwhile, will be pressed to keep a defender on the perimeter at all times.
Both Lofton and JaJuan Smith start, but once the substituting begins Pearl plans to keep one of them on the court at most all times.
"I'm going to try to give JaJuan the 10 minutes Chris is off the floor at the two (shooting guard),'' said Pearl, who starts JaJuan Smith at wing. "That lets me play-call for JaJuan when Chris isn't in there.''
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Comments » 11
eb502us#225637 writes:
Glad to hear Childress is back as we need some inside muscle and rebounding. On the other hand, I don't mind Crews minutes being cut, but I'd like to see more of Brian Williams. I think he has tremendous upside and can help alot in certain situations. As for the guards, glad to see Tabb playing alot as perhaps he can learn to play the point better. It would certainly be an upgrade over Ramar whose game is severely lacking, other than an occasional drive to the basket. I hope these lineup changes take hold, but I think everything won't really settle down until Prince is eligible. Then we'll really see some competition for playing time.
THE_VOL writes:
I'm about tired of the daily "Griffith report" on the rotation. If a dang walk-on happened to score 10 points Griffith (and half the posters on here) would have him getting more minutes. The real world is that only 9 are going to get any meaningful minutes when we play the good teams and BP already knows who those guys are. All this "tinkering" against these patsies is nothing more than keeping some guys happy and giving them a chance to develop a little when there is no doubt as to the ultimate outcome. Those that keep wanting to see the freshmen more need to look at what they've done. Yeah they have some decent lines against the weak sisters but what did they do against WVU and TX???? Notta! Thus they won't be playing much when the competition picks up. There are a couple of others too whose season's may be shortlived once grades come out so we'll have to see how that plays out. Bottom line - I don't care if 5 walk ons are out there as long as we win!
Now another gripe this morning - since we've had all the attention to Lofton's "shooting slump" when does someone (GRIFFITH?) start giving equal time to JuJuan's slump? He hasn't done squat since he lit up MTSU.
vol4jesus writes:
the_vol = crvol since I used to call him cr___. say it ain't so daddy.....go Vols beat the rajuns!
alfrizzle097 writes:
You can never know who your guys are before the good competition. Who knows, Ramar may continue struggling and Howell could be the permanent point guard. Perhaps Tatum continues to shoot well and spells Lofton and Jajuan. Maybe Williams plays with authority inside and starts ahead of the 3 happy Chism. You have to give the team time to mesh. Only then will you know the lineups that work best.
CoverOrange writes:
Just an idea: What would anyone think about a platoon system? Play your first 5 plus a 6th man and then wholesale subbing of a second 5. Appears that the large number of good players and constant changing lineup may have an effect on team familiarity and synchronicity.
Yes, I've never played organized ball but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.
GoVol writes:
Who cares - It's FOOTBALL time in TN. Go Vols beat LSU.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
I like Tabb, think he's a good overall player. He just seems solid and stable. Do you guys remember Saul Smith (Tubby's kid) at UK??? All those stars, but Saul kept the team in sync.
When you think about last year, we had Dane, Chris, JaJuan and Ramar on the floor quite a bit. That's basically 4 point guards, or at least play-initiators.
I don't get to see a lot of games, but it seems if we start Ryan and Wayne, we have two guys who have to be set up. That's not always bad, but it IS different.
Unlike some of you, I expect UT to struggle some this year, but maybe have it all together by season end.
tigervol9802 writes:
Lofton
Smith
Smith
Smith
Crews
Childress
Tabb
Howell
Save room for Prince when he is eligible.
What's so hard about this?
redneckerson writes:
I'm hoping you just overlooked Chism tiger - don't make me have to comment if that wasn't just an oversight! By the way, you listed Smith 3 times. (j/k - ain't what the kids say now days when they're funnin')
THE_VOL writes:
vol4jesus = HYPOCRITE!! either practice what you preach or STFU! By the way, I ain't CR and Jesus doesn't care about the Vols - learn to live with both facts.
marc_ass - just when you thought it was safe to go back in the kiddy pool! HE RETURNS! LMFAO!!!
redneck - stop worryin' bout Chism - he's out gettin' beasted by Shannon Bobbit. By the way, those sheep still helpin ya with that E.D. thing???
redneckerson writes:
the vol, what's this thing you have with beasts and sheep?? Sorry but I don't have any sheep. I do, however, have some bulls that would love a few minutes with a heifer like you. And I do believe that you're not CR - at least he can engage in some intelligent smack without mentioning personal problems and perversions and resorting to juvenille text messaging abbreviations.
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