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Prince proving to be key presence
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Tennessee's J.P. Prince was coming off a five-turnover game at Alabama entering Saturday night's contest in Humphrey Coliseum.
"Was it that many? I knew I'd had a few,'' said Prince, who has played 12 games for the Vols since transferring from Arizona in January of 2007. "But you've just got to know things are going to happen sometimes.''
Prince's talents are such that most often it's good things happening when he's on the floor for the No. 7 Vols (19-2, 6-1 SEC).
The 6-foot-8 swingman played 23 turnover-free minutes in Tennessee's 76-71 victory over Mississippi State and figures to contribute again in Tuesday's 9 p.m. game with Florida at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Prince scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting against the Bulldogs, but he also pulled down four rebounds, had an assist, blocked a shot and drew two charges on Bulldogs star Jamont Gordon.
The Vols' defense on Gordon was particularly impressive. While JaJuan Smith spearheaded the effort to keep Gordon out of the paint, Prince, along with Josh Tabb, maintained the task with Smith in foul trouble.
Amazingly, Gordon failed to score a two-point basket and only attempted two shots inside the 3-point line.
UT coach Bruce Pearl also used Prince - a point guard at Arizona - at the power forward position against the bigger Bulldogs.
"That demonstrated to J.P. that we have confidence in him,'' Pearl said. "I told him before the game he has been too hard on himself.''
Prince is averaging about nine points per game, but that number will most assuredly go up as his minutes and free-throw percentage increase.
While Prince's defense is steadily improving, his free-throw percentage remains a glaring weakness. He's hit 23-of-47 free throw attempts this season. A shoulder injury has hampered Prince's shooting to an extent, but the high flier out of Memphis White Station High School is the first to admit there's work to be done.
"I still have a lot of room to improve,'' Prince said. "I didn't have the early season games to get comfortable, so I'm still learning.
"Coach just told me don't press as much. He said just play your game, go to the hole hard and don't press or stress.''
UT associate head coach Tony Jones sees Prince coming along.
"He's starting to really get how we play,'' Jones said. "It's a little different, so it takes a while. He did good at Mississippi State.''
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by kbart4033 on February 3, 2008 at 10:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
J.P. seems like a great kid and he is an amazing
athlete. I think he and Tabb are key contributors
and will certainly be go-to guys next season.
However, J.P. has 2 huge flaws fundamentally that
he is going to have to work hard to overcome:
(1.) he does not play defense with his feet...he
depends on his reach (what a reach!); and (2) he
and Tabb both shoot too flat to be consistent
threats...when he buys into overcoming those two
fundamentals, the sky is the limit. Go Vols!
Posted by Ironcity on February 3, 2008 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
kbart I agree 100%. We must understand that with his health issues the last year, it has affected his stanima and his ability to play the type of defense he will be capable of. Also the shoulder injury has affected his shot. Give him a year in the weight room and under Pearl's guidence, I expect Prince will be all SEC next year. For now 12-20 minutes a night is perfect for this team.
Posted by Hunter on February 3, 2008 at 11:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Prince's free throw woes come from poor body position on the shot. With his feet square to the basket his arm is not moving as it naturally should (up and slightly away - about a 30 degree angle). If he would rotate his body slightly to compensate he'd make 50% more than he currently does.
Posted by FLVol on February 4, 2008 at 6:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I also think he has a problem with trajectory on his outside shot but he really needs to work on getting his teammates involved. All to often, I have seen him take it to the hole and he never seems to look to pass at all. Sometimes you have people wide open when he penetrates. Hopefully, next year he can use that as an advantage.
Posted by Chainsaw on February 4, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Love his control of the ball when he is in the air under the hoop. He's magical.
Posted by eb502us on February 4, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Most of what Prince needs to work on is completely upstairs (BB IQ dept.), and not so much in the talent dept. Some of the plays he makes leaves you shaking your head, as we have often seen with Jujuan. Perhaps its just growing pains and inexperience of him playing significant minutes for the first time in his college career, but I would hope come next season, Prince can really put it all together and become the force (mentally and physically) I think we all know he can be.
Posted by BornaVolDieaVol on February 4, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Air Prince... the boy is coming on strong and will only get better throughout the next year or so.
Posted by johnlg00 on February 4, 2008 at 2 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Some good diagnosis of J.P.'s fundamental flaws. It's good that he recognizes them and knows where he needs to improve. I agree that he has "future star" written all over him when (if) he fixes his shot and gains strength and stamina. We will REALLY need him to contribute at guard next year since all our starting guards are graduating.
Posted by tnfletcher4 on February 4, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Tennessean is reporting that Ernie Grunfeld's #22 is being retired sometime in March. Great reward for a great VOL
Posted by TommyJack on February 4, 2008 at 3:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
tnfletcher: Good move.
Posted by volmattna on February 4, 2008 at 8:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jp is a great ath when he gets an outside game or even an in between game he will be unstopable. he needs to watch jujuan play defense. and with that reach he would be a shut down defender.... GO VOLS!! SPANK THE gaytors!!
Posted by murrayvol on February 4, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
All JP needs is another year of conditioning, playing, and training table food to get over almost being dead.
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