Tennessee Men's Basketball
Arkansas found a way to stop Tennessee All-American Chris Lofton.
There was just one problem with that strategy: JaJuan Smith.
Smith matched his career-high with 32 points as the No. 4 Vols pulled away for a 93-71 victory before the crowd of 20,008 at Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday night.
“I’m very pleased to report that JaJuan Smith has recovered from the flu in a big way,’’ UT coach Bruce Pearl deadpanned at the start of the post-game press conference, referring to the 101-degree temperature Smith played with at LSU last Saturday.
Smith’s 6-for-6 performance behind the 3-point arc Wednesday set a school record for 3-point shooting accuracy in a game (with a minimum of five attempts). The previous record, 5-for-5, was set four times, most recently by C.J. Watson in 2004.
UT (22-2, 9-1 SEC) gained a game in the SEC East standings with Vanderbilt’s win over Kentucky (6-3 SEC) on Tuesday and LSU’s victory at Florida (6-4 SEC) on Wednesday.
The Vols’ 29th consecutive home-court victory — the second longest in school history and the fourth-longest active streak nationally — snapped the a four-game win streak by the Razorbacks (17-6, 6-3).
Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism scored 15 points apiece for UT, winners of six in a row, while Duke Crews recorded his fourth career double-double and his first of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Lofton, who was checked closely throughout the game and double-teamed most every time he touched the ball, finished with six points on 2-of-8 shooting.
“They were almost playing a box-and-one (zone defense) on Chris,’’ Pearl said. “The guy guarding Chris wasn’t a foot off him all night.’’
Lofton failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time since the Vols’ season-opening victory over Temple, but he still contributed with six rebounds and three assists while also guarding Arkansas’ Patrick Beverley.
Beverley, a 6-foot-1 guard who was the SEC’s freshman of the year last season, had five points on 1-of-6 shooting and finished with one rebound after entering the night leading the SEC with 11 rebounds per game in conference action.
“We put Chris on him because he’s physically one of our strongest guards,’’ Pearl said. “They took their best rebounder (Beverley) and put him on Lofton, and so now he’s out there chasing Lofton, and then on the defensive end, Chris gets six (defensive rebounds) and Beverley gets none (offensive rebounds).’’
The Vols led by as many as 11 in the first half, methodically holding the Razorbacks at bay to take a 43-38 lead at halftime.
JaJuan Smith, perhaps mindful of how Arkansas came back from a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat the Vols in its last visit to Knoxville two years ago, said the team huddled at halftime and discussed the need to turn it on.
“We preached it in the locker room at halftime that we hadn’t closed out games,’’ Smith said. “This is really the first one we closed out.’’
UT led by as many as 27 when Jordan Howell drained a 3-pointer with 4:33 left to make it 88-61.
Tennessee, coming off a 4-of-15 free-throw performance at LSU, sank its first 11 foul shots and finished making 27-of-37 (.730).
“We shot a boat load of free throws (in practice) and I want to give a shout out to all our fans,’’ Pearl said with a wry smile, “Thank you for all the advice and text messages on free throws; I know more about free-throw shooting than I ever have.’’
With the win over Arkansas, the Vols have defeated every SEC team in Thompson-Boling Arena in Pearl’s three-year tenure as coach.
Tennessee returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday at Georgia (12-10, 3-6), which defeated South Carolina Wednesday night.
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Comments » 63
faithfulvol writes:
GO VOLS.....Great game and great FT shooting.
This kind of night would take the Vols to a Championship game!
Great work, keep it up!
You guys are awesome!
Ironcity writes:
Great win JuJuan was on fire! I hope Tyler is OK. He is really important to this team. Though Lofton went 0-3 from deep it looked different then his poor shooting earlier this year. I think Saturday will be the day that Howell and Prince get there second winds.
dopedawg writes:
Money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go guys!!!!!
chefjorge writes:
What happened to Tyler Smith? Following a game on gamecast eats a$$. Dominating a team that has dominated other teams in the conference is always a good thing.
VOLS85 writes:
Excellent all around effort without the help of lofton tonight. When he is face guarded and double teamed, these teams need to realize that we have more than one weapon.
NOTE:
Can we please learn how to spell these guy's names if we're going to cheer for them. As crazy a name as it is, it is spelled JAJUAN.
GO VOLS!
utchris writes:
Tyler came back into the game. It look like he took a knee somewhere around the hamstring or side of the leg. Probably will end up being a bruise. Looked fine after he came back in.
utchris writes:
JaJuan just hit another 3.
iowavol writes:
Yeah, what happened to Tyler Smith. Didn't hear a thing on radio. Sounds like Chism/Duke and Bryan played some real D. Great win. Is Pearl good or what? We've outrebounded our last six team. We go 4-13 from the ft line in one game and then come back and hit, what 24-30 - 80%. Awesome. And Kentucky lost yesterday with LSU - yes LSU - beating Florida at Florida.
UTByrd writes:
Just another test that we passed with flying colors. Throw tall timber at us, no good. Try a smaller, quicker lineup against us , no good. Try anything in between, no good. Just play Coach Pearl's game plan and hit them "Nicki" free throws. That's just too good, I don't care who you are. "Nicki" free throws sure worked tonight.
UTByrd writes:
Lofton drew the double teams and JaJuan made them pay for it. I wouldn't call that a bad game, subpar maybe.
UTByrd writes:
Childress is suffering from some kind of viral infection, I do believe. Lot of that stuff going around...I got it.
utchris writes:
Loton did not play that badly. He may not have shoot the ball that well from outside the arc, but he played good D, had a few timely assist, and was aggressive in driving the hole. It is not always that bad when Lofton does not rain the threes and score 15-20. As long as he plays solid D, does not turn it over, and helps create for his teammates, then he is playing good ball. He has shown time and again that when we the money is on the line and we need him, he will be clutch.
UTByrd writes:
Amen!
Kwitcherbellyachin writes:
Childress has conjunctivitis, a.k.a., "pink eye".
VolBall writes:
Great win! JaJuan absolutely came to play tonight.
I love the consistent effort of this team. Granted, some nights (like tonight) we're going to shoot better than others, but you can always count on the fact that the Vols are going to get in your grill on D for 60 minutes. It absolutely wears teams down.
I thought it was interesting that Tabb got more minutes in the 2nd half in place of the struggling Prince.
cdldoc#211897 writes:
I'd give them a B-. Right Griff?
Titan writes:
I would be satisfied with 40 minutes of good D but if they want to go four overtimes, that's OK with me.
bsvolfan#325031 writes:
***************
VOTE FOR LOFTON EVERYDAY!!!!!
***************
http://www.seniorclassaward.com/VOTEL...
DenmarkVol_aka_Mbumburu writes:
Nice win...but the very day I opined on this board (nearby story) about this team needing Brian Williams to have a man-up-and-show-me, what does he do?
Nine minutes, 2 points, 0 rebounds, 4 fouls. He looked either lost or out of control, nothing in between. Tonight, he was just a big body in the way.
Brian, if you're an SEC basketball player, we need you to show up.
coach75 writes:
figures someone would make a comment about the referees. does anyone know the actual time limit before the game annoouncers mentioned the clock in the girls game?
LargeOrange writes:
I got to watch on FSS and it was one of the best performances I have seen from the Vols in several ways. Lofton had a great game, even if it won't show up on radio or in the stat sheets, they were draped on him every second with sometimes two guys, that opened up JaJuan and others and rather than force up a bad shot Chris dished it off to the open guy, unselfish and not worried about stats. Man, Chism looked better than he has in a long time, ripping the boards, making the 2-4 footers, and even dropping fouls shots. If the Vols can maintain the FT percentage that they did tonight, they could go all the way, if they don't they will lose the close ones in the last 2 minutes, I think it is as simple as that. I loved CBP's line about thanking all of us fans for sending free throw shooting advice, LMAO, it is clear that he has made it a focus and should have. I say Nicky all the way to March in Texas. Great win Vols!
MrBamSeydu writes:
not to compare men's and women's basketball, but Brian Williams and Vicki Baugh are both pretty similar. they are freshmen bigs who both look extrememly out of place on the court and always seem to be completely lost, clumsy, and foul prone. those are the type players you wish you could redshirt, but both the men and women's team need an extra big body even if they're a liability; someone to bang around down low and give the starters a breather even if they look pathetic while doing so.
i guarantee if i'm 6'10 260lbs, i grab at least 8-9 rebounds in 20 minutes of PT. i think Williams gets around 13 minutes so he should never have less than 5 reb's.
either way, great win and really the first game i thought the ref's were halfway decent in any SEC game i've watched (ut or otherwise). i realize they called a bunch of fouls, but at least they were consistent.
volfan73120#211815 writes:
mbumburu-Get off the back of our freshman. You don't know anything about this game.
FatherVol writes:
Great game by the Vols! I was traveling and had to keep going to the browser on my cell phone to get updates on the score. Was blacked on for the last hour on a flight from ATL to MEM.
A word of caution...Memphis beat Houston on free throaws tonight. Sportscenter said they downed 32 FT's.
utchris writes:
They attempted 32 free throws, but they only made 19 of them. Dorsey actually killed their free throw stats. The starters shot about 65-70% from the stripe.
FatherVol writes:
utchris, I just saw that stat on ESPN.com. They went 19 of 32. I know they've been working on them just like CBP has teh Vols doing.
newtonrail writes:
I don't know what it looked like on TV, but again we drew Valentine's crew somehow and the officiating was awful. When I saw the crew I told my wife there will be a boatload of fouls called tonight. And for Arkansas's apparent whining they missed a lot that should have been called. Mostly my gripe with this crew is ticky-tack fouls on both teams that delayed the game, and hurt the flow of the game.
BigOrangeVol writes:
Duke, CLo and Weezy cleaned the glass tonight with 22 boards! JaJuan, Bird, Weezy and Duke fired in 73 points with CLo in check the entire game. Bird was 63% from the floor; 83% from the line; 15 points; 4 boards; 4 assists; 2 steals and 1 block. What a sweet game he has!
Tough night for J.P. though; Josh, Jordan, Steve, Brian and Rick Daniels-Mulholland all had a better game in the box score! CLo did D-up Beverley and won that battle. Washington got loose on us. Weems and Townes had their normal games but Thomas, Ervin, Hill were shut down.
Ark is a very talented team with a poor coach. I think that this is the team that we meet in the SEC Tourney final. I have UT v. MSU and AR v. UM in the Semi-finals.
Don't you just love this team and watching them play!!! We are very fortunate. Next year may be rough but we will fly on the wings of the Bird.
cazfree58#268189 writes:
Great game VOLS!! JaJuan...you are the MAN!! Keep it going. See you at Georgia!
surlyguy writes:
Before being critical of Lofton's game, be aware that a primary focus of the hogs gameplan was to stop Lofton by constantly blanketing him with a defender and frequently double-teaming him and more. It appears that focus helped enable others to produce offensively, namely Jujuan. Also, as Pearl noted, with Lofton guarding Beverley, Beverley only got five points on 1 of 6 shooting and ONE rebound to Lofton's 6 rebounds. I'd say Lofton had a good game even though he didn't fill up the offensive stat sheet.
schymtz writes:
Wonderful! Improved inside accuracy, Improved FT's, killer closing out, Lofton rebounding, Williams is going to acomplish great things. Yes, there are some things that can be worked on, but this was the best start to finish team game of the year in spite of Valentine's crew. Too many whistles, but did they ever call Arkansas for walkin'?
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Great effort. Keep it going vs the Dawgs. Don't take them too lightly, anything can happen on the road. Ask Ky about Nashville.
I don't want this magic carpet ride to end. Thanks BP & Co.
GreerVol22 writes:
schyntz,
Imagine how bad it would have been if Valentine was on TV....
great game guys, great hustle, and even better concentration of FTs! See Pearl does listen to some of the phooey we dole out...
fundamentals83 writes:
Couple of questions. First half was a bit sluggish and second half was awesome. Was it adjustments or just execution? Also, on the technical, I thought that should have been two shots-- what happened there?
jandjhome#228397 writes:
I have always wondered how it would feel to be from a Basketball University, it feels great.
volsfan92 writes:
great great team, great balance, your team is invisible on the East Coast though...UT will go far in the tournament. If the defense shuts down Lofton you guys go inside, Crews and Chism are tremendous, you play as a team.
mallardbayvol writes:
Great season so far...anyone know the what the all time best season record for mens basketball for UT?
THE_VOL writes:
Great all-around outing - probably the best of the year so far in many ways. BUT you guys talking about Williams need to be VERY careful! Remember he IS AN IMPACT PLAYER! Don't believe it" Just ask marc_a$$! He's been a foul/turnover waiting to happen since the WKY game and while I understand he's developing and does eat up some minutes to give our other bigs a blow, we are essentially in survival mode while he's on the floor. Don't believe that? Ask BP to tell you what his plus/minus is in SEC play.
lnbadger320 writes:
simply an amazing game. the 2nd half has become doom for the opposing team. we just wear them down and by half way through the 2nd half, they are gassed. you could really see last in AK. they just couldn't match with us.
PennVol writes:
Way to go Vols! Thanks to Vandy and LSU for helping us distance ourselves in the East. Too bad Maryland let us down and lost to Duke, preventing a potential #1 vs. #2 matchup with Memphis/Vols.
jhayes1911 writes:
I agree with you brownsvillevol...I think he played one year of high school basketball. I will give him some benefit and time to learn how to play. Right now he is our "goon" on the team, fouling and wearing down the other teams post men, similar to what Childress used to do before his offense came around.
cjraney writes:
chefjorge-
You should check out ESPN360. It's almost live video streaming over the "internets." If you go to the Scoreboard page where you find the Gamecast option, there is a little symbol denoting which games they have the live feed on. After the Vols finished I watched some of the Memphis game on there.
Chainsaw writes:
Well done, Vols! You made the hogs squeal, now it's time to make the dogs howl. And yeah, Brian is doin' just fine, he'll turn out to be The Beast Underneath before he takes off the Big Orange for the last time. Just wait and see.
faithfulvol writes:
mbumburu..............LET'S LOOK AT THE POSITIVE...........We did awesome, we won this big game, yeah positive, optimistic....Our team was a championship looking team lastnight. Brian Williams didn't have his greatest night, but that is fine. Great things are ahead for him as well for the entire team. There was nothing negative about this game!!!
Go Vols, Go BRuuuuuuuuuce! TN basketball is so on fire!
GreeneVol writes:
Best record ever for UT Men's basketball (both wins and winning percentage) was 1999-2000 when they went 26-7.
VolCane7979 writes:
Bob: JaJuan from the corner... good for 3!
Bert: Big shot baby, big shot!
tnbanker_govols writes:
Awesome game....JaJuan really stepped up tonight and showed his leadership abilities. Heard him in a post game interview and he was giving all the credit to his teammates & coach. Seems to be a really great kid. If you're a Vols fan, you gotta feel really good after a game like this. I know you shouldn't look ahead on the schedule, but I'm counting down the days till Feb 23. GO VOLS!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
utchris 1:07 talk about FTs, ck out the box score for Houston-Memphis St. Something like 30 attempts-MSU for "TWO" for Houston. Home cookin', I imagine.
We might as well get ready.
knoxtenor writes:
Great all around win for the team. Though. overall, the stats were a bit disappointing, the final result wasn't. Watching Bruce slowly pick apart a defense that is giving him problems is a joy to watch. And we already knew JuJuan had recovered; he recovered with about four seconds left in the LSU game.
Volchaz writes:
It was great to see Lofton attack the rim a bit more...ok, alot more. Since the KY game, he has upped his game, and shown a lot of senior leadership. Pearl was right, first game we closed out the game well. GV
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