Posted by faithfulvol on February 13, 2008 at 10:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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!

Posted by tngeoff on February 13, 2008 at 10:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Way to go guys!

Posted by Ironcity on February 13, 2008 at 10:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by dopedawg on February 13, 2008 at 10:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go guys!!!!!

Posted by chefjorge on February 13, 2008 at 10:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by VOLS85 on February 13, 2008 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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!

Posted by utchris2003 on February 13, 2008 at 10:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by utchris2003 on February 13, 2008 at 10:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

JaJuan just hit another 3.

Posted by iowavol on February 13, 2008 at 10:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by UTByrd on February 13, 2008 at 11:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by LazhilUT on February 13, 2008 at 11:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Man Lofton did not have a good game.

Posted by UTByrd on February 13, 2008 at 11:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Lofton drew the double teams and JaJuan made them pay for it. I wouldn't call that a bad game, subpar maybe.

Posted by UTByrd on February 13, 2008 at 11:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Childress is suffering from some kind of viral infection, I do believe. Lot of that stuff going around...I got it.

Posted by utchris2003 on February 13, 2008 at 11:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by UTByrd on February 13, 2008 at 11:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Amen!

Posted by Kwitcherbellyachin on February 13, 2008 at 11:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Childress has conjunctivitis, a.k.a., "pink eye".

Posted by VolBall on February 13, 2008 at 11:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by cdldoc on February 13, 2008 at 11:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'd give them a B-. Right Griff?

Posted by Titan on February 13, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I would be satisfied with 40 minutes of good D but if they want to go four overtimes, that's OK with me.

Posted by bsvolfan on February 13, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

***************

VOTE FOR LOFTON EVERYDAY!!!!!

***************

http://www.seniorclassaward.com/VOTEL...

Posted by DenmarkVol_aka_Mbumburu on February 13, 2008 at 11:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by coach75 on February 13, 2008 at 11:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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?

Posted by LargeOrange on February 13, 2008 at 11:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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!

Posted by yemmusdarb on February 14, 2008 at 12:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by volfan73120 on February 14, 2008 at 12:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

mbumburu-Get off the back of our freshman. You don't know anything about this game.

Posted by FatherVol on February 14, 2008 at 12:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by utchris2003 on February 14, 2008 at 1:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by FatherVol on February 14, 2008 at 1:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by newtonrail on February 14, 2008 at 1:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by BigOrangeVol on February 14, 2008 at 1:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by cazfree58 on February 14, 2008 at 6:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Great game VOLS!! JaJuan...you are the MAN!! Keep it going. See you at Georgia!

Posted by surlyguy on February 14, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by schymtz on February 14, 2008 at 7:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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'?

Posted by pdhuff on February 14, 2008 at 7:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by GreerVol22 on February 14, 2008 at 7:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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 crap we dole out...

Posted by fundamentals83 on February 14, 2008 at 8 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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?

Posted by jandjhome on February 14, 2008 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I have always wondered how it would feel to be from a Basketball University, it feels great.

Posted by volsfan92 on February 14, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by mallardbayvol on February 14, 2008 at 8:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Great season so far...anyone know the what the all time best season record for mens basketball for UT?

Posted by THE_VOL on February 14, 2008 at 8:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by VolnDothan on February 14, 2008 at 9:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

This is the beginning of a golden age in Tennessee Basketball! Let's enjoy every game! GO BIG ORANGE!

Posted by brownsvillevol on February 14, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)

GET OFF OF WILLIAMS BACK THIS GUY WILL BE AFORCE IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS REMMEMBER HE NEVER PLAYED HIGH SHOOL BALL SO SHUT UP ALL YOU HATERS

Posted by lnbadger320 on February 14, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by General_Watermelon on February 14, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Great game last night. They play like that and they can play with the big boys.

Posted by General_Watermelon on February 14, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Somebody give me one of those flu shots. JaJuan went off last night.

Posted by PennVol on February 14, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by jhayes1911 on February 14, 2008 at 9:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by cjraney on February 14, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by Chainsaw on February 14, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by faithfulvol on February 14, 2008 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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!

Posted by marc_ash on February 14, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

THE_VOL, Brian Williams has made an impact. I don't even think you can disagree with that point. I never said he would be a star, nor did I think he would. But he has earned some good minutes even when Childress was hurt. He grabbed some good boards in the LSU game, FL WKU and others. As you've said before, he doesn't need to be a scorer to be a contributor.

Also, why don't we drop the sarcasm. I've never claimed to be an expert on this board and both you and I have been right and wrong on some topics. Lets just both let it go and talk about Vol Basketball and squash the personal shots.

Last nights game was a good showing, should be an exciting year the rest of the way out..this team is improving every week.

Posted by GreeneVol on February 14, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Best record ever for UT Men's basketball (both wins and winning percentage) was 1999-2000 when they went 26-7.

Posted by VolCane7979 on February 14, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Bob: JaJuan from the corner... good for 3!

Bert: Big shot baby, big shot!

Posted by tnbanker_govols on February 14, 2008 at 10:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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!

Posted by pdhuff on February 14, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by brownsvillevol on February 14, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)

prediction tennessee vs. duke nat. champ

Posted by wewhite on February 14, 2008 at 11:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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.

Posted by Volchaz on February 14, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)

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

Posted by brownsvillevol on February 14, 2008 at 11:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

i love this team adversity gets them pumped

Posted by rbhobbs73 on February 14, 2008 at 12:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

just an fyi..Ted Valentine did not call last nights game...it was equally terrible Bruce Benedict's crew last night. Valentine was no where in the building...

Game was called tightly both ways...Arkansas had 26 fouls, UT 22. Hardly a UT advantage as some of the Razorback fans are saying...

Posted by johnlg00 on February 14, 2008 at 1:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Great game, great execution all around! Agree with others that Lofton plays great even when he doesn't score. The job he did on Beverly--drawing two quick fouls on him when he was guarding Chris, holding him to 1-6 shooting, holding the SEC's LEADING REBOUNDER to ONE rebound while getting six himself--had as much to do with our win as anything. I also agree that we need to lighten up on Williams. His head must be spinning with the level of competition he is facing with so little experience. The thing that gives me the most hope for him is that he seems to have exceptionally soft hands for a big man in catching and especially passing the ball. That is an exceptional skill for a young big man that really can't be taught beyond a certain point. For you young folks, I have a name for you--Tom Boerwinkle. At 7', 270 lbs, when he first came to UT he couldn't do ANYTHING on the court. Ordinary kids like me used to mess all over him ALL THE TIME in pick-up games. By the time he was a junior, he was All-SEC; by his senior year, he was honorable-mention All-America and the starting center on an SEC championship team. He went on to play about 12 years in the NBA and was, and may still be, the all-time leading rebounder for the Chicago Bulls! Believe me, Brian is FAR more advanced than Boerwinkle was when he started out!

Posted by utchris2003 on February 14, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Pdhuff 11:15. Maybe a little home cooking. I watched a little bit of their game after ours and I noticed that Houston took a lot of quick threes. That probably would have kept their foul numbers down, but only 2 is kind of eye opening. Houston looked a little scared in coming out of halftime with a two pt lead like they were not playing to win, but waiting on Memphis to get going. Memphis was struggling, but just like UT against LSU, they got it done.

Posted by SeanJean on February 14, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Great game and great win. One of our better played games from start to finish in league play. A couple of negatives from my perspective:

JP Prince. Seems since he burst onto the scene he has really cooled off. He seems to be very one dimensional on offense, and teams have figured that out and just don't let him get to the basket. When he does, you just foul him and he misses the free throws. He clearly has a lot of ability, but he has a lot of work to do. He just hasn't been effective.

Brian Williams. While I am totally understanding of his struggles given his experience, he has been tough to watch at times. He is very slow to react and can't ever seem to hold onto the ball. He should be playing better defense and not just fouling all the time, as well as grabbing more boards. He seems to play tentatively. I think if we can coach him up to attack the ball on the boards as well as on D, he'll be far more effective.

Great game for the vols! Glad to see Chism finally play like he should, and great to have Duke back. He makes a huge difference.

Posted by volboy81 on February 14, 2008 at 1:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Great win!
I wish someone could, somehow, someway, some time soon, tell that announcer on Raycom, that we don't have a player named Jamar!!!!!!!!

Posted by VolCane7979 on February 14, 2008 at 1:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

LOL! They do call him Jamar or Ray-mar. Drives me nuts.

Posted by marc_ash on February 14, 2008 at 2:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Volchaz, Loftons penetration seems to open things up a bit for some of the other scorers. I agree, it was good to see him go at the rim more.

SeanJean...I agree about Prince. Some thought he would be the second coming. And although he has put in some good minutes, there is a reason he doesn't start and play more minutes. He does seem to have cooled a bit. Might be in part due to some of his decisions.

Posted by Hacksaw57 on February 14, 2008 at 2:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)

For once we didn't have a game officiated by that egotistical maniac referee Ted Valentine. I saw him the other night officiating an ACC game on ESPN and evidently he has been told, not in so many words, to tone it down or else.
His actions on the court during the game I watched were VERY subdued, as if he didn't WANT any attention brought his way. It was actually enjoyable to watch the game without him carring on his usual antics of showing up the players and coaches. GOOD RIDDANCE, if you ask me.

He might have heard that Coach Knight was on the loose again and might just show up in ANY arena, now that he has "retired".

Posted by volfan5521 on February 14, 2008 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Nice , Beatin the bbq out of those rednecks was just another step toward Memphis!! I wouldn't worry about Lofton, his game caused those hogs to ignore Jajuan ooops. Prince should take a seat and give way to Josh until he gets it going, he will be good just not there yet. And what about Kentucky, Billy better watch his back those bluemisters will hunt him like a deer if he let's that happen again. They are getting what they deserve,Tubby wouldn't have let that happen during his watch. Reminds me of Alabama, living in the past.

Posted by invisiblekid on February 14, 2008 at 3:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

“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.’’

See what happens when we use our posting powers for good(positive) instead of evil(negative) fellas?

Posted by LadyVolsEighTimes on February 14, 2008 at 4:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

It is so much fun to watch the Vols, especially as deep as they are!

Go Vols!!!!!!!!!

Posted by volfan73120 on February 14, 2008 at 6:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

johnlgoo-Another big man who came to Tennessee with limited skills, was Orb Lee Bowling. He developed into a good player, and played two years with the Washington Generals pro team, that traveled with the Harlem Globe Trotters.

Posted by budrhon on February 14, 2008 at 9 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Can soMeone tell me this isn't true as to what is on this sight below. I would be extremely disappointed if it were.

http://blog.kentuckysportsradio.com/?....

Posted by budrhon on February 14, 2008 at 9:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sorry try this link instead http://blog.kentuckysportsradio.com/?...

Posted by johnlg00 on February 15, 2008 at 11:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Wow, volfan73120, another old guy! I remember Orbie well! I just thought it would be reaching way too far back into the old memory banks to expect anyone else to remember him. Also, I don't remember any of Orbie's teams being as successful as Boerwinkle's. I still think Boerwinkle is a better example for Brian. They are a little closer in size and build--I don't remember Orbie as being especially big in the torso--and a more striking example of evolution from "chump to champ", IMHO.