STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Men's Basketball

• Prince admits he played most of season with dislocated shoulder
• Craft ready to go 'all-out' for Pearl, Tennessee
• Next Bradshaw? UT gets commitment from combo guard Craft

Share and Enjoy [?]

Tennessee men's basketball is as hot as ever, and JaJuan Smith is one of the main reasons.

Smith was announced as the SEC player of the week for the first time in his career on the same day UT attained its highest rank in coach Bruce Pearl's 2 1/2-year tenure.

The Vols (14-1, 2-0 SEC) moved up two spots to No. 6 in the Associated Press poll Monday, surpassing their No. 7 preseason ranking.

The Vols' ESPN game with No. 16 Vanderbilt (16-1, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday in Knoxville is a sellout, as is Saturday's CBS-televised game at Thompson-Boling Arena against last year's national runners-up, Ohio State.

"It's been a giant step for our program since my freshman year, when there were 200 people in the gym and 150 of them were family,'' said Smith, a former walk-on from McMinn County. "I appreciate this award, but I think it's more of a pat on the back. I've had better weeks and no one even asked me about it.

"I still feel like a leftover; there's a lot more to prove.''

Pearl loves Smith's attitude, but he also was pleased to see the senior wing finally get some recognition.

"JaJuan has been a guy that's always been overlooked,'' Pearl said. "Last year, I said on a number of occasions that JaJuan is our most valuable player, and that was on a team with Chris Lofton who was our most outstanding player and Dane Bradshaw who was captain of the All-Glue team.

"I'm really proud of the way JaJuan is playing and his leadership,'' Pearl said. "I've let it be known and said that we go as JaJuan Smith goes, both on and off the court, and I'm fine with that.''

Smith ripped through Ole Miss and South Carolina last week, averaging 18 points and seven rebounds in the SEC contests, while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

"JaJuan hit a bump in the road early on, after the Middle Tennessee State game when he put up such great numbers,'' Pearl said, referring to Smith's 32-point outburst in 19 minutes in the 109-40 victory on Nov. 20. "He had three games after that where he really was struggling, and he battled his way through that.''

Smith was a combined 7-of-21 from the floor in the Legends Classic in New Jersey and followed that with a 2-of-10 shooting night in a win over North Carolina A&T.

Smith said he knew he'd break out of it some time, but at the time he was as frustrated as Lofton, who had thrown his all-tournament plaque in the garbage after the embarrassing 97-78 loss to Texas.

"That's why this award (SEC player of the week) is not going to make me or break me,'' said Smith, who was bypassed for sixth man of the year honors two seasons ago and has yet to catch a whiff of first-team all-conference consideration. "I'm just focused on this game against Vanderbilt.''

Pearl said Smith's inability to get recognition is unfortunate but somewhat understandable.

"He's coming from a situation where he was not a heavily recruited player,'' Pearl said. "He's been overlooked, and so he plays with a chip on his shoulder.

"JaJuan has carved out his identity as one of the better defensive guards in the league, a guy that can make plays and certainly a dangerous, productive player.

"His assist-turnover ratio is much improved over a year ago, and his shooting percentages are all up.''

20/20: Callers to the News Sentinel's Sports Page radio show wondered if a possible reason for Lofton's decreased efficiency from 3-point range this season could be related to an undiagnosed vision problem.

"Nope,'' Pearl said. "We already checked that, and he's 20-20.''

Lofton, who's 10th in the SEC hitting .333 from 3-point range this season, laughed when hearing about the vision question.

"I'm glad people care, but it sounds like I need to start listening to that show,'' he said. "That's funny. What else did they say?''

Worth noting: Lofton leads the SEC with a .857 free throw shooting percentage.

JaJuan Smith is hitting at an .846 clip from the free-throw line. That would rank third in the league, but Smith's 33 makes are four short of the league minimum (2.5 per game, 37) required for him to be ranked.

Remarkable Ramar: There's good reason Ramar Smith's bizarre 0-for-12 free-throw performance against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 16 seems like a lifetime ago.

It's because Smith has hit 75 percent from the line since, pulling his season average up to 61 percent.

"He worked on it and we worked on it,'' Pearl said. "That particular game, it (the misses) sort of fed off one another.

"That (75 percent) speaks volumes about his mental toughness and work ethic.''

Pearl has said numerous times over that Smith is the most competitive player on the team.

Numbers Game: The Vols lead the SEC in scoring offense (86.7 points per game), assists (20.27 per game), turnover margin (plus-8.93), steals (11.47 per game), assist/turnover ratio (1.66) and 3-point field goals made (9.73 per game).