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Crews returns, so does Lofton's shooting touch
Childress finishes with marriage proposal
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Tennessee basketball fans welcomed back two players Saturday night - a healthy Duke Crews, and the old Chris Lofton.
Crews, who missed nine games with a heart ailment, received a standing ovation when he entered the game with 14:13 to play in the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Lofton, who has struggled through a shooting slump for much of the season, received the second-largest ovation of the night when he made his first two 3-pointers in UT's 85-69 victory over Georgia.
Lofton was happy to be upstaged by his teammate's entrance.
"I'm just so glad for Duke," Lofton said. "I was probably happier than he was when he went in there."
Crews was pretty happy himself when coach Bruce Pearl called his number for the first time since Dec. 4.
"I tried to get to the scorer's table as fast as I could," Crews said with a smile. "I tried to take a short-cut, but it's nothing but a straight shot.
"Part of me wanted to go out there and just go crazy, try to guard all five players at once. But that would just be another reason for Coach to yell. So I just went out there and let the game come to me."
Crews missed playing so much, he even welcomed Pearl's criticism from the bench.
"When I was out on the floor, I was a regular guy again," he said. "(Pearl) is saying, 'rebound, defense, get back on defense - all that stuff.' It felt good to have him on me again."
Crew made more than a cameo appearance. He had nine points and eight rebounds in only 14 minutes.
"He gives us some physicality, and we needed that," Pearl said.
Crews also provides a reminder to his teammates, who have his number, 32, written on their shoes.
"They can keep (the number on their shoes) until they get new ones," Crews said. "It makes us all go harder, because you really don't know when this will be taken away from you. That can be a reminder for them as well as me."
Lofton offered another reminder. When he's shooting the way he did in the first half against Georgia, it puts tremendous pressure on a defense and sets up other options for the offense.
"It opens up a lot of things," said Tyler Smith, who made seven of nine field-goal attempts and scored 17 points. "It opens up a lot of drives because Chris' man is not going to leave him at all."
Lofton snapped out of his 3-point shooting slump two games ago when he went 4-for-10 against Ohio State a week ago, then followed that up with 5-for-10 shooting in Tuesday night's loss at Kentucky.
But he was more aggressive and accurate in his shooting against the Bulldogs. He made more than 50 percent of his 3-point tries (7-for-13) for the second time this season and finished with a game-high 27 points.
"He wanted the ball and was hunting the ball," Pearl said. "He was looking to improve his angles."
Lofton credited the fans with their support, saying how confident he felt when he hit his first two 3s and the crowd responded with such a roar each time.
Post-Game Proposal: The excitement didn't end with the game Saturday night. UT junior forward Ryan Childress saw to that.
Childress asked his girlfriend, Lauren Clabough, to marry him. She happily accepted the proposal, which was made in front of the UT bench.
Clabough graduated from UT's nursing school last spring. She now works as a case manager for East Tennessee Personal Care Service.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by james on January 27, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
AS I said before, should have brought Crews in against KY for 30 seconds or so and it would have lifted the team. See Lofton's quote and I am sure that's true of the rest of the players and certainly the fans. Pearl is a coach who plays the angles but he missed an angle in that game.
Good team effort in this one but Free Throw shooting still was not good and the inside game still lacked from time to time. Still a win is a win. Good luck in 'Bama and Starksville.
Posted by ut_volfan on January 27, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
don't know if anyone noticed, but I saw Duke BEGGING CBP to get into the game against UK. When we got flat (for about 12 mins or so...), it would have been great to put him in. Still, I'm sure CBP was worried that Duke would have trouble guarding Patterson, giving UK an easy duce. Still, it would have been a neat 'Willis Reed' moment on national ESPN TV!
Posted by dash727 on January 27, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice to see Josh Tabb back on the court. He made a difference.
Posted by marc_ash on January 27, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Kingpost, HAHA thats funny. It's funny to see that even in his absence, people recognize how moronic he is. But hey, he knows whats going on remember....he just won't tell us how. Probably the laundry guy for the team.
Posted by Plasticman on January 27, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
26 assists on 32 field goals is phenomenal. THis team is very unselfish. TYler Smith with 9 assists. He'll have a triple double before he graduates.
Posted by invisiblekid on January 27, 2008 at 10:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice rebound win by the Vols but a better comeback by Crews. Didn't get to watch the game but it looks like this team is starting to fire on all cylinders, when they are patient and make the extra pass on offense they are tough to beat. Tyler Smith looks to have taken over the role of "glue" guy from Bradshaw with much more upside.
Posted by natcross24 on January 27, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
agreed dash 727. i would like to see Tabb get those minutes more often. good things seem to happen when he is on the court. i think 10 minutes or so for him a game would be a real nice addition to the rotation if coach can figure out how to do it.
Posted by alfrizzle097 on January 27, 2008 at 11:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Too many people deserve playing time on this team. I was hoping Tabb would get a redshirt, don't know what the rules are for that in basketball. Is there a minutes played cutoff?
I'm guessing Tabb will end up playing point guard after Howell is gone. He is developing his offense and is equally good with both hands (a la Steve Nash).
Tatum impressed me with his offense and I just wish Childress was making it on the court. His minutes will fluctuate wildly based on if one of the three guys ahead of him get in foul trouble.
Posted by Cherokee on January 27, 2008 at noon (Suggest removal)
Great game, 26 assists is fantastic, but I have to harp on the one RECURRING negative that is just going to absolutely kill us at some point: free throw shooting. We should have won this game by more like 25+. 12 out of 27? Had we been playing a better team we would have most likely beaten ourselves with that pitiful display. I just don't understand how an entire team can so frequently hit less than half our free throws.
Posted by Kwitcherbellyachin on January 27, 2008 at 1:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
16 for 33 the last 3 games. I'd say CR is officially "deslumped".
Posted by rbatten9 on January 27, 2008 at 2:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You look at the minutes Tyler and Chris were the only ones with 30 or more. The rest were spread out very evenly. I think that is going to really start to pay dividends down the stretch. I remember in Pearl's first year they were just about ready to start getting gassed about this point in the season. Should be an interesting final run here towards the end of the regular season.
Posted by martinvolfan on January 27, 2008 at 4:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
PLEASE WORK ON FOUL SHOTS AND WE WILL BE TOUGH TO BEAT DOWN THE ROAD!
Posted by gospelgun on January 27, 2008 at 4:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
whoa !! Chris Lofton was on Fire saturday night . I could have swore I saw scorch marks on the bottom of the net .
Posted by Plasticman on January 27, 2008 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good point Touchdown. Tabb could be our "defensive" stopper the rest of the season. If Tabb can shut down Rose, he's one heck of a defender based on what I have seen. Memphis looks great, however, their weakness is FT shooting. THeir big man shoots like 38%. I would rough him up pretty good.
Posted by marc_ash on January 27, 2008 at 6:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lofton did step it up..in the first half only. He missed all of his 3's in the second half and only scored 7 total points.
Free throws were horrible. If the Vols lose, mark it down...it will be because of poor free throw shooting.
Nice to see Duke back. He had some really great numbers for not playing in over a month and only having 14 minutes.
Vols win at Bama. A tough place for them to win, but they will win by 8.
Posted by bigbluevol on January 27, 2008 at 9:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually, Lofton was 6-8 in the first half and 1-5 in the second half.
Posted by jevolball7 on January 27, 2008 at 9:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice game against a fairly good team. HIT FREE THROWS AND CIRCUS DUNKS AND ARE ALMOST UNSTOPABLE. Crews added more than I thought he would. CL is THE man when his stroke is on. BUCK FAMA!!
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