Vols must rebound against Georgia

Tennessee captain Tyler Smith said his frustrations ended when his foot connected with a chair in the aftermath of a loss at Auburn on Saturday.

It was an uncharacteristic display he is not proud of, but Smith felt he had an uncharacteristically poor performance he was not proud of, either.

“I was upset with myself because I could have, should have, done more to help us win,’’ Smith said. “I let the team down.

“But the frustration can’t carry over. Georgia is a talented team, and they are good enough to win, regardless of their record.’’

Vols coach Bruce Pearl hasn’t needed to issue any reminders or challenge UT (14-8, 5-3 SEC) to be ready for tonight’s 8 o’clock tip with the Bulldogs (9-14, 0-8) at Thompson-Boling Arena (TV: WVLT).

“Georgia hasn’t given up; there is no quit, and they are playing hard,’’ Pearl said. “With three minutes left, they were beating us, so they know they can play with us.’’

Bulldogs freshman center Trey Thompkins (6-foot-9, 227 pounds) is a likely future NBA player who gave the Vols fits in the first half of UT’s 86-77 win in Athens on Jan. 10, while Terrance Woodbury (6-7) averages a team-high 13.7 points per game and put 18 on Tennessee in the teams’ first meeting.

“It’s a talented front line,’’ said Pearl, whose team has been out-rebounded in six of eight SEC games. “Georgia is coming off a game where they had 19 offensive rebounds.’’

The Vols, meanwhile, are coming off a game where they were out-rebounded 34-21 by one of the smallest teams in the league in Auburn.

“It’s rebounding,’’ UT center Wayne Chism said when asked about the key to tonight’s game.

“We’re not thinking about the top 25, we’re not thinking about the NCAA tournament. We’ve got to get ourselves re-focused on rebounding.’’

Smith agreed, and said he puts a great deal of that responsibility on his shoulders.

“I had a long talk with Coach Pearl after that (loss to Auburn),’’ Smith said. “Defensively, and rebounding, I’ve got to get back in there. Coach keeps saying it is a team game, but I feel I have to do more, as a leader, to put us in position to win.’’

Pearl said he’s comfortable with the Vols’ offensive approach, but the defense needs to be ratcheted up with intensity.

“You’ve got as much of a chance to win a game on defense as you do on offense,’’ Pearl said. “A stop and a rebound is as big as a winning play when someone makes the last shot. Games can be won with a defensive rebound or a steal, and we have to realize that.

“If we play defense like we did against Auburn, Georgia’s gonna be right there.’’

New Addition: Josh Bone, a transfer from Southern Illinois, has been practicing with the Vols as a walk-on the past couple of weeks after adjusting to his academic schedule.

Bone is a 6-foot-2 guard who Pearl saw play a few years back when Bone was a teammate of Brandan Wright’s at Brentwood Academy.

“I saw him play his senior year in Jackson, Tennessee, when his team was playing against Wayne (Chism),’’ Pearl said. “He had a great game and he shot the ball well. I thought he was a high mid-major, and wondered if maybe we had missed on one. He went up to Southern, and decided he wanted to come home.’’

Bone started 19 of 33 games as a shooting guard at Southern Illinois last season, shooting .337 beyond the 3-point arc (57-for-169) while averaging 8.1 points per game, fourth on the team.

Bone was a first-team all-state selection coming out of Brentwood Academy, averaging 16 points in 2006.

Pearl said he anticipates Bone will play in the Rocky Top League this summer. The Vols also will return point guard Daniel West, who has stayed enrolled at UT after being declared academically ineligible in October.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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