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The fourth victory of Tennessee’s season-long win streak went just like Vols coach Cuonzo Martin drew it up in practice.
Get the ball inside, draw the predictable double team in the post, pitch the ball back out, reverse it around the perimeter, and shoot the open 3-pointer.
Tennessee scored a 76-63 victory over Chattanooga before an announced crowd of 15,239 on Monday night at Thompson-Boling Arena by executing Martin’s plan to a tee.
It was enough to put a smile on the face of UT athletic director Dave Hart, who was in attendance as the Vols competed against the program headed up by his son, Chattanooga athletic director Rick Hart.
The Vols (7-6) made 13 of 39 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc against Chattanooga (6-9) in the win, taking the second-most 3-point attempts in school history behind the 50 treys they attempted in a 93-59 win over North Carolina A&T on Nov. 27, 2007.
But unlike those Chris Lofton days, when the SEC’s all-time 3-point marksman would shoot (and often make) whether defended well or not, these current Vols are finding the open shot.
“I’ve got to go back and watch film tonight, but of the 39 (attempts), 35 of them were good shots,” Martin said. “The plan was to take that shot. Sometimes, it doesn’t fall, but you have to be aggressive and take it.”
UT sophomore point guard Trae Golden knocked down four of nine 3-point attempts, tying his career high with 29 points just three days after undergoing nasal fracture surgery.
Skylar McBee was on the mark as well, draining 5 of 11 from beyond the arc en route to scoring a career-high 16 points.
“I knew Skylar would do that to me; I understand that,” Chattanooga coach John Shulman said. “He broke my heart because he was supposed to come to Chattanooga in the first place. ... We were up six or seven in the first half and he kind of took over. Good for Skylar.”
The Vols ran out to a 44-32 half-time lead on the strength of a furious scoring run over the final 6 ½ minutes before intermission.
The Mocs had just finished a 14-0 outburst to take their largest lead of the game, 23-16 at the 6:41 mark, when UT heated up.
The Vols scored on their next seven possessions and McBee drained four 3-pointers during a 22-4 run that made it 38-27 with 1:49 left in the half and put UT in command.
“Them doubling down the post factored into my shots,” McBee said. “The shot will be open if you pass it out and reverse the ball. It is something we worked on in practice.”
Chattanooga, led by Ricky Taylor’s 17 points and Omar Wattad’s 16-point effort, went on a 9-0 run in the second half to draw back to five, 46-41, with 17:42 remaining.
But the Vols, on the strength of a 45-37 rebounding advantage and 26-16 edge in points in the paint, kept the Mocs at bay, and the margin didn’t get closer the rest of the night.
UT senior Cameron Tatum, who drew praise from Martin despite a 3-for-16 shooting night, said it was all about unselfish play.
“This game was about paying attention to detail during the scouting report, and guys playing for each other,” said Tatum, who had eight rebounds and a team-high and career-high six assists. “It’s like Coach Martin says, when you set a screen for a teammate, that’s your brother out there, and you want to get him an open shot.”
Despite the plan to shoot the 3-pointer, the Vols still managed to outscore the Mocs in the paint, 26-16, while holding a 45-37 edge on the boards.
“It was a hard-fought win for the guys,” Martin said, “but more importantly, we’re getting better.”
The suddenly feel-good Vols travel to play rival Memphis (8-5) on Wednesday (TV: 8 p.m., FSTN) at raucous FedExForum.
The Tigers defeated Tennessee 99-97 in double overtime on Nov. 22 in the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
“As a coach you prepare the same way, but you understand what’s at stake,” Martin said of the rivalry game. “The players know, and the fans know what’s at stake. ... We’ll be ready.”
Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men’s basketball. Follow him at http://twitter.com/MikeGriffith32
Cordarrelle Patterson drafted by the…
Oregon sends Lady Vols home from…
Dan Proctor draws Tennessee Football…
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Comments » 47
samjrr writes:
GO VOLS!
jsmithnga#207674 writes:
If coach is determined to play the 3 point game, he needs to recruit 3 point shooters; we have some bricklayers now.
switcher76 writes:
Hall stinks...some of the other guys that are bench riders could out do him! I don't know how he got a starter position. Oh my, Memphis is going to clean the floor with the vols.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Good game Mocs. Oh well I really had little hope and I had to love UT's play. Defense especially in the second half.
UT is GOLDEN. UTC? just blue and gold and a little bit too slow with little depth.
voloffaith writes:
3pt% was 33% for the game on 13 of 39. Ain't gonna cut it against the competition coming up. Memphis won't have jet lag or any lag. We win if Pastner coaches it to us. Then Florida,Miss St,tweener, then kittens of calipari.....If guard play stays consistent with minimal turnovers like tonight we will be in striking distance in most games. Our stretch early was successful until we started getting teams playing zone defense. So let's see where this goes starting Wednesday night.
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
One good thing about coach Martin, when a player is hot he stays with him. Pearl always made rotation changes based on time, regardless of how the player was playing. We can't keep up with Memphis, I'm afraid.
Mem. 76
Ut 67
wigmeister writes:
Right now a win is a win! Hallelujah!
usnavyvolfan__now_proud_navy_dad writes:
They hung tough for a while. SoCon teams are pretty legit, so I never thought of this as a gimme game for UT.
movol53 writes:
Do we have an "inside game"? Why all the threes?
Are we trying to make our future opponents not play zone against because they know we can shoot the 3? A win is a win but shouldn't we use every game as a time to try out new routines practiced? I did like that we did step up our defense late in the second half. Why not start those players who showed they are willing to play defense? GO VOLS!!! Beat Memphis.
Dalton writes:
Part of the process....gotta win these games to gain confidence...lots of losses before it gets better but I'm hanging tough for the long run....just not in real life.
Bogytrain writes:
That may be the last win for a long time I'm afraid. But I think if they can win 15 games, I would be happy!
volpreacher writes:
No doubt, especially since they smoked the Vols earlier this year by 2 pts in double overtime. que the sarcasm.
samvol writes:
aww switch-hitter...bit of a man crush on hall....rrrrr
born2ride writes:
Even Martin can beat the Mocs.
BolivrBob writes:
Lackluster. We beat them two more points than Kennesaw St. But that was on the Mocs home court. How can Makanjoula only have 8 minutes of playing time when Hall has 2 points and 5 rebounds? Been a Zo supporter but getting very worried. Memphis will kill us. I see it possibly getting out of hand in an embarrassment.
decades_vol writes:
UTC is pesky, Mocs and Vols, refusing to get blown out in K-town. Their two main runs were impressive, keeping them in the game. They fought their guts out against the Cats, and the Vols too. I'd like to see UTC (and my guys, the Bucs) bring it like they did a couple of decades ago. I still remember ETSU knocking off Arizona in the Big Dance and UTC going to the Sweet Sixteen. Precious memories. But now, lets see if the Vols can turn it around. Wouldn't you like to see the Vols steal one at the Fed-Ex? What a start to the New Year. Not predicting, just hoping.
One_in_West_Knox writes:
Not having much of a running game in football and not having much of an inside game in basketball. It seems the UT players and coaches believe these are the keys to bringing in the fans, making more money, having winning records and winning national titles.
One_in_West_Knox writes:
A way to end the old year and start the new year with consecutive wins!! With this "rebuilding" and SEC play, it may be time to brace oneself for more consecutive losses.
decades_vol writes:
Liked your post this time, tin man. Several of our pessimistic prognisticators believe that Memphis is a sudden reincarnation of the Lakers. We have had issues ourselves early this season, but so have the Tigers. We had a golden opportunity to beat them earlier, so, who knows, why not now? UT at least has some of their confidence back. I'm going to ignore the prophets of doom, at least for a couple of days.
JimmyJoe writes:
Nice win against another over matched opponent. Maymon was useless tonite... Didn't seem to want to be there... Nice job skler and trae... Came thru for the team.... Yeah this is the last win for a while...we don't have a chance in any of the next seven games...then we will see how they do with Auburn.... If the team quits like maymon did tonite when they are staring 7-13 in the face then it could get real ugly.
tobytyler writes:
I guess everyone missed the fact that utc doubled the post every time, everyone get off Hall, it's hard to score with two players in your grill the whole game. Amazing that maymon gets a pass on this and Hall doesn't.
richvol writes:
Exactly...Mak should be getting minutes. Tatum is terrible.
zackster writes:
Griffith's article said, "UT senior Cameron Tatum, who drew praise from Martin despite a 3-for-16 shooting night, "
Tatum is way overrated. Why can't Martin see it ? Are they related ? Tatum takes bad shots and throws up brick after brick. But, if he then hits one 3-pointer, a lot of people sing his praises. Ridicules.
SummittsCourt writes:
I find it odd to say the least that this article is praising the 13 3-pointers made but not mentioning the 26 missed. 13 fo 39 is not good at all.
Like the football team, this team is not very good and will struggle against the better SEC teams. It will take a couple of years for the Vols to be competitive again.
Thank goodness for the Lady Vols!
FanNotSheep writes:
Team seems to finally be moving forward a little. The real test is at the other end of the state. Martin needs to go in there and show the future recruits why they should head east and play for him. Is he up to the challenge?
mocsandvolsfan writes:
"Dare to dream". really it can happen!!
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Well I'm not sure that you don't have some legit questions? Yes we have an inside game that they doubled up on for most of the game. Thus Maymon and Hall were kickin' it back out most of the game. BUT they were hittin' open players who from what I saw were either drivin' the lane or shooting the 3. They owned Chattanooga last night in a tough defensive battle inside. Fortunately for the Vols, UT was pretty hot outside and Golden proved me wrong (last night at least ) about him being a true point. That said he had very few assists because of his ability to drive and shoot. I think Tatum had more assists? I don't know but it's in the article who did. If Golden continues this kind of play then he'll take more of Washpun's minutes. He was still a little weak on defense at the point though. But Bell could start at point for lot's of D1 teams. If other teams double up on point or just stick to guarding Golden tight then we may still have some troubles there. I think Shulman had a good plan that worked till UT adjusted to it by hitting soooooo many 3s!!!
mocsandvolsfan writes:
Man! I sorta agree and disagree at the same time!!
I think Tatum played a really good game against some really good perimeter players. His offense was really awful though as for as shooting. but at the same time he was drawing defenders to himself and dishing off to open people. Makanjuola might not be ready for an inside player like Zlovaric. I don't know because he wasn't played much lol. As a UTC grad I'm a little predjudiced about Zlovaric. But I thought he really played well (with a little help from teammates). Hall's defense and Maymon's was really weak 1st half as Zlovaric was open many times. HE MISSED HIS SHOTS fortunately for our bigs. Plus one reason he was open is Bell can really pass the ball well.
BTW Kennesaw State has a pretty good team and a really good coach from what I've read. So quit your elite statements. In basketball the middle tier is very crowded. UT's not upper tier right now but is progressing rapidly from what I see. ('course I'm an optimist)
mocsandvolsfan writes:
"as FAR as shootin" or "as for HIS shooting" I've already blown my New Year's res. by typing badly and using badder grammer and spellin!!!
jowemedo writes:
While 13-39 is not great, it's not bad either. 33% from 3 translates to 50% from 2. Plus more of the misses from 3 are more likely to be 50/50 balls.
underthehill writes:
Excellent assessment. Golden did play a very good game last night but I don't think he proved he is a true point and I don't think he is the future for TN at point mainly due to his lack of defense. I think Martin is doing the best he can with what he has. It appears to me Martin's history as a shooter helps him know how to coach the outside game and he is trying to develop an inside game to open up the outside so you don't have to screen and give up rebounding position. I like Martin's coaching and if he makes a player out of Kenny Hall he is going to make me eat crow like Kifffen did with Crompton. Hope it happens.
underthehill writes:
Didn't see the end of the game but Charleston was playing Memphis about even early and looked like they were rebounding better than Memphis. TN will have to rebound and play strong defense to have a chance. I certainly don't have any qualifications to question Martin's coaching (which I consider excellent) but I wouldn't mind seeing some zone against the quicker Tigers..
asmith writes:
not a bad win. the team seems to be making progress in perimeter defense. these guys need something good to happen to them. stealing a win at memphis tomorrow night would be just what they need.
gbeejr#1354500 writes:
Glad many of you posters liked what you saw because I didn't. For a team without even one legitimate 3 point shooter (as in Lofton, J.Smith, etc) to launch nearly 40 attempts is crazy. Against a team like Chatt we should have challenged our players to commit to our inside game. And then I read where Coach is pleased with 33% shooting..........I'm beginning to lose faith in Coach Martin.
samvol writes:
Thanks couch coaches, especially the ones who couldn’t get a bench position on a JV rec league much less a coaching job outside of your coach.
kwcoach writes:
That game play will not work against a quality team. I am glad they won but when your outside guys take 50 or more shots and your inside guys take 15 or so then you will not win in the SEC unless your outside guys are Chris Lofton.
VolunteerLifer writes:
I guess there's just no pleasing some people. The coach does his job by laying down a plan, the team that he has coached to make it work makes it work, a victory is the result, and we get complaints like this one. It should be obvious to you that we do have three point shooters when they are getting open shots. CCM did his job in getting them the open shots. The inside game was shut down by double teams. CCm sent an important message to future opponents: We have weapons to match you if you want to go zone and take away our inside game, ie - we can still beat you with our guards. It was a nice win, especially given the problems our guards have been having lately. So, what again is your problem?
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
Iam not thrilled by 39-3 pointers but I don't envy the position Martin is in..He's looking for some type of consistency from his players and it's just not there..You may notice game to game you never know who will shoot 40% and who will have the hot hand..Believe it or not Woolridge as a role player has been the most steady;followed by Golden and Maymon..I think Martin can see that Maymon and Hall are a far cry from being players that can create off the dribble like Wayne Chism did so well..To open up the passing lanes and stop teams from collapsing in the post; Martin has to develop a strong shooting perimeter game;he has no choice..Is anybody here really think Maymon and Hall will put up 24 points against KY's Bigs..I think not!!If Tatum and McRae could shoot 35% everygame this team would hang with a big majority of anybody in the SEC but it has yet to happen..
FanNotSheep writes:
Chattanooga was doubling inside. So the threes were open most of the game. But when you shoot open threes you need to hit more than 33 percent. Lofton hit better than that when he was the one being double-teamed.
budd#207344 writes:
Once again reading comprehension raises its ugly head. They were being double teamed in the post(inside). They would move it in , get double teamed and pass it out for a perimeter shot. How do you two make it thru the day without being able to read English?
budd#207344 writes:
I was at the game. They "challenged" the inside men all night but the mocs decided to double team the post players. That is why you had so many outside shots as they were the ONLY shots open.
SharpDressedMan writes:
If you took the overall career 3pt shooting percentages of the 5 most prolific 3pt shooters in NCAA history (of which J.J. Reddick and Chris Lofton are included), they would have only hit 15.5 out of 39. It sort of gives you a bit of perspective, doesn't it?
tennrich1 writes:
While I too wish we could have more of an inside presences I agree that our three point shooter isnt atrocious. If McBee isnt a spot up three point shooter then I dont know what we could call him. Granted Skylar isnt going to create his shot but he can spot shoot the three as well as anyone...as long as he knows his role he can play a lot of minutes especially against teams bent on doubling down in the low post on the bigs whenever the ball goes there...classic recipe for spot up threes.....
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
I think Skylar played excellent. He is playing better D and he has a high basketball IQ, which is something we have been sorely lacking for several years (Bradshaw and Lofton most recent high IQ players). I will take Skylar's 3 pt percentage all wk. long. We may catch a break if Mem. continues their rebounding woes and PG inconsistency.
johnlg00 writes:
I was thinking the same thing. That was also the game where Golden, IIRC, went something like 3-19 on FG attempts. I think his game has grown since then, especially lately. Unless he relapses and forgets that he is the team leader, I think the Vols play Memphis tough. I'm not predicting a win because Memphis has some great athletes, they probably feel they owe the Vols one after last year's beat-down, and they are playing at home. However, if the Vols DO pull out the win, this season may look a lot better going forward than many of the trolls and naysayers are saying now. As I said on another thread, even if the Vols get hammered a couple of times in the next several games, they can still finish the season strong, and maybe even sneak into the Big Dance, if they don't lose their confidence and if Stokes can be a real contributor this year.
johnlg00 writes:
Shooting 13 for 39 from three is exactly the same result as shooting 50% from two-point range. You wouldn't kick about the team shooting 50% would you? I don't like DEPENDING on the three-pointer to win game in and game out, but if they make them at that rate all the time, it can work. Besides, the Vols DID beat UTC in points in the paint as well, even though many of those were on drives by perimeter players. Even so, the Mocs chose to double the Vols in the post, betting the 3-pointer wouldn't beat them. They guessed wrong. As long as the Vols aren't turning the ball over and the right players are shooting the 3-pointers from the right spots at the right time, I can live with it.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
I can't let the above &&*%^$#$%$^ be the last on here. by the way &&*%^$#$%$^ I got lots of time to come back and respond being mostly retired. so bring it OTV.
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