(Photo via Tennessee Athletics)
For the first time in half a decade, Tennessee and Memphis played on the hardwood on Saturday. And for the first time since 2011, the Vols defeated the Tigers.
No. 3 Tennessee (8-1) survived a gutsy effort from Memphis (5-5) on Saturday, but they prevailed and dropped a 100 points on the Tigers, winning 102-92. The Vols never trailed after the opening minute of the game, and they went up by as much as 18 points in the first half. The Tigers would cut Tennessee’s lead to single digits multiple times, but they could never draw closer than a couple possessions.
Tennessee’s 102 points were the most they’ve scored this season, and it was the most they’ve scored against Memphis since a 104-84 win on January 5th, 2011. Ironically, that was Tennessee’s last win against the Tigers as well.
The Vols rarely wavered, and even despite a somewhat ugly performance from an efficiency standpoint, Tennessee came away with the 10-point victory after their first true road game of the season.
Tennessee improved to 15-11 all-time against Memphis, and the Vols silenced a sold out FedExForum that saw well over 18,000 fans in attendance for the game.
Here are our biggest takeaways from the Vols’ impressive 102-92 road win over Memphis.
PB&J At It Again
Admiral Schofield scored a career-high 30 points against No. 1 Gonzaga last weekend. This weekend, he almost did that again.
Schofield notched 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three, in 37 minutes during UT’s win over Memphis. It marked the second straight game that he scored over 25 points, and he almost eclipsed the 30-point mark for the second straight time as well. The senior also pulled down 11 rebounds, had two assists, blocked a shot, and got a steal.
But he wasn’t the only Vol to fill up the stat sheet.
His teammate and other half of the “PB&J” combo, Grant Williams, also had a busy day at the office. Williams totaled 19 points and added five assists and four rebounds in 34 minutes of game time.
Other players to score in double digits for the Vols were Jordan Bone (17), Jordan Bowden (12), and Kyle Alexander (10). Alexander was a rebound away from a double-double.
Turnovers Abound
Coming into Saturday’s game, Tennessee had done a great job of not turning the ball over this season. Tennessee was one of the few teams in college basketball who had forced more turnovers than they gave away in every single game they had played.
That changed on Saturday, though.
The Vols turned the ball over 18 times, while Memphis only had nine turnovers in the game. The Tigers came into Saturday’s contest as one of the better teams in college basketball at forcing teams to turn the ball over, and it showed against Tennessee.
The Tigers may have been able to force Tennessee to play sloppy on multiple possessions, but that didn’t stop the Vols from crossing the century mark on the scoreboard. Tennessee shot 51.9 percent from the floor and pulled down 42 rebounds compared to just 34 boards by the Tigers.
Foulfest
This game turned into a free throw shooting contest late in the first half and for a large part of the second half.
There were a combined 57 fouls called on Saturday, averaging almost a foul per minute during the game. The Tigers were whistled for 35 fouls while the Vols got called for 22 fouls.
Tennessee took advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line, hitting 39 of their 46 shots from the charity stripe. Memphis was 16-of-22 from the free throw line.
Passed the Test
Saturday’s game was Tennessee’s first true road game of the year. The Vols had played neutral site games against Louisville, Kansas, and Gonzaga earlier this season, but Saturday was UT’s first true road contest this season.
Over the last decade, Tennessee has been really bad making their first road trip of the year. The Vols were just 1-8 over the last nine seasons when playing their first actual road game, and the lone win came last year when the Vols defeated Georgia Tech 77-70 on the road. The Vols have now made it two straight years in which they’ve won their first road game of the season, and they improve to 9-4 in their last 13 road games.
Best Start Since…
Tennessee improved to 8-1 on the season after their win over Memphis. That’s their best record through the first nine games of the season since the 2009-10 team also won eight of their first nine games.
That Tennessee basketball squad ended up making it to the program’s only Elite Eight later on in the NCAA Tournament. Vol fans are hoping this year’s team can replicate that success and more in a few months.
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