Long-ago UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said defense travels well. Offense has ups and downs on the road.
Wooden’s offense didn’t have all that many downs. His Bruins, in the 1970s, won 88 games in a row, several away from the comforts of home. Wooden had Bill Walton.
Tennessee has nobody resembling Walton. The Volunteers, to extend their road record to two victories in a row, will need to be collectively sharp on offense and defense Wednesday night in Starkville. Mississippi State is 12-1 in home games.
The Vols were very good at both ends of the floor in the second half in Columbia, S.C.
South Carolina? Not so good.
CBS executives breathed a sigh of relief when the visitors warmed up after intermission. The first half may have had TV viewers searching for bowling or curling.
Why the network forced the Gamecocks on the national audience is above my pay grade. They hit 31.5 percent of field-goal tries and 26 percent from three-point range. Tennessee’s defense, which traveled well, was relevant.
To the delight of 33 relatives, friends and neighbors, Josiah-Jordan James took title to the first half. He treated the game as homecoming. He is from Charleston. Teammates donated their complimentary tickets.
JJJ has been more aggressive since the hurtful missed shot at Texas. He had 11 points against the Gamecocks in the first eight minutes. He had 15 of the Vols’ 33 before intermission. He finished with a cluster of other things – six rebounds, three blocks, three steals and two assists. It was his best performance of the season.
“I thought Josiah did a great job setting the tone, on the offensive and defensive end at the very start,” said Rick Barnes.
“What he does, he is a basketball player. He is going to do whatever he has to do to help his team win. Josiah has always been very unselfish. Sometimes, to a fault.”
James said he probably has played a little bit more aggressively of late, especially to start games.
“Besides that, my shots have thankfully been falling.”
Zakai Zeigler’s shots fell in the second half. He scored 18.
South Carolina was very much in contention at 40-37 with 16:04 left when ZZ stole the ball, threw it to Kennedy Chandler, got it back and nailed a three. Twelve seconds later, he hit another.
After that, he added a chapter to his legendary reputation for toughness. During a timeout, his upset stomach boiled over and he spit some stuff on Barnes’ shoe. He made it to a trash can for full regurgitation, rushed back to the huddle and back onto the court.
Play ball!
ZZ scored four quick points (that made it 10 in a row) for a 50-39 Tennessee lead. Two or three minutes later, he hit a floater in traffic and another three. The Vols were on top, 62-41.
In some other place, at some other show, Willie Nelson strummed a few chords on his guitar and started to sing “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”
Zeigler hit four of five three-point attempts. Chandler had 11 points and 10 assists. Santiago Vescovi had foul troubles but finished with 13 points. John Fulkerson scored eight. Olivier Nkamhoua tweaked (we hope that is all) his ankle.
Uros Plavsic grabbed eight rebounds but scored only two points. Justin Powell went scoreless.
Barnes said it was a fun game after Zeigler’s scoring outburst. He called it a total victory.
He said Mississippi State is “the most unheard-of team in the SEC.”
The Bulldogs have size. Better hope Nkamhoua can answer the bell.
The coach said it’s tough to win on the road anywhere.
“Winning a conference road game is really, really hard to do. It’s more difficult than people might think, when you go on the road … we’ve just got to go fight and play as hard as we can. And hope we play good basketball.”
Barnes expects the game at Mississippi State to be totally different from the game at South Carolina.
Probably.
Zeigler will chew some Tums.
Marvin West welcomes reader comments or questions. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com