Tennessee won a big one and lost a really big one.
The Vols led from start to finish and dominated Arkansas, 75-57. The Vols are 11-6 against SEC foes. If they win at Auburn, they finish fourth and get a double-bye in the conference tournament.
That part was good. Defense was some degree of great. Arkansas settled for its lowest point total of the season.
Three minutes into the game, Tennessee lost point guard Zakai Zeigler with an apparent knee injury. Clues were alarming. He crumpled to the floor and couldn’t get up. He was in pain and it showed. He was helped off the court and didn’t come back. The big crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena got very quiet.
Teammates read the situation as serious.
“They know that he pops right back every single time when he goes down,” Rick Barnes said.
This was a non-contact injury. Ziggy was running the baseline. He crossed the lane, made a sharp cut and collapsed. Tyreke Key, No. 2 point, didn’t play because of a puffed-up ankle. Santiago Vescovi directed the offense.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in the nation that can replace Zakai,” said guard Jahmai Mashack.
“It’s more than shooting, defense and handling the ball. It’s energy. It’s irreplaceable but I think, to answer the question, we were always going to be focused whether he was in or out.”
Barnes was emotional. He talked to the team at inte4rmission and went immediately to check on Ziggy.
“He is such an unbelievable, wonderful person,” the coach said. “He had been crying. He was hurt. It is tough.”
Tennessee seniors: Olivier Nkamhoua, Santiago Vescovi, Uros Plavsic, Josiah-Jordan James, Tyreke Key and Kent Gilbert.
Before and after, there was a basketball game. Seniors observed Senior Night as if kind words and loud applause are meaningful. Olivier Nkamhoua hit 7-of-12, scored 16 and grabbed seven rebounds. Vescovi was the floor general, scored 14 and contributed six rebounds, five assists and two steals. He played all but two minutes. Josiah-Jordan James scored 11.
Two freshmen butted in. Julian Phillips escaped the injured list and scored seven. Tobe Awaka alarmed some Razorbacks. He is really rugged when rebounds are available. He took eight and scored seven.
Tennessee hit 50 percent (58.3 in the second half). Tennessee won in rebounding.
Tennessee’s defense truly led the way. Arkansas had been playing well. It lost to Alabama by three. The Vols took the visitors out their offense and caused a lot of misguided shots. The visitors seemed to be caught off guard by the intensity. They shot 37 percent and even missed nine free throws. Sixteen turnovers led to 19 points.
Winning big without Ziggy was a point of pride.
“Really proud of them,” said Barnes. “We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity this month, we really have. We thought we were getting rolling but things kept coming up … this team has shown a lot of resiliency. I don’t think at any point it stopped believing that whatever guys we have available, they were going to find a way to grind it out.”
“Every guy that played did a terrific job. The front line, they did exactly what we needed them to do. Arkansas is a really difficult team to guard. They put great pressure on the rim. And they defend.”
“Felt like we needed to stay aggressive, like we had been playing. Just proud.”
The coach saluted the seniors.
“The maturity of our senior class, I think, took over the game. This is what we’ve got, we’ve got to go do it.”
Barnes said again what we already know.
“We felt all year that whatever we had to do, we can find a way. We truly believe in our defense and our rebounding, that if we can do that, as painful as it sometimes is scoring — every team in the country goes through that — everybody acts like it’s just us here but teams struggle to score.
“The one consistent thing we’ve done, for the most part, is defend and rebound. Hopefully we’ll keep finding a way to score enough to win games.”
Barnes said he expects to have Key available to help at Auburn. He said the Vols might play the point by committee.
“I’m not going to count out B.J. Edwards. We talk about improvement of our big guys. B.J has improved tremendously in the last month.”
Please note: Word of Edwards’ progress is just in time for Bruce Pearl’s scouting report.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com