The Tennessee Volunteers crushed the Virginia Cavaliers… and did little else to impress the college basketball community this season. A split with the Xavier Musketeers (the same team that meekly bowed out of the First Four a night earlier in Dayton) didn’t represent an equation-changing feat. Losing at home to North Carolina State (the team that thrashed Xavier in the First Four) detracted from the Vols’ resume. In the SEC, Tennessee got four chances at the league’s two signature programs, Kentucky (once) and Florida (thrice).
The Vols’ record in those games? Oh-and-four.
Much was made of the fact that Iowa lost six of seven games heading into Wednesday night’s 2014 First Four finale, but it’s not as though Tennessee had found itself.
Let’s be honest: Though the Volunteers had been winning for most of the past three weeks, those results came against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Missouri, and South Carolina. Teams shouldn’t get a medal for defeating those kinds of foes. As soon as Tennessee encountered a particularly good opponent, it wasn’t able to prevail.
No, it’s not as though Tennessee was so markedly outclassed by the Florida Gators this past Saturday at the SEC Tournament. Anything but. The Vols belonged on the same court as the No. 1 team in the country and played with a level of hunger that gained Florida’s attention for 40 minutes. However, in a recurring theme, Tennessee couldn’t hit big shots. The Vols lacked a source other than Jordan McRae who could rise above the clutter and the clamor, who could conquer endgame nerves and make a defining difference for this team.
Tennessee defended, rebounded and hustled well enough — more than well enough — to beat Florida last Saturday. The problem for coach Cuonzo Martin’s team, as has been the case far too often over the past few years in Knoxville — was an inability to score in late-game situations. Tennessee scored just six points in the final 12:16 of regulation against Florida, hitting only one field goal in that span of time.
The Volunteers lost by only seven, a testament to their excellence on defense… but they still did lose. Such was the nature of an SEC season that fell well short of its potential. The First Four against Iowa offered Cuonzo’s kids a fresh start.
For most of the evening, they didn’t appear ready to take advantage of it.
Iowa blitzed Tennessee early, and even though the Hawkeyes did cool off to an extent, they still dictated the pace of this game for 35 minutes. With 4:33 left, Martin gathered his players during a timeout, as Iowa held a 57-52 lead that, while not substantial, had endured multiple assaults from the Volunteers. Iowa’s struggles had seemingly taken a back seat to a new mindset dominated by hope — that and a burning desire to win a game for coach Fran McCaffery, whose 13-year-old son, Patrick McCaffery, underwent surgery to remove a thyroid tumor earlier in the day.
Tennessee — so nervous and disjointed in the game’s first 15 minutes — had shaken off its doubts, engaging Iowa in a contest that became immensely enjoyable to watch in the final minutes of regulation. Yet, even though Tennessee’s striving spirit was visible to everyone taking in the scene — those on site in Dayton and those watching on television — the Vols had to do what they hadn’t been able to do for the vast majority of their season: finish. Martin’s young men had to take the awareness of the Florida loss in the SEC Tournament and use it as a transformative experience, not as a good reason to fold the tent.
It was reasonable to expect Jordan McRae — the team’s one consistent clutch shooter and big-game performer — to be there in a moment of crisis. Would his teammates help him out, though? The previous three months of basketball suggested that the answer would be “no.”
On this night, however, the Vols found a “yes” deep inside themselves, one that will enable them to play the Massachusetts Minutemen on Friday in the round of 64.
Jarnell Stokes — who has missed so many pressure-cooker free throws for Tennessee in this and other seasons in his career as a Vol — began to make pairs of foul shots when getting to the line. Outplayed for most of the night, Stokes refused to sulk, and his persistence was rewarded in the final minutes of regulation and in overtime, when he flourished.
Josh Richardson fearlessly attacked Iowa’s defense and looked like a reborn player. Antonio Barton nailed a huge three-point shot and gave Martin a value-added presence on the floor, something Tennessee has not always been able to rely on this season. McRae contributed to the effort, but this time, he received help. This time, the “other” Vols made shots from the field and the charity stripe alike.
This time, the final minutes of a tight game did not witness a collapse by Tennessee. The “almost” team steered itself into overtime and, led by Stokes, posted a 14-1 beatdown of the Hawkeyes in the extra period.
Teams that make the NCAA tournament field at the back end of the bracket are flawed and frail, but making the tournament can provide an opportunity to reset the dial. Tennessee has every reason to think it can achieve anything it wants to.
We’ll see if this latest stretch of a long and winding journey can be sustained for a full weekend, if not two.
