Tennessee (4-3) continued its strong play and ran away with a 90-50 victory over Presbyterian College (3-5) on Tuesday evening at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Here are three quick observations from tonight’s win:
Raining 3s
The majority of Tennessee’s offense came by way of guards Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden. Turner led the team with 24 points and Bowden finished with 21. Both performances were career bests.
Turner started out strong with three 3-pointers in the first half and followed up with four in the second half. Bowden finished the game with five 3-pointers.
The Vols shot 48% from 3-point land, and tied a team record of 16 made threes in a game (last was 16 threes vs. UNC Asheville in 2009).
Low Turnovers
Tennessee played its most complete game so far. A large part of that came from causing opponent turnovers while limiting its own. UT’s defense suffocated Presbyterian with it press, and it led to 22 turnovers. On the other hand, Tennessee only turned the ball over five times.
That’s especially impressive since the Vols are playing without starting point guard Jordan Bone, who remains sidelined with a foot injury. Shembari Phillips and Lamonte Turner, two players who are helping run the point with Bone out, combined for just one turnover in 46 minutes of combined play. The Vols moved to +15 on the season in turnover margin as well after Tuesday night’s impressive performance.
Team Effort
Even though the stat sheet looked impressive, the overall team effort stood out the most. Turner, Bowden, and Hubbs scored double digits. The Vols also pulled in 37 total rebounds.
Forwards Lew Evans and Admiral Schofield, who played for the first time since the opener in Maui due to suspension, did not put up gaudy numbers, but both were playing well inside on both ends of the floor. Rick Barnes stated that he wanted to work more on the inside-out game and it worked. Tennessee was able to work the ball down low, create space, and hit clean shots from the outside. Sophomore walk-on Brad Woodson even contributed to the effort with a career-high five points.
Up next: The Vols travel to Chapel Hill to face No. 7 North Carolina on Saturday (5 pm ET, ESPN). They will then host in-state schools Tennessee Tech (Dec. 13) and Tennessee State (Dec. 15) before heading to Nashville to face No. 18 Gonzaga on Dec. 18.
Final stats:
Final stats from UT’s 90-50 win over Presbyterian tonight pic.twitter.com/nJ7HVnJUGI
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) December 7, 2016
