Tennessee (8-7, 1-2 SEC) has a big home conference basketball game on Wednesday evening against South Carolina (12-3, 2-0 SEC), and the Vols are pulling out the Smokey gray uniforms to try to get an extra boost.
Wednesday night. pic.twitter.com/O1syunB8uq
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 9, 2017
This will be the first the Vols have donned the alternate look in hoops this season. But more importantly, Tennessee needs a notch in the win column after back-to-back SEC losses followed a promising win at Texas A&M that opened conference play.
Tennessee’s been close to beating some really good teams this year with five losses to ranked squads, all of which were competitive in some form into the second half. Coach Rick Barnes has said, however, that close losses won’t be the standard. Tennessee, despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation with a young roster, knows it must get some big wins this year if the season is to be considered a success.
There are plenty of opportunities forthcoming. The Vols face a potential NCAA tournament team in South Carolina on Wednesday, and then have road gams at Vanderbilt and Ole Miss before returning for a three-game home stand that includes matchups with Mississippi State, Kentucky and Kansas State.
They’ll try to get this upcoming stretch started with a win in the Smokey grays on Wednesday.
