CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It all looks easy for Tennessee basketball when stars Dalton Knecht, Zakai Zeigler and Jonas Aidoo play well on the offensive end. A question for the Vols this NCAA Tournament was what would happen if two of those guys struggle on the offensive end.
In Saturday night’s 62-58 Round of 32 victory against Texas, all three stars struggled on the offensive end. And what happened? Role players stepped and the Vols leaned on toughness and experience to grit past the Longhorns and to return to the Sweet 16.
“It shows our toughness, our resiliency to be able to win different brands of basketball and always having each other’s back because there’s a lot of times in that game when Texas is making their comeback and we weathered the storm,” super senior wing Josiah-Jordan James said postgame. “I think experience is the best teacher and we have a lot of experience”
Aidoo struggled early on the offensive end, missing a pair of bunnies and turning it over twice. Insert Tobe Awaka in a tie game.
Awaka scored six points in less than three minutes as the Vols took a lead that they never relinquished. He was physical and imposing on the inside, scoring 10 points on four-of-five shooting while grabbing five rebounds.
“We knew that with their type of defense we needed the bigs to score and I think Tobe was huge. Throughout the whole game,” super senior Santiago Vescovi said.
“He was everything that we know that he is and he just performed at a very high level,” James said. “He just played with a motor that we see a lot in practice and I’m just glad that he was able to do it in the biggest stage in college basketball.”
More From RTI: Discussing Tennessee Basketball’s Win Over Texas
Making Awaka’s performance all the more impressive, and frustrating, playing just 11 minutes and battling foul trouble all game.
How many would he have scored without the foul trouble?
“Shew. 20? 25? They couldn’t stop him in there,” Vescovi said.
“However many times we had the ball. That’s how many,” junior point guard Zakai Zeigler said.
Josiah-Jordan James was perhaps the MVP of the game for Tennessee. He was stout on the defensive end, giving up three inches to Texas star forward Dylan Disu and shutting him down to the tune of 10 points on four-of-18 shooting from the field to go along with four rebounds.
The 6-foot-6 versatile forward added nine rebounds himself including four on that offensive end. James was dominant offensively but he scored nine points on four-of-eight shooting including the Vols’ final two field goals. His corner three-pointer in the game’s final five minutes proved massive and was his first made triple since the Alabama game.
“My confidence level, first and foremost, it comes from the work I put in,” James said. “Each and every guy here, we believe we’re the hardest working team in the country. When we get in situations like that, you’ve just got to rely on your work.”
Awaka and James were the role players that stepped up huge but nearly everyone had their moment. Santiago Vescovi and Jordan Gainey each had steals leading to transition layups. Jahmai Mashack led the way for a defensive performance that willed Tennessee to the victory on a night when shots wouldn’t fall.
Tennessee will need more from its stars to get past next weekend but the Vols showed their depth and proved their ability to win in multiple ways as they got back to the Sweet 16.
“Just really proud of our team and the way they stayed with it on a night where we just struggled shooting the ball,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said postgame.
